Night Out
Nick Welsh sees the Reds score five at home…
Wrexham v TNS - not the most glamorous of matches, to say the least. But, for me and four other Red Passion sponsors it proved to be quite a night.
It began when I was brought to the Centenary Club to meet the other people who would be with me for the rest of the night and a good lot they were too! Bucks Fizz on arrival was the first thing we noticed. For me it's usually a diet coke from McDonalds - so that was one big change! Next thing, Allan Thomas (a top bloke) showed us to our seats and we chatted away and ordered our complimentary meal. The Centenary Club suddenly started to fill up with Wrexham players: Fergie, Barrett, Roberts, Carey - and that's just to name a few! As the Centenary Club started to fill up a bit more, a number of people started to talk about Flynn going to Bristol City! We decided to try and keep our views to ourselves as a bit of a debate seemed to be arising!
Anyway, moving on…after our lush meal we were taken down to the tunnel as kick-off was approaching. I know it was only a minor game, but me and the other RP sponsors started to get a bit excited as Deano and the Wrexham players came out of the dressing room. Whilst looking at the TNS players, I noticed that their goalie bore a slight resemblance to Big Neville. As we walked onto the pitch we were taken to the centre circle where we met both captains and the officials - all nice blokes - and pictures were taken by the Legend Les Evans. While I was on the pitch, I noticed that the playing surface was in really good nick and much, much better than FA Cup deserters Man United’s. We took our seats in the Directors Box and suddenly we realised that five Koppites in the Directors Box should mean a good night! As the match went on, and the goals went in, we started to realise that Mr Rogers in goal for Wrexham was actually very good. My fellow sponsor Rob Stock would not shut up about him - and we counted seven out of seven catches in the air that the rookie made. Not bad at all!
Half-time brought the toilets…and a cuppa that didn't burn a hole in my pocket as well as my mouth. I am used to paying more for food than I do to get in, but not on this night! The second-half arrived and the goals started to go in - Morrell scoring four! I didn't rate him much, but four goals is pretty impressive for any player. Substitutions were made and the Red Passion contingent could not help but burst into “DEANO!” and “OOH, DERYN BRACE!” chants. Possibly the only ever chant to be sung from the Racecourse Directors Box? The game finished 5-0 and a great night out ended with a final photo: ‘The Red Passion 5’ in the company of Dean Spink. A truly top night out and highly recommended - no matter who's playing. Perhaps a good new keeper for the future has been found as well.
Cheers to all those who were with me for a great night - it was an experience to be remembered. May Wrexham win by five again! RP
Day Out
Amy Jones goes to Shrewsbury (again)…
Well, last time I went to Shrewsbury I went on the hunt of Deano, and I promised myself I’d never return. Well, I broke that promise when I agreed to go and watch them play again against Orient with a mate who lives down there. I didn’t really want to go, but a mate is a mate.
I left Wrexham at 9am because we were going to make a day of it. When I got to Shrewsbury I met up with my friend and we went on a great shopping extravaganza, I bought loads of new clothes but my mate was getting quite annoyed with all the clothes shops. After being shown all the sites in Shrewsbury, and nearly falling in the river that surrounds their ground (it was very embarrassing), we went to the local pub (it’s very much like the turf) for a pre-match drink. Everyone was in good spirits and the day was going really well till my mate practically announced that I was a Wrexham fan and that my favourite player was actually Dean Spink. All that went through my mind then was: Oh my god - World War 3 is about to begin! But I was quite wrong because they all felt sorry for me and one of the comments was “Oh my god, get the girl a drink, she needs one!” So, I had about 10 drinks lined up.
The atmosphere was really good at the ground even though Shrewsbury had gone 7 hours without scoring and 7 games without a win, and were going through - let’s say - a bit of a not-so-good phase (think of Wrexham - but multiply it by a thousand!) We got to the ground and their fanzine people were hounding us to buy it, but after paying £1 last time for 12 pages, 11 of which were adverts, I thought they could stick it. I got a programme though. I don’t know if it’s just me but it felt like it was printed on recycled paper; you know, that cheap, tacky, tracing paper that you find in grotty toilets. But what do you expect from a lowly placed Division 3 side?
The game was very good. I was very impressed with the Shrewsbury side; they were looking much better than when I had last watched them. Their on-loan winger from Sunderland, Sam Aiston, looked very solid and made quite a few decent passes and set up the goal for Town. Orient were unlucky not to get anything out of the game; they battled hard and had a goal disallowed and should have been awarded a penalty. Shrewsbury’s midfield was looking much better and they performed much more like a team. Brown scored in the 66th minute; the goal was set up by Aiston.
Shrewsbury deserved the win; they were brilliant, they looked a very solid team. Ratcliffe is doing well there and all the fans think highly of him (it was very strange listening to people praising the manager - probably because I’m not used to it down in Wrexham). And, if they can hold on for the rest of the season, and bring in one or two new faces next season, they will do really well because Kevin’s got it sorted down there. One thing that still hasn’t changed since I was last there was the fans. They still didn’t get behind their lads, not like we do down in Wrexham. They would rather slag off the Welsh than help their team. Shrewsbury’s victory meant a lot to the players and fans and when the final whistle went they were ecstatic. It was if they had just won promotion.
We went back to the pub after the game where my mate and other Shrews’ fans were telling me some VERY HOT gossip about our one and only Dean Spink and Ian Stevens. Put it this way: it made me laugh! It was a brilliant day and I would go and see them again. If only their fans were FANS then Shrewsbury would be a nice little club. RP
Night Out
David Jennings has an AMAZING time as a VIP…
We arrived at the Centenary Club at 5.45 and were warmly welcomed by Allan Thomas and the other members of the group kindly invited to the Red Passion sponsorship evening.
The RP party included Spencer Harris, his wife Jeni, the ‘Tag Team’ - Neil and Carl Tunnah - Ian ‘Jacko’ Roberts, Richard Jones, John Edwards, myself and Ben Harvey. Included in the match sponsorship deal was a match programme, a teamsheet, a three-course meal and match tickets for the Directors Box. During the meal we discussed various issues including whether it was time for Flynn to go (a majority voted yes) and who should be playing upfront (an issue on which we didn’t come to a conclusion). Allan Thomas hurried us to finish our desserts so we could go and have our photo taken with the match officials and captains. The Wrexham players were out of the dressing rooms first and we were greeted by Danny Williams shouting: “We better ******* win!” We got onto the pitch, meeting the officials and captains, and had our photo taken by Les Evans. We then made our way into the stand but Neil, Carl and Jacko decided not to sit in the Directors Box.
The Goals: 6mins…Morrell 1 (1-0) - Brace floated the ball into the box from the right wing, and a glancing header sent Wrexham into the lead. 21mins …Morrell 2 (2-0) - Williams slotted the ball through to Morrell who on the half-turn hit it low to score. (At half time we got a cup of tea and biscuits and sat down to finish our desserts). 55mins… Morrell 3 (3-0) - Danny Williams with the through ball again for Stevens to run onto, but his shot was saved by the keeper and landed at the right height for Morrell to head home for his hat-trick. 59mins…Morrell 4 (4-0) - Gibson’s movement on the right-hand side created a crossing opportunity and Morrell volleyed home with his right foot into the bottom right. 64mins…Stevens 1 (5-0) - Morrell controlled the ball with his chest and turned to put the ball through to Stevens who tucked it away into the bottom-left-hand corner. 65mins…Morrell 5 (6-0) - Brace played the ball through to Stevens whose cross met Connolly; his shot was blocked by a Merthyr defender, but fell to Morrell to fire home. 71mins…Morrell 6 (7-0) - Morrell shot with his right foot into the bottom-right-hand corner for his double hat-trick. 72mins…Morrell 7 (8-0) -Stevens’ cross from the left-wing swung into Morrell who superbly headed down into the left-hand corner of the net.
The game ended and we returned to the Centenary Club
ready to present Andy Morrell with his Man of the Match award. While we waited we tried to
work out the autographs on the signed football we received from the club for sponsoring
the match. Allan Thomas announced over the microphone that Andy had broken the all-time
Wrexham record for the most goals scored by one player in a competitive match, beating
Tommy Bamford’s previous record of five in the 1930’s. The record for a
non-competitive match was seven scored by Livingstone in the Regional League during the
War (1943). He also announced that when Andy arrived in the Lounge we should show our
appreciation by giving him a standing ovation. He finally arrived to the standing ovation
after numerous interviews downstairs. Les took his usual four photos and Andy took his
champagne to put with the other two bottles he received from BBC Wales. On his return we
all got his autograph on our tickets and programmes.
Overall everyone had a brilliant night thanks to Red Passion. RP