Mickey Thomas writes EXCLUSIVELY for Red Passion

I can’t help thinking that Wrexham, and their current performances, are a strange mixture. In the Cup games they’ve been outstanding, but in the League they’re struggling and they were obviously very disappointing at Reading; they just seemed to lie down. That said though, I was at the Man City game and I thought they were very unlucky. City looked a poor team; Wrexham dominated – but they just couldn’t score. I think everyone knows that it’s only hard work that can get Wrexham out of trouble now. Brian knows the situation – he’s got to get the team to perform. After a few defeats a team’s confidence can go, and I sense this is what’s happening at the moment. But Joey and Kev will keep everybody going and Rushie’s experience could be vital as well. Everyone’s just got to battle. We also need a bit of luck.

My mate Rushie’s had a lot of injuries recently; I also think he’s been unlucky in front of goal in recent games. He needs quality service though and I’m sure he’ll come through. You’ve got to remember that it was his hard work that helped set up Wrexham’s fourth goal against Scunthorpe. And he’s a model professional; he’s played in this left-sided role when it’s been needed – he’ll do whatever he’s asked to do. He’s still in good spirits. And anyway the performance of the team is far more important to him than his own individual performance. I know Wrexham aren’t scoring goals. I know Rushie hasn’t scored yet, but you shouldn’t have to rely on him totally. Carey and Humes have both been out with injuries – and I think that’s been quite a significant factor in the the side’s poor form recently. I’d also say Wrexham need to bring two or three players in; they look a bit light at present and do need strengthening – someone, in particular, who can give Rushie some supply. Saying that though, I really liked Cooke – but he’s gone now. He was a clever player and provided some good service.

Scunthorpe was a great game. I thought we were going to lose it, but fair dos, Connolly’s hat-trick was well taken. But that was the Cup, and in the League we’ve got to start picking up points sooner or later – it’s really going to be a dogfight. I was disappointed with the Cup draw that pitted us against Huddersfield. They’re not the most glamorous of sides – and they’ll be very hard to beat. Under Peter Jackson and Terry Yorath they’ve become an extremely hardworking team, and take it from me, it will be a difficult game. Huddersfield had horrendous problems last season, but the Jackson-Yorath combination was very effective in getting the club out of trouble. I played with Terry a lot – and a great player and also a good manager with Wales. But let’s hope Terry’s side don’t get it together against us…

I’ve heard about these Connolly rumours – bids of three-quarters of a million quid, or even a million, for him. It’s obviously good money, but I really don’t think that Wrexham can sell in their current situation - they need to be bringing players in. We’ve got to stay up. It would be an absolute nightmare if we went down. The club’s done so much good work – on the fabulous youth system and on the training ground - which would look very silly in Division 3. We’ve got to trust Brian. What would be the point in changing anything? None at all; Brian’s been there before and he knows how to react. It would be wrong to make any changes now. It’s easy for people to knock the team when they’re down. It’s stupid to call for Flynn’s head – you’ve got to give him a chance.

I’ve been doing a lot of media work recently: TV, radio, newspapers, Red Passion – I really enjoy it. Even Channel 4 rang me up recently. They’re doing a big documentary on famous old players. I said I’d be in touch! I’m doing a lot of work with MUTV at the moment. They’ve even asked me to interview Rushie for one of their programmes. That’ll be a big change – asking questions rather than answering them! I also do this thing with Marcher Sound where I predict the results of six weekend games. I had a good week recently: I said Arsenal would draw with Liverpool – they did – and Blackburn would beat Leeds, with Gillespie being the star man. And guess what? Blackburn won and Gillespie scored!

I was down in Cardiff recently for the Welsh Sports Personality of the Year awards do. That was nice. I went down with my daughter Jade and we had a good trip. Iwan Thomas won, but I only caught sight of him for a split-second; he was so quick he was past me before I could have a word with him… Robbie Savage and Bobby Gould were both at the ceremony. That was interesting! They did this publicity stunt thing where they shook hands in front of everyone. Good stuff. It was nice to go down to Cardiff; they really looked after us…

I’ve played a few games recently for Amlwch. I’m still playing as much as I can – you shouldn’t ever give up. I’m slower – obviously – but I still love it. One match in particular was an epic: Camaes Bay, who are in a higher league, in the cup. It went to extra time, so that means I played for 120 minutes. Incredible! Not bad for a 44-year-old – I amazed even myself. We were 3-1 up with ten minutes to go – but lost 6-4 eventually. I was knackered. It was a nice game to watch from the sidelines though…

I’ve also got a few after-dinner events lined up in the next few weeks. Joey and me are going down to Cardiff to do Carl Dale’s testimonial dinner; we’ve got another one scheduled for Newport as well. Joey’s used to it all – he’s brilliant.

I bumped into Les Chamberlain from the Leader at the Scunthorpe game. I’ve not spoken to him for a while, but he shook my hand and said he loved my column in the last edition of Red Passion. He said it was fantastic! That can’t be bad can it?

People keep asking me about referees and some of the dodgy decisions that have been made in some big matches recently. I’ve got to say though that I’m not really in favour of video refs or whatever they’re called. Football’s about blood and thunder, about pace and excitement. I just think that refering every key decision to a ref in the stands would be boring. Referees are human and they’ll make mistakes – like all of us. That’s the way it should stay. And do you know why all Americans are fat? It’s because you get all those time-outs in American football and in other sports. They’ve got so much time to hang around that they just eat hamburgers all the time. That’s the reason. And that’s the reason we shouldn’t have video refs and time-outs.

My only new year’s resolution is to see Wrexham do well and get out of trouble. Can I just also hello to my mate Peter Williams – the goalkeeping coach at Sunderland. I hope he’s now got a bird…!

Cheers,