Letter from America

... or from Flint to Foster City (or thereabouts)

By the time you read this, I should be back in Britain and attending our home league fixture against Stoke. As I prepare to come back for my week-long trip it's made me a bit nostalgic for the Racecourse, away trips, and other favourite Wrexham memories. Probably my favourite away trip of recent years was seeing Wrexham's Reserves lose to Newcastle United's Reserves in a Pontins League Division Two fixture at Kingston Park on Monday September 14th 1998. The reason why this game sticks in my mind so much is that I had the privilege of travelling to this match on the team coach with all the players and staff. This opportunity came about as a result of me donating some money to sponsor Wrexham's Reserves two seasons ago - and their coach Joey Jones invited me along to an away fixture.

Well, the day got off on the wrong foot altogether when me and my mate Simon actually missed the team coach leaving the Racecourse. This was caused by a number of factors; one was our need to stop off for breakfast at a cafe after Simon and his wife had an argument about who was waling the dog, making breakfast, and ironing his shirt. However, after being suitably refreshed and in plenty of time, we encountered some serious road works between Flint and Wrexham which caused us to run late. As we reached the ground we saw an unmarked coach parked on the opposite side of the road. We drove round to the Club Shop to tell Commercial Manager Allan Thomas that we had arrived and were ready. Unfortunately, by the time we'd parked up and walked back out onto Mold Road, the coach had gone! Thus ensued a mad chase in Simon's car trying to catch the team coach up and flag it down. After haring down the dual-carriageway for quite a while trying to catch the coach, we realised that unless the coach driver was seriously breaking the speed limit we should have passed them. Then I thought: what if they've gone to Colliers Park to do another pick-up? 

So we turned the car around and five minutes later, as we headed back, we saw the coach pass us going in the opposite direction down the dual-carriageway ie. going in the direction we expected them to go in the first place. So we turned round yet again and put our foot down in order to reach the next services to find a phone-box to phone Allan Thomas. Allan duly gave me the coach driver's mobile phone number so I could ring him and tell him that we were right behind them. I spoke to the coach driver who put me on to Brian Flynn, who said they would be stopping to pick up Ian Rush at a service station (which I believe, if I remember rightly, was somewhere near Leeds). Anyway, we duly caught them up, parked the car, and boarded the coach. As we got towards Newcastle we stopped off at a small hotel for lunch. The Wrexham youngsters and Phil Hardy sat on one table and had omelette and baked beans, while Simon and I sat with Brian Flynn, Joey Jones and Ian Rush on another table. Lunch was very nice with Brian telling us about one of his former teammates who was an expert on baked beans. He could tell all the different brands simply by their taste, if I remember rightly. Joining us at the end of the meal was a young trialist called Jonathan Palmer who was at university and had recently had a trial with Sheffield United. The ever-courteous Mr Flynn then poured us all a cup of tea saying: 'Shall I be mother?' - and went to fax through the paperwork so that Jonathan was registered to play that evening. 

We duly arrived at Kingston Park and the players and staff went about their business while Simon and I settled in the bar where ex-England rugby star Rob Andrew was. The match kicked off with a Wrexham side of Walsh, Cooper, Hardy, Jones (yes, Joey played), Steve Roberts, Mazzarella, Hughes, Griffiths, Rishworth, Palmer, Thomas. Newcastle fielded a very strong team with the likes of Paul Dalglish and Stuart Elliott in their side - and the likes of Bjarni Gudjonsson and a certain Mr Paul Barrett on the bench. The game itself was fairly even with both sides playing quick, short, passing football. Not having seen a reserve team match before, I was surprised at the speed of the game. During the half-time interval I went up to the newly-appointed Ruud Gullit, who was giving Newcastle's reserve team the once-over, and said: 'I hope you're keeping an eye on that young Wrexham number-four - Jones. He's a good prospect!' During the second half, Simon and I were a little bit unnerved by the fact that the Newcastle fans kept turning round and looking at us. 'What is their problem?' Simon exclaimed. Then Paul Dalglish scored and everybody turned round and looked in our direction, so we turned round too - and sitting in the seats directly behind us were Kenny Dalglish and his minder. We'd obviously missed Kenny when he sat down behind us. Newcastle went on to win the game, but the young lads of Wrexham put up a good display. 

However, my favourite memory of the entire night was the sight of Brian Flynn handing out loads of bags of fish and chips to everybody on the coach on the way back. They were very good fish and chips too! Everybody involved with the club made it a fantastic day. For instance, Joey took the trouble to sit and chat with us on the way up on the coach, telling us many funny tales from his playing days that will hopefully make it into his book. (See the Rob McCaffrey interview elsewhere in this issue for further details). Brian Flynn was also the most friendly and courteous person you could ever wish to meet too. When I eventually got to my bed that night, I lay there thinking it was kind of

surreal to have sat around a table having lunch with Ian Rush, Brian Flynn and Joey Jones - three of Wales' all-time greats. (Incidentally, if anybody needs reminding of Brian's skill as a player, buy the Alan Hansen Introduces the Welsh video. I got it for £4.99 from the bargain bin in WH Smiths in Worcester. It's got some good footage of Brian at his peak).

Cheers

Gareth Collins