On 5th November 2010, an interview by the Stoke Sentinel with former Stoke boss Alan Durban revealed that he was scouting for Norwich City.

Born in Bridgend, Wales in July 1941, Alan began his career at Cardiff City, making his debut in a 2-1 win over Derby County in 1959. After initially making an impact on the team he fell out of favour and was transferred to Derby County for £10,000 in July 1963 at the age of 22 having played over 50 times for Cardiff. He made his Derby debut on 24th August 1963 in a 3-1 defeat to Newcastle United and helped the side to thirteenth place in his first season.

After finishing in seventeenth place during the 1966–67 season Tim Ward was replaced as the Derby manager by Brian Clough. Under Clough, Durban was moved from Inside-forward to an attacking midfield role and was handed the captaincy for the first time in a 5-1 win over his former club Cardiff City. He won a Football League First Division championship medal with Derby in 1971-72, although he then left the club in 1973 to join Shrewsbury Town where he later took charge as player-manager

Durban made his international debut for Wales in May 1966 in a 1-0 defeat to Brazil. He went on to make 27 appearances for Wales

He began his managerial career at Shrewsbury Town in February 1974; managing them until 1978 when he joined Stoke City, having won promotion from Division Four and the Welsh Cup in 1977. In three years at Stoke, Durban won 53 out of 143 games, and in 1981 he became manager of Sunderland, managing them until 1984 but failing to win anything. After leaving Sunderland he managed Willington in the Northern League. Six months after leaving Sunderland he joined Cardiff City but his two year spell in charge at Ninian Park turned into a disaster as they suffered consecutive relegations, falling from Division Two to Division Four. Several years later, Durban returned to Sunderland to become Chief Scout under Peter Reid. He then briefly returned to Stoke as caretaker for five games in 1998

He returned to Stoke in July 2011 on a part-time basis as a mentor for young Academy players. He retired at the age of 75.