Programmes

& fanzines

Pile them up in the spare bedroom

Season 2000-2001 (so far)

Northampton (30 Sep) by Daniel Jennings

Cost: £2.
Pages: 80 including covers.
Good things: Everything. 
Bad things: None.
Bizarre things: The picture of Brian Flynn in a Wrexham shirt (possibly '91-2 or '92-3).
Great one-liner: 'Good afternoon and welcome back to Sixfields for the first of what should have been two successive home games.' (Kevin Wilson, Northampton manager, Page 4).
Verdict: 10 out of 10.

FANZINE
What A Load Of Cobblers!!
All we could locate was a rather chunky 1993 edition of WALOC!! It's the March-April edition, actually - Volume 5 Issue 5 - and it is priced £1. In 50-odd pages there's a lot of content, quite neatly laid out. There's a rather obscure picture 'joke' on the front cover and a few nicely-drawn cartoons. The fanzine sells itself as a 'fine attempt at literary greatness' (p.2) and, in general, it is. 
Peter Davies


Carmarthen (3 Oct) by Gareth Davies

Cost: £1.
Pages: 32 (including cover).
Good things: Lots and lots of information contained within the pages, with only six for adverts. A lot of Wrexham coverage (eight pages). A lot of different fonts as well - which made it easy to read. The price too.
Bad things: No pics - and the gold paper the whole programme was printed on.
Bizarre things: The number of articles about Wrexham seemed to outnumber the number of articles about Carmarthen.
Great one-liner: 'Talking of the best, Brian Flynn is one of the best, and is one of the Football League's longest serving managers, which is in itself an achievement in an age where sacking managers is the norm.'
Verdict: Very good. Lots of info in its pages and well worth the £1 price.

Oxford (14 Oct) by Dean Domerecki

Cost: £2.
Pages: 32 (ie. thin).
Good things: Has the feel of a small-time, homely club (now why do I like that?) evidenced by such things as community-based schemes, local radio reporter obituary and fan profile. Good website review! Amazingly, the Wrexham player profile fails to mention Dave Ridler's previous life as a chef.
Bad things: Has the feel of a small-time, homely club (now why don't I like that?) evidenced by pervasive wittering about who will be the next manager, as if that will make any difference. Football Information Services' baroque exuberance includes a hospital chart showing that, while the Wrexham patient is making a fighting recovery, the Oxford patient will shortly be on his way to Ward 13.
Bizarre things: Oxford's main sponsor is Domino, and dominoes are chiefly known for…? The Oxford physio has so many letters after his name that he is either a serial student or a Boer War veteran, and there is apparently the post of 'Stadium Manager' at Oxford. Stadium? Really? There is also an item on fruit in the diet, always welcome, and the 'A to Z' of United is written by a 'voluntary contributor', raising an interesting question.
Great one-liner: Mike Ford, caretaker manager: 'We have got a game on Tuesday; whether you will be reading my notes or someone else's I don't know…' Pathetic, yes or no? You decide.
Verdict: Entertaining in unintended ways.

FANZINE
www.oxtales.com
We couldn't find a fanzine in mid-October, but we did become aware of the oxtales.com website. We also noticed that the people behind the website predicted, in a pre-season magazine supplement, that 'the insecurity of not knowing the future has held the club back for too long'. Worrying. 
Peter Davies

Reading (17 Oct) by Daniel Jennings

Cost: £2.30.
Pages: 60 including covers.
Good things: The Wrexham section - unusual layout. Actual match reports. 'Blast from the Past' - a look back at the '83-4 season. Match reports on reserve games. 
Bad things: The quiz - very poor and very home team-friendly. Lack of info on away trips. And, the line-ups are shown rather than the squads (so they're wrong as ever).
Bizarre things: The price.
Great one-liner: 'Emad Bouanane: A tall defender who gets forward as much as possible' 
Verdict: 8 out of 10.

FANZINE
Uri You Bender!
This is the first fanzine I have ever looked at, inspected, and analysed…and still been slightly unsure as to its name. I've plumped for Uri You Bender! because these three words are vaguely towards the top of the front cover. There's also no price, date or page numbers evident. What's going on? This mag is full of cryptic, over-elaborate and rather cliquey jokes - quite tricky for a non-Reading fan to understand. But there's one moment of undisputed class. 'The View from Row Z' (last page) finishes with a cute PS: 'If you're reading this, Kate Winslet, the seat next to me is still free.' KW is the big 'celebrity' Reading fan and she's just got married, and had a baby, so I don't think she'll be joining our sad friend in Row Z. 
Peter Davies

Wales v Norway (7 Oct) by Gareth Davies

Cost: £2.
Pages: 48.
Good things: Size and price. Lots of info.
Bad things: Maybe too many adverts.
Bizarre things: The ad for the new FAW website (www.faw.org.uk) had Iwan Roberts on it? Why, when you have Giggs, do you use Roberts to advertise things?
Great one-liner: From the programme when Wales played in Belarus: 'Let's start the battle! Let His Majesty Football be triumphant! The game worshipped by millions of fans. Let holiday come to Belarus fans!'
Verdict: Excellent - well worth £2.

Barnsley Under-19s v Wrexham Under 19s (23 Sep) by Peter Davies

Cost: 20p.
Pages: It was basically a double-sided piece of A4 folded in two.
Good things: That there was a programme at all for this encounter. It's also bilingual - pretty good for a football club based in the South Yorkshire. Oh, and it was designed and produced by a Barnsley-based Wrexham fan, Nigel Hanks, who is also a goalkeeping coach at BFC. Good effort, sir!
Bad things: Not applicable.
Bizarre things: Barnsley's No.16 is called Robbie Williams. 
Great one-liner: 'Club Pel Droed Barnsley U19 v Club Pel Droed Wrecsam.'
Verdict: Fantastic, heart-warming effort.