On the Left Wing
KIT NAPIER
Just got in and some time before bed eventually takes me, to write a very short report on tonight’s episode of this strange love affair between Wrexham FC and Brighton and Hove Albion – the FA Cup Second Round tie between Scunthorpe United and the Red Dragons.
But before I begin can I caution everybody that when we eventually build Falmer, we take a good look at Scunny’s new stadium (Glanford Park – opened in 1988) – it is a living example of how NOT to build a new stadium. A sad soulless excuse of a place which resembles a subbuteo stadium and when even almost full (as it was tonight) generates little atmosphere – apparently “built on the cheap” and it shows!
Anyway, as we all know today was the day Wrexham FC were sadly put into administration and thereby docked 10 points by the Football League – a day when anyone who is a Dragon’s fan would have been immersed in grief and reflection.
But I knew they were planning something special for the match, which had nothing to do with the FA Cup and Scunthorpe or their own plight, but everything to do with live Sky TV coverage and Brighton and Hove Albion.
The highlights were from the 500 plus Wrexham fans gathered in the damp winter air of the away end:
1. Over 300 blue and white balloons launched into the air at kick-off! You should have seen the dumb struck look on the Scunny fans faces as they tried to puzzle out the equation Wrexham = Red and Black so why blue and white?
2. Then as the first anti welsh chants went up from the Scunny fans, an immediate repost of “Stand up if you love Brighton” bettered only by a spontaneous chant of Seagulls, Seagulls, Seagulls some 10 minutes later. (And don’t forget the two Brighton fans in attendance were quite anonymous!)
3. Then the display of a fantastic professionally made banner (akin to our millennium stadium one) which simply says: WREXHAM 4 FALMER
4. Bettered only the second half when seven members of the WST took the banner to the front row behind the goal and held it aloft for the TV cameras whenever the ball was in 40 yards of our end!
The handshakes and smiles are now par for the course … but there really is something special going on here.
Thank you Wrexham so much – I wish all football was like this!
PS. Like a complete dick I left my camera in the car, but thankfully Neil (Glyndwr Red) took a load of pix which he has promised to email me and I’ll post a few up here later ….
But before I begin can I caution everybody that when we eventually build Falmer, we take a good look at Scunny’s new stadium (Glanford Park – opened in 1988) – it is a living example of how NOT to build a new stadium. A sad soulless excuse of a place which resembles a subbuteo stadium and when even almost full (as it was tonight) generates little atmosphere – apparently “built on the cheap” and it shows!
Anyway, as we all know today was the day Wrexham FC were sadly put into administration and thereby docked 10 points by the Football League – a day when anyone who is a Dragon’s fan would have been immersed in grief and reflection.
But I knew they were planning something special for the match, which had nothing to do with the FA Cup and Scunthorpe or their own plight, but everything to do with live Sky TV coverage and Brighton and Hove Albion.
The highlights were from the 500 plus Wrexham fans gathered in the damp winter air of the away end:
1. Over 300 blue and white balloons launched into the air at kick-off! You should have seen the dumb struck look on the Scunny fans faces as they tried to puzzle out the equation Wrexham = Red and Black so why blue and white?
2. Then as the first anti welsh chants went up from the Scunny fans, an immediate repost of “Stand up if you love Brighton” bettered only by a spontaneous chant of Seagulls, Seagulls, Seagulls some 10 minutes later. (And don’t forget the two Brighton fans in attendance were quite anonymous!)
3. Then the display of a fantastic professionally made banner (akin to our millennium stadium one) which simply says: WREXHAM 4 FALMER
4. Bettered only the second half when seven members of the WST took the banner to the front row behind the goal and held it aloft for the TV cameras whenever the ball was in 40 yards of our end!
The handshakes and smiles are now par for the course … but there really is something special going on here.
Thank you Wrexham so much – I wish all football was like this!
PS. Like a complete dick I left my camera in the car, but thankfully Neil (Glyndwr Red) took a load of pix which he has promised to email me and I’ll post a few up here later ….
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