Lets be thankful for the Flynn era

By David Hughes

Question 1 - In the 10-year period 1988/89 to 1997/98, where would Wrexham be placed in a table of average league attendances for the 96 clubs who have played English League football in this period? Answer - Seventy seventh (equivalent to ninth position in division three). Average attendance of 3,437. (Source: www.innotts.co.uk/~soccerstats/atts.htm)

Question 2 - How does this table of attendances compare to final league positions in the 1999/2000 season? Answer - The top six teams in the attendance league are Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Leeds, Aston Villa and Newcastle - not too dissimilar to the top-six in the final Premier League table. The bottom six sides were Halifax, Maidstone, Scarborough, Rochdale, Aldershot and Doncaster. Four of these no longer play league football and another (Halifax) has suffered relegation to the Conference before returning to the Football League. Therefore, it would appear that there is a strong correlation between levels of support and success on the field.

Question 3 - How many clubs below Wrexham in this table (i.e. with a lower average attendance) finished in a higher league position than Wrexham in the Season 1999/2000? Answer - One. Wigan Athletic. Put another way, only one team in the entire Football League with lower matchday receipts over the last 10 years finished in a higher position than Wrexham in the 1999/2000 season - and they are subsidised by a multi-millionaire chairman.

Question 4 - Based on these facts, why do a small element of Wrexham supporters want to see the manager over this 10-year period dismissed? Answer - ???????????

When the day does come when Mr Flynn leaves Wrexham I suspect it will not take too long for those wanting him removed to regret his departure. Some supporters will be too young to remember the struggles the club endured in the 1980's before Mr Flynn's arrival when the club faced severe financial difficulties following relegation from the old Second Division. Here the club purchased relatively expensive players who failed to perform but still had to pick up a high wage bill despite dwindling attendances. Thereafter the club went into freefall for the best part of a decade before Mr Flynn was appointed at the height of this decline. Nobody could argue that he has since turned the club around remarkably in his 10 years at the club. His policy of investing funds (largely self generated at that) into the infrastructure of the club rather than on big-money signings has reaped its reward in that, first and foremost, the survival of the club seems assured for the foreseeable future. This is in contrast to the precarious position he inherited in 1989. In addition, the club have, amongst other things, been able to purchase their own training facility, renew the lease on the ground for a further 125 years, put the funds in place to be enable the new stand to be built and become one of the few clubs in the lower leagues to achieve Academy status. Where do some supporters think the money has come from to finance such projects?

The youth policy in which Brian Flynn has invested, rather like John Neal in the Seventies, has been the bedrock of the club's resurgence. Players such as Bryan Hughes, Lee Jones, David Brammer, Waynne Phillips and Neil Roberts have been sold on at decent prices to keep the club going. It has also given the club the ability to turn down derisory fees that had to be accepted for players in the past, the prime example being that of the sale of Chris Armstrong to Millwall, and also retain quality players like Karl Connolly and Brian Carey by being able to afford decent wages. Could you see Chester City being able to hang on to these two for as long as Wrexham?

Furthermore, the teams fielded by the manager have consistently featured a high percentage of homegrown talent, which has prevented the need to enter the transfer market (or more likely take on other club's cast-offs on free transfers). How many other clubs at Wrexham's level can boast this whilst holding their position in the league? Certainly not closest rivals Cardiff City, Chester City and Shrewsbury town.

Despite having to sell to survive the team has also performed relatively well over the same period with promotion to Division Two and consolidation in a league where the club cannot currently compete with the sort of money being spent by the likes of Fulham, Manchester City, Reading, Burnley, Preston, Gillingham, Wigan, Stoke and Bristol City. Given the level of support the team attracts, survival in the division is an achievement each year. In addition, the club must also have the best FA Cup record of any lower-league side during this time, reaching the 3rd Round in most years, claiming the scalps of a number of Premiership teams and getting to the Quarter-Finals in 1997.

Personally, I cannot see how another manager could have exceeded these achievements given the starting position Mr Flynn inherited and the fact that he has had very little money available to compete in the transfer market throughout his tenure. On matchdays the vocal anti-Flynn brigade seems to come from people in the 12-24 age group - although looking at one picture of the protesters in the Evening Leader most would appear at the lower end of the scale. These people will probably only remember the relatively successful period the club has experienced since Brian Flynn has taken over and as such he has become a victim of his own success with the higher expectation levels of these younger supporters. To me the problem with these fans, and some older ones, is that they have got ideas above their station and are too easily taken in by the unbalanced reporting of David Lovett and Les "One Fan Said To Me" Chamberlain in the local press. They believe in the myth that Wrexham are a sleeping giant despite the fact that it is one of the smallest towns to have a Football League club and can never be described as a "giant" when compared to the likes of Burnley, Cardiff City, Preston North End, Bristol City, Stoke City and Hull City. The average attendance quoted above tells its own story - our natural position is that of a mid table Third Division outfit, unlike Burnley, for example, who come in at 37th place in the table with an average attendance of 9,350: a mid-table First Division level.

Other supporters berate Mr Flynn because he is not open enough with the fans, that he sits in the stand during games, that he still lives in Burnley etc. So what? As long as the club continues to develop both on and off the pitch, let him get on with it. I may be wrong, but I get the impression that some of the people who make these sort of comments have a hidden agenda ie. they believe, for whatever reason, that they have a right to privileged access to the club or a say in the running of the club but have been put out because Mr Flynn chooses to do things his own way. I would include Lovett, Chamberlain and one or two Red Passion contributors in this category.

Others say that Mr Flynn has taken the club as far as he can. OK, the development of the club in terms of league position may have slowed but this is inevitable given that the club is competing against the financial odds in Division Two. However, doesn't the setting up of the new Academy this year show progress behind the scenes, which should also be considered when looking at the long-term future of the club? Presumably the people making these sort of blinkered comments would have had Dario Gradi sacked by Crewe before now. Many fans would say that those funds should be used for the acquisition of quality players rather than expenditure on the youth system, scouting and training facilities etc. Stay-away fans have always maintained that they would return if the club signed big-name players or tidied up the ground; however, in the past two seasons the club have done both with the Ian Rush signing and the Pryce Griffiths Stand being erected - neither had the desired effect of increasing attendances. Therefore, who can blame the management for investing in the youth system rather than an expensive player or two? History will tell them that we must have some of the most fickle fans in the country and if things go badly the crowds will disappear. I'm sure Pryce Griffiths remembers the cause of the decline twenty years ago and will not allow the same thing to happen again. Furthermore, an expensive player could be purchased these days and then, under Bosman, go elsewhere on a free at the end of his contract leaving the club unable to recover its capital outlay. At least a fee can be obtained for a player developed by the club until he reaches the age of 24.

In conclusion, the undeniable facts are that but for Mr Flynn it is extremely unlikely that the club would be in its current comfortable position both on and off the field. The treatment he has received from the some home supporters in the last couple of seasons has been disgraceful and at times embarrassing. Managers such as Graham Taylor and Alan Curbishley have been praised for not jeopardising the future of their clubs by recruiting players beyond their recourses and instead investing funds into the infrastructure of the club for its long-term benefit (especially post- Bosman). Brian Flynn has done this at Wrexham and the job he has done is said to be well respected within the professional game. Perhaps some supporters should take a look at the overall picture and compare us with clubs of a similar size ie. the likes of Shrewsbury, Exeter, Chester, Scunthorpe and York. (And not kid themselves that we are as big as clubs such as Preston, Burnley and Stoke). I would suggest that Wrexham would come out favourably in such a review with only Crewe Alexandra being an obvious higher achiever; and they have a manager who has had the advantage of more years in the job than Brian Flynn.

Sack Flynn? I think supporters should be thankful we still have him and hope he stays for at least another ten years. A better option would be to campaign for the sackings of Messrs Lovett and Chamberlain as some supporters do not seem capable of seeing beyond their negative approach to the club.