Twitter Drama, Caps, and a PotM
It has been a busy few days for the squad. Here's a roundup of what's been going on off the pitch.
There’s been no match for the first team since my last newsletter, but a lot has been going on off the pitch for Wrexham in the last few days. In this bonus Wreader, I’ve rounded up some of the club’s top stories for you.
Racecourse Lease to be Surrendered
On Monday Wrexham AFC and the Wrexham Supporters Trust made announcements revealing that the WST would be holding a meeting on 12/4 recommending their membership approve the club’s proposed surrender of the Racecourse’s lease, allowing for construction to the Kop stand to resume.
Wrexham’s statement read, in part:
The Club were delighted to be informed that the Directors of the Wrexham Football Supporter’s Society Limited (‘WST’) would be recommending to their membership that they should accept our proposal to surrender the lease for The Racecourse Ground.
The surrender of the lease is required by the Club to enable the funding for the Kop Development / UEFA Stadium Category 4 status to be secured.
The Wrexham Supporter’s Trust echoed the club’s sentiments:
The Trust Board is pleased to announce that negotiations with the Club have progressed well with regard to the proposed surrender of the existing lease to the Racecourse Ground, to be replaced by a legally binding covenant so that the Ground will only be used as the home football stadium of Wrexham AFC’s men’s first team until 30 June 2115.
(The club has since clarified that the new deal would also allow for the women’s side to play at the Racecourse.)
If you’re a little confused why the proposed surrender of the lease is a good thing, Rob and Ryan’s portion of the club’s statement does a pretty good job clearing that up:
Our legacy at the Club will not be defined while we are its custodians, so we wanted to address the anomaly in the WST lease for the Racecourse Ground that did not include the requirement for the team to actually play at the stadium, only not allow it to be used for any other purpose. We didn’t want anyone in the future to be able to exploit that position.
The payment of £187,000, is an equivalent amount to that contributed by fans to save the Club. To know that we will provide the funding to effectively pay everyone back who contributed to save the Club is worth every penny and gives us a great deal of satisfaction.
We would appeal to the 824 members who have a vote, to do so in favour of the proposal and allow the Club to continue on this wonderful journey we are all on
So while the official vote has yet to take place, it seems like the WST will be passing the resolution at the 12/4 meeting and Wrexham can begin the long-awaited replacement of the Kop stand, along with other developments to help increase the capacity and quality of the stadium, which will be a requirement in order for the club to be a candidate for the Championship and Premier League, should all our dreams come true.
Swansea City Women 2 - 1 Wrexham AFC
It was a double loss last weekend as the Wrexham Women dropped their visit to Swansea City, losing 2-1. Carra Jones had their lone goal of the match, scoring on a Amber Lightfoot rebound, who had her initial effort saved. The halftime whistle saw the reds leading, but Swansea bounced back with a two goal second half that Wrexham couldn’t overcome. They remain in second on the table but are now six points back from Cardiff City Women FC. With Swansea’s win, they tie Wrexham with 16 points.
Drama with Accrington Stanley
Following the match with Accrington Stanley last weekend, a number of storylines have developed online. The first involves a new beef with Accrington Stanley owner Andy Holt. Before the match, Accrington announced it would be increasing the price of admission, just for that match, by £5. Wrexham responded by announcing that in response to Accrington’s price change, they would be lowering the price of admission for the two clubs’ meeting at the Racecourse by £5.
Initially, Holt’s response to this was respectful and mature:
But after the match, he fired off this little number:
Not only is it an apparent about face in terms of his attitude, it’s also just an all-around terrible clap back. First, he discredits the club with the ‘hollywood’ comment - fine, lots of opposing fans are calling the club sellouts and other weakly conceived insults following the takeover. Personally, I’d encourage Holt to challenge himself to be more creative with his insults, but to each their own. Then there’s the ‘Netflix’ comment, to which I’d say: look, bud, if you’re going to attack the club based on the documentary alone, at least get the network right.
Also: all this comes after a win. Not only did they beat Wrexham, but the dragons sort of fell apart in the second half. It ended up being a decisive victory for you, but you’re still hot about being called out for your pricing faux pas? Because the response to the situation on X and elsewhere has been overwhelming negative for Holt and very positive for Wrexham.
Sadly, Wrexham’s fans didn’t all act positively at Accrington Stanley.
Wrexham released a statement on Tuesday asking for help in identifying Wrexham supporters that threw objects at Accrington goalkeeper Jon McCracken. It reads, in part:
We have a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviour at Wrexham AFC matches, home or away. We have been delighted by the fantastic support we have received this season, and would like to thank all involved for that. However, we would like to remind all people attending matches that anybody found guilty of engaging in unacceptable behaviour will face the strictest punishments available to us as a Football Club.
That part of the story is still developing, but taken in conjunction with the war of words that’s unfolding with the Accrington owner, I’d say the profile of the two clubs next meeting, currently scheduled for March 2nd, has been significantly raised.
Steve Jones’ Departure
“The Voice of the Racecourse,” Steve Jones, announced suddenly this week that he was no longer associated with the club:
Official details remain scant, but judging by some of the responses to Steve’s announcement it looks like a fair possibility that Steve was sacked or otherwise pushed out by Rob and Ryan. Many fans have taken the news quite negatively, implying that Rob, Ryan, and Humphrey and painting a rosy picture with Welcome to Wrexham while acting quite differently in real life. However, based on what many other people have said, it seems Jones could be quite difficult to understand on the mic at times and has been prone to mistakes or mistimed announcements for quit awhile. From what I’ve seen, it seems to me that Jones has maybe stayed on the mic longer than he should have and this move is nothing more than an uncomfortable growing pain for a club that is continuing to see unprecedented international attention for a League Two team.
But Jones has been with the club for years, taking over the PA announcer job from his father, so the disappointment and heartbreak from longtime local fans is expected and understandable.
Wrexham have yet to make a statement on the matter.
Mendy Earns First Cap
Jacob Mendy was absent from the Accrington Stanley match as he was called up for international duty for Gambia. He’d been called up before, but had yet to feature in a match. Well he got his debut vs Ivory Coast in their World Cup Qualification match on 11/20. Mendy was named to the starting XI and played 90 full minutes, only being subbed out for stoppage time. Gambia lost the match 0-2, dropping to fifth in Group F. Gambia will be in the Africa Cup of Nations come January, so we’ll see if Mendy gets the call again for Africa’s top cup competition. Group F’s World Cup qualification battle won’t resume until June.
McClean Caps International Career
While one dragon began his international career, another ended his. As previously announced, James McClean played is 103rd and final match for the Republic of Ireland on Monday, playing 66 minutes in Stephen Kenny’s starting XI. Playing left back, he had 57 touches and created 3 chances in his final international appearance, but was denied a sendoff goal by a block just nine minutes into the contest. Before kickoff, McClean took to the pitch with three of his children to bid farewell to the fans.
Elliot Lee: PFA Fans Player of the Month
The fans have spoken and voted Wrexham star Elliot Lee as the Professional Footballers Association League Two Fans Player of the Month for October. Lee has been indispensable for Wrexham this year (and really since he joined the club), contributing three goals to the dragons’ undefeated month, and has more than earned the award. Can Wrexham’s top scorer go back-to-back in November?
