Send 'em to Coventry
The Reds' refusal to chill out this Christmas makes us persona non grata of the National League.
Working the Christmas shift
Some people just can’t switch off for Christmas, can they?
Most of us cheerfully indulge in the national tradition of dusting off our mitts from mid-December and declining to lift a finger again until the calendar rolls over… but some individuals find their ingrained work habits too tough to break - even at a time of year when they are expected to do sod all.
Paul Mullin, for example, refused to pause his mission to become National League top scorer - bulging the net three times on Boxing Day whilst the rest of us sat there burping our roast potatoes.
Solihull Moors’ notoriously hot-headed midfielder Kyle Storer was also reluctant to get into the Christmas spirit, with the ex-Red sent off for a murder attempt in his current side’s 5-0 festive thrashing at Y Cae Ras.
And then there were those 1,000+ members of the Red Army - who sacrificed a vital recovery Bank Holiday Monday to slog 80 miles to watch a game of football taking place on a pitch between an airport and an automotive plant.
The prospect of viewing the same fixture twice in one week might seem like a deterrent for any ordinary sports fan, but tickets for Solihull (A) were nonetheless gobbled up by Reds like pigeons scoffing leftover Cafe Nero crumbs in Wrexham town’s Queen’s Square.
And it was all worth it. Victory at Damson Park meant we triumphed in our Xmas double-header over Mini Birmingham 7-1 on aggregate - prompting Solihull’s Bandwagon fanzine to wish that Wrexham’s “absurd sideshow” would go up, up and away into League Two.
I’ve never heard Wrexham described as being “so good we’re demoralising to play” before, but Solihull are evidently keen to see us eff off.
And can you blame them, really? We’ve been in their spot before: Helplessly watching our perfectly good team get slowly left behind in the league as rich, rival chairmen deep dig into bottomless pockets to build behemothic squads and set a pace too fast for even half-decent sides to maintain. I guess we can’t expect the status quo of “prosperous clubs are the enemy” to change simply because it’s us who’ve won the lottery this time. Indeed, more insults about our big piggy bank are as likely as Darren Ferguson being appointed Peterborough manager on at least two more separate occasions before he hangs up his suit and tie.
“Send them to Coventry!” many of our division neighbours cry - and indeed that’s where Wrexham will be going next (more on that later). But it’s worth noting that not everyone in the National League wants to get rid of us. Some would actually prefer to see Wrexham stick around for the foreseeable.
Take Notts County - whose fans still won’t wipe away the leftover saliva that spilled out onto their chins following a win over Wrexham way back in October. The official Magpies Twitter page has been reposting celebrations of our tie that took place two months ago, with supporters exalting the limbs and noise as if Langstaff’s 13th minute finish were a stoppage time title winner. It’s even been dubbed the “moment of 2022” by some.
Huh. Isn’t that a bit… OTT? Don’t County always win against Wrexham at Meadow Lane in the league? Haven’t they scored plenty of bigger, better goals in the twelve weeks since that night?
At first, it seems peculiar to retrospectively add grand old lore and legend to a 1-0 win on a rainy Tuesday evening over a side who’d left their shooting boots on the bus. But thinking about it, perhaps it’s actually a mark of respect? If Notts County are quite so proud of edging past us during our worst attacking performance of the season, then we’re obviously being considered a very big rival and a very real threat. Maybe even more so now we’re back within spitting distance of top spot.
Anyway, that title friction will have to wait for now.
January is jam-packed full of fixtures and there’s a tight turnaround for our next game which happens to be in the same neck of the woods as Solihull - so close in fact that it might have been more eco-friendly for Parky’s squad to pitch up in a Midlands Premier Inn and have a few kickabouts in the car park until Saturday.
See, this weekend it’s Coventry (A) - and if the hype wasn’t quite at fever pitch after the original FA Cup draw (some saw it as a poor catch when bigger fish were available) it most certainly is now.
Cov manager Mark Robins’ confirmation that he will put out a “different team” - football speak for resting big players - has made the dream of a huge scalp more tangible.
Granted, the ground will probably be cold and half-empty. And the city surrounding the River Sherbourne isn’t exactly Venice. But Cov are a big club playing in a big stadium - and the Red atmosphere in those Sky Blue seats will be absolutely bouncing come Saturday tea time.
There’ll be a lot of eyes on this one - including legend of both clubs Andy Morrell, who will probably be in amongst the crowd somewhere wearing a half-and-half shirt, cheering and booing every goal.
Maybe this could be another glorious page for Wrexham’s FA Cup scrapbook? It’s about time we reached the promised land of that fourth round again…