Dear Red Passion

I was at Crewe railway station on Wednesday 12th August, with nothing to do between trains. I decided to take the compulsory stroll around John Menzies, to thumb through the latest footie and computer mags.

What I discovered was a magazine with the title below:

Rush - Britain's Downhill Magazine

Now, the magazine in question claimed to be about mountain biking. However, having seen Ian Rush play like any other ordinary 2nd Division player, I think the title may be an omen of things to come.

I hope that by the time you (possibly) print this I've been proved wrong, by Rush having scored a load of goals and firing Wrexham to the top of Division 2.

I await results with baited breath.

All the best

Firstly, I would like to thank you for producing an excellent fanzine, and I hope it continues to be so. Secondly, I think that someone must defend Craig Skinner. As you have asked for letters about Wrexham players who the fans dislike, there will no doubt be a flood of letters slagging him off, and I can't see why he is singled out for all the abuse.

I am writing this after the Macclesfield game, where Skinner has yet again been on the end of all the "lazy -------" and "worst player at the club" taunts. The thing that surprises me is that Martyn Chalk never gets abuse like this - when I can't remember the last time he successfully beat a full-back or produced a dangerous cross or shot. However, because he runs more than Skinner, Chalk gets the crowd on his side. If what we want are headless chickens rather than players with skill on the wing, then there is something

wrong, as we have players like Brammer and Russell who run all afternoon without creating much, so if we have an athelete rather than a ball player on the wing, Wrexham will never create anything.

The fact is that while Brian Flynn persists with picking just one winger, whoever that winger is, he is going to struggle as he has the sole creative responsibility, especially as he has no decent target man to aim at, and has no option but to pass the ball back to the midfielders, which gives the fans an opportunity to slag off Skinner for either not being direct enough or not finding the strikers who are difficult to pick out under this system.

Basically, although Skinner is probably not good enough to get us into Division One, he is so much better than Chalk, and if we criticise every player who is not good enough for a promotion push, then a lot of Wrexham players would be getting abuse.

When trying to keep possession at the end of the Northampton game, Skinner got the abuse for not putting the ball into the box, but if he had done this, and Northampton had scored on the counter-attack, he would still have got abuse. It seems to me that some supporters are looking for a scapegoat all the time, and this helps no-one. It's about time we stopped singling players out and slagging off the English and got behind our (mostly English) team, as I don't believe that any of our players are really bad when you look at some of the awful teams in Division Two, like Macclesfield, Wycombe, Burnley etc.

My final point is concern at Wrexham's lack of activity in the transfer market. Ian Rush may be a legend, but there is no doubt in my mind that he only came because no-one else in this country wanted him. For a 36-year-old free transfer to be our only summer signing is quite worrying, especially as the only other player who even came close to signing - John Hodge - was made a better offer by Cardiff, as well as Gillingham.

While the club tries to get players on the cheap all the time, and continues to play a ridiculously unbalanced system, we will never get into Division One, which is frustrating as the foundations for success are there (good youth system, reasonably solid team), but we are not moving forward. What do teams like Bury and Stockport have that we don't have? It seems that people inside the club, and supporters too, have accepted that we will be in Division Two forever, and it doesn't have to be like this.

Sorry for being long-winded, but I care, and it is difficult to be brief about a club like Wrexham.

Yours sincerely