You can come back in now…
Sorry, we got a bit restless there. But we’re feeling good now. Right?
Spring in our step
“The standard is really poor, isn’t it?” sneered the business exec, swirling his Rioja and shaking his head at the grubby live stream of Forest Green Rovers vs Wrexham playing out on the laptop in front of him.
Cast away in corporate exile at a work event in Spain, iFollow was the only means of matchday access for this author last week, and one of the suits attending the same conference had settled in beside me to watch.
“Yeah, this is really shit,” he concluded with a large gulp.
No matter how many times this man was assured Wrexham had actually played their part in some glorious games this season with some stupendous football to boot, he could not be convinced. By the second half he had lost all interest and became far more focused on ensuring he did not see the bottom of his wine glass for the rest of the evening, filling it with red liquid every 10 minutes.
You can’t blame the chap. Only the poor souls who attended that Willy Wonka in a warehouse experience can claim to have suffered a bigger waste of their hard-earned cash than those who tuned in or turned up to last Tuesday’s tie at The New Lawn.
FGR (A) had the familiar look and feel of all those exhausting slogs we grumbled through during the grimmest days of being a Red: An era when anyone who dared to poke their heads around the door of an online Wrexham forum felt like they’d stumbled into an episode of Always Sunny - with everyone shouting and ranting and raving over the top of one another at blistering speed.
When the football isn’t going to plan here, a black cloud whooshes into North Wales and casts a dark shadow until the next victory. The community and club are simpatico - if Wrexham AFC are winning, come on down to the high street and party with us. If they’re not, then you better leave us the hell alone.
It’s always worse when there’s nobody obvious to blame, of course. For weeks, Pele Mullin has been uncharacteristically quiet up top. Lee’s explosive impact has been reduced to rare flashes of brilliance. Ollie has been non-existent. There’s been no main culprit or clear answer as to why our form has dipped.
Back in 06/07, when our superb start in League Two inexplicably came to a jolting halt with a couple of five-goal pastings, then-manager Denis Smith admitted: “If I was a fan I would want to know what was happening. In fact, I'd love to know myself!”
He never did figure it out. Accrington rolled into town in January, turned us over, and Smith was sacked a few days later.
The circumstances around Stanley’s most recent visit to Y Cae Ras on Saturday 2nd March 2024 were similar in a sense. Fans arrived unable to guess which Wrexham team would turn up, hoping for the best but sort of expecting the worst. Our confidence was wobbly.
Everyone from the manager to the comms team to the cleaning lady was critiqued in some way, shape or form last week - a symptom of frustration as the Reds suddenly stopped firing on all cylinders.
Accrington are nothing to shout about this season - as hard as their gasbag chairman might try to claim otherwise - but they arrived in North Wales fancying their chances.
More fool them. And more fool us.
Turns out Paul Mullin is still Super after all. Elliot’s toes do still twinkle. Palmer is still the battering ram we remembered him to be.
It was easy. And it felt like the real Wrexham again. A full house, a sea of scarves, and three mighty points.
It’s safe now. Come on back to Wrexham. We’ve all calmed down. Promise. The footy is fine, spring is here, and we’re all optimists again.
In fact, we’re off Shrimping on Saturday. Tag along for the day, why don't you? It’s a great chance for Parky’s boys to put on a show and remind everyone that our standards aren’t actually shit in the slightest.
After all the recent panic, successfully climbing onto the League Two podium suddenly seems more akin to reaching the top of Pen-Y-Bryn than Yr Wyddfa.
Funny what a difference a few days can make, eh?