That funny feeling
Something has definitely shifted...
As the dust settled on Wrexham’s draw in Cambridge, with Reds reflecting on a missed opportunity against a bumbling U’s team that look well and truly doomed as far as this season is concerned, there was a sense of something lurking in the shadows.
Football League supporters were circling - like a pack of Blacon cats clapping eyes on a juicy Welsh rabbit which had absent-mindedly hopped onto the wrong side of Saltney and wandered deep into enemy territory. They were just waiting for their moment.
As soon as the Welsh dared to open their mouths and chew on those dangling carrots - the soft penalty or the ruled-out stoppage-time winner - the pack would pounce.
All at once, they came, with a vitriolic hiss: “BUTWHATABOUTJAMESMCCLEANANDSTOCKPORTYOUCHEATSWREXHAMARENOTEVENAVERAGEOILMONEY”.
We’ve gotten used to everyone else in the pyramid enjoying it when things go against Wrexham. But God help us if we dare to mention it ourselves. That’s not allowed. It’s what we deserve for having the temerity to win the lottery and then sign James McClean. And we ought to be taken down a peg or two whenever the opportunity arises.
This is all familiar stuff. The distaste for Wrexham 2.0 has been there since the National League when we were comfortably turning teams over like sausages on a barbecue, and it’s here now, as we grind out points in League One.
“There’s been nothing Hollywood about this performance,” the commentator muttered as Sam Smith scored a beautiful headed equaliser to rescue a point in Cambridge, sounding almost disappointed.
The anti-Wrexham rhetoric has been rattling around in cyberspace since time immemorial. What is new, however, is the way that Wrexham’s promotion prospects are being reviewed. Nobody outside of Y Cae Ras genuinely believed that this crop of players were quite good enough to make history, and many of our own supporters had their own doubts. But something has shifted, even despite the Cambridge draw. People aren’t talking about back-to-back-to-back like it’s a faint possibility anymore. They’re speaking like it’s probably going to happen.
The past week has seen The Athletic and BBC produce big features full of positive noises and teasing questions, and whispers of promotion among the Red Army have audibly increased to dinner conversation level. Everyone is starting to feel it: Even the old curmudgeonly types who have completed the 92 three times over and seen us snatch defeat from the jaws of victory more times than they’ve had cups of Bovril.
This mindset change seemed to happen after Exeter. We’d won, which helped, but memories of our previous visit to St James’ Park may have also played a role.
That game took place back in 2003, when Exeter City were a truly awful team. They weren’t inept or lazy or even unlucky. They just weren’t able to concentrate. And you couldn’t blame them. It was a small miracle The Grecians managed to win any games at all that season, given the financial chaos swirling around their club: If your house was at risk of being repossessed because you weren’t getting paid, the last thing you’d be able concentrate on is kicking a ball in a net.
Unsurprisingly, Exeter had sunk to the seabed of the Football League when Wrexham turned up to play them, and none of the 138 hardy Red souls who boarded the club coaches down to Devon truly believed even we could screw this one up. We did, of course, losing 1-0, and everyone absolutely went bananas. Swearing at strangers on the internet hadn’t become popular yet, so most Reds stomped around their gardens and sulked in their armchairs and rang up any radio station that could be bothered to cover Division Three to voice their frustration. Wrexham’s title credentials were in tatters. How could we expect to go up if we couldn’t beat the bottom side in the league?
But in a weird twist, the lowest moment in our season turned out to be the turning point. It proved to be a fateful, history-changing night. There were a couple of stumbles shortly afterwards - including a 3-3 draw against a dismal Shrewsbury - but we didn’t lose a single game after Exeter (A). Promotion was secured with two games to spare.
This season, we went to a much healthier Exeter City and won. Perhaps that’s a good omen for another superb sprint to the finish?
Ok, using the fortunes of a promotion-winning team in 2003 to predict the prospects of a side in 2025 is like comparing a Tamagotchi to an iPhone. But every game you see - no matter how ancient or recent - forms part of the wider experience and expectations of being a football fan. All those matchdays sort of congeal together in your brain to the point where it’s difficult to separate them.
In any case, there is a funny feeling among the Red Army right now. It’s a bit like that sensation we all got when we were promoted in 2003. And the fact that the rest of the league are all getting quite so worked up suggests they feel it too.
We’ll get a better sense of whether our instincts are right come Saturday, when Burton roll into town. Six to go.
COYR.