Gary Glitter

No. 3 – Gary Bennett

Gareth Davies salutes the one-and-only Benno…

Seeing as I have only really been supporting Wrexham since the Arsenal FA Cup game there is one person who stick out in my mind above all others when I think of the last few years...one Gary Bennett.

As most of you will know Benno signed for us in the summer of 1992 from arch rivals Chester City. "What does Flynnie think he's doing signing him?" we all asked. We needn't have worried. "Psycho" as he was affectionately nicknamed, soon won us over with the amount of goals he scored. He went from Chester reject to cult Kop hero in the space of a couple of months. A hatrick against Bury really signalled his arrival. That season Gary scored 23 times, which of course included the two which won us promotion at Northampton. He was a true hero and we all wondered whether he would me able to score as many in the Second Division as he had in the Third.

Benno somehow managed to score 39 goals that season, more than we could ever have imagined. My highlight being the hat-trick against Hull City in the league. Psycho was becoming more popular with the fans and as you went to games you always thought you had a chance ‘cos Benno would usually score. He had an infectious will to win, which was demonstrated in a Benno inspired fightback against Nottingham Forest in the Coca-Cola Cup. We had tailored our whole game plan around this one man... make sure we get the ball to him in the box and he'll do the rest.

I suppose 1994-95 was the peak of Benno at the Racecourse. 47 goals, including 2 in perhaps his best moment in a Wrexham shirt when he scored the

goals that beat Cardiff City in the Welsh Cup Final. The season's haul included a lot of penalties... Our Gary was getting a reputation for falling over in the area...we loved it, but opposition fans saw it has a reason to hate our star man. Also his goal celebrations were annoying opposition fans... to this day I still fail to understand what annoyed the Rotherham fans about the cigar smoking one!!!

My favourite memory was the goal against Ipswich. OK it was only a penalty, but it defeated a Premiership team and gave us the chance to go to Old Trafford. Who will ever forget him taking the mick out of Schmeichel in front of the adoring Wrexham fans??? Then in July 1995 the unthinkable happened. Psycho moved to Tranmere for £300,000...and really who could blame him? In three seasons he had scored 109 goals for us, now he wanted to try his luck at a higher level.

We never really replaced Benno, not just his goalscoring ability but the character of the guy. The fans have never worshipped anyone like him since. OK Karl is a far superior player skill-wise but he isn't so much a fans player. Benno just knew what made us tick...he'd been on the terraces, and he shared the highs and lows with us. Wrexham was in his blood, and Benno eventually returned, kissing the penalty spot on his arrival back at the Racecourse. However, even Gary Bennett couldn't stop us losing to Chesterfield. The highlight of the brief second spell was scoring a last minute winner to virtually relegate Shrewsbury which endeared him even further to his Salopian fan club. They say never go back though...and in some ways this might have been best, with Benno leaving under a cloud after an alleged (got to cover myself here) dressing room bust-up, and returning to Chester.

Still though we had one last meeting with Gary. Two minutes from the end of a glorious FA Cup victory against Chester, the away end were singing "Psycho, what's the score?" Benno duly obliged by signalling 0-2 with his hands. This was the signal for the whole away end to bid an emotional farewell to Benno, something they'd wanted to do since he first left, by singing old favourites such as "Psycho, Psycho" and "There's only one Gary Bennett". Benno responded with a simple clap. It was a nice way to say goodbye to a man who gave his all for our club. It is sad to see him now looking so ill and old. There's just one thing left to say: GARY - THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.

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