Wrexham 2 Sutton United 1
League 2
Tuesday 24 October 2023
The context
League ground number 89 of the current 92 for us (although I did actually come here many years ago for a pre-season friendly against Joe Royle’s nascent Oldham team). Tickets had – thanks to Wrexham’s new-found glamour – proved hard to come by, and this meant we would be watching tonight’s top v bottom game with our good friends from Surrey.
The history
Victorian Wrexham was a busy place. The Industrial Revolution had been quick to take hold here; John “Iron Mad” Wilkinson opened his Bersham Ironworks in 1762, and later built Brymbo Steelworks. These enterprises drove increased prosperity at Minera’s lead mines, and within a century the Denbighshire coalfield would operate no fewer than 38 collieries. Wrexham pits once produced 13,000 tonnes of coal every year and employed more than 10,000 miners.
Favourable geological conditions also made this area highly attractive to brewers. Sand and gravel layers filter water – both hard and soft – that builds up on impervious rocks beneath. Hard water contains a high mineral content suitable for brewing beer; soft water’s fewer minerals are ideal lager ingredients. Nineteen breweries had sprung up in Wrexham by the 1860s, and Chester to Shrewsbury stagecoaches were often delayed by impromptu pub stops.
The Wrexham Lager Beer Company – founded by German immigrants from Saxony and Bohemia – became England’s first lager producer. They famously supplied the British Army at Khartoum and subsequently operated here for over a century. Traditional drinkers, meanwhile, preferred Border Ales. This brewery lasted until 1984; you can still visit the Nags Head on Tuttle Street, where its chimney still stands.
Railways arrived during 1844. Wrexham General opened on the Chester to Shrewbury line, which also branched to Brymbo and Minera (“General” was used by the Great Western Railway for a town’s principal station – Shrewsbury, Cardiff and Chester also had this suffix). Wrexham Central continues in service; another station, Wrexham Exchange, eventually merged with General and became its current Platform 4.
This heady combination of trains and beer turned Wrexham into an early Welsh version of Ayia Napa. The nearby racecourse soon became notorious; according to one contemporary source, “drunkardness and vice were encouraged to a terrible extent”. The site had started out hosting fairs, and also staged cricket matches. When – after the adjacent Turf Hotel became their headquarters – newly-formed Wrexham AFC began playing there, its race-track proved handy for people to stand on.
We of a certain age remember the 1970s as Wrexham’s finest hour. They climbed from Division Four – their accustomed level – to mid-table in the second tier. There were also two promotions, along with FA Cup and (as Welsh Cup holders) European Cup-Winners’ Cup quarter finals. The Racecourse regularly hosted high-profile matches against top sides. These included (among others) FC Zurich, Hadjuk Split, Anderlecht, Arsenal, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.
Success – and the ground’s increasing use by Wales – required more seats, but for some time Wrexham had to rely on what Simon Inglis calls “one of the oddest stands ever”. This stood atop their uncovered end terrace and comprised the demolished Majestic Cinema’s re-roofed upper balcony. Popular legend remembers it as the Pigeon Loft, but many Wrexham fans used simply “Crispin Lane” or “Bushfield”:
During normal league games you could go and sit up there for nothing. If a game was ticketed (like a big cup game) you would pay a premium. All the bootboys and main chanters would congregate under there. When it started raining during a game, everyone in the Crispin Lane End (which was rarely full) would relocate themselves underneath, forming a tightly packed, square mass of damp, smoking, tea-spilling bodies. When it stopped raining everyone would drift back to their original positions.
The journey
Wrexham lies roughly half-way between our houses, so we drove separately and arrived within ten minutes of each other. The ground is hemmed in by railway lines and residents-only roads, but free parking can be found on Crispin Lane if you arrive early enough and don’t mind sitting in gridlock afterwards. No doubt an out-of-town relocation scheme will rear its ugly head at some future date; for now at least, the Racecourse is still at the centre of things.
The ground
On that last visit we went on the Kop. This substantial covered terrace was comparable in size and scale to West Brom’s Birmingham Road End, or the Tilton at St Andrew’s. It closed some years ago, and – sadly neglected – had gradually crumbled until finally being demolished last year. Today I found just flat gravel where 15,000 fans once stood roaring. A tidy new stand will soon take shape here and claim to represent progress.
Wrexham’s first stand on Mold Road dated from Edwardian times. For some reason this aligned with neither street nor pitch, instead slanting across one corner flag. Another modest structure was eventually built between here and the Turf, with a solid wedge of terracing fronting both. Today’s boldly-designed replacement – built in 1999 – preserves its predecessors’ skewed building line. The pub’s rear balcony once added extra character but is now hidden from sight.
The team’s Seventies successes funded extensive improvements. This meant more international matches could be staged here, which in turn enabled the Pigeon Loft’s demolition and its replacement by a smart Kop roof. Reconstruction started with two smartly functional new stands, respectively named Yale (because of the adjacent college) and Border (thanks to brewery sponsorship). These are still recognisable today, although both terrace paddocks have been seated and (sadly) rendered far less concretely brutalist. Wrexham’s newly zealous fans can still create a good atmosphere in their acoustic upper tiers.
This ground connects past and present. The current configuration will (unless comprehensive redevelopment takes place) inevitably force some interesting design choices. When, for example, 1960s-era floodlight pylons needed replacing, new masts had to angle themselves over 50 year-old buildings and that oddly-shaped Mold Road stand like praying mantises. Such compromises should – with luck – keep it unique and appealing for years to come.
You can see some Racecourse pictures taken in 2019 here.
Flesh and wine
The Turf had been our first thought. We also love clubs, however, and Maesgwyn Hall was handily placed on Mold Road. This offered pleasant service and – until a violent downpour sent dozens of car-park drinkers scurrying inside – no trouble getting served. Regular fans can sometimes find their matchday routines upset when unfashionable teams become suddenly popular; happily not here. Shame about the plastic glasses, though.
I was very much looking forward to some Welsh food, so felt totally cheated when my two refreshment items proved average at best (this partly explains why no photographic evidence survives). First came indeterminate “street food” peddled by some itinerant chancers; well-named, because thrown on the street was where it properly belonged. A meat pie bought at half time proved only slightly better. They fed me and I wanted no more.
The game
Almost 300 diehards had travelled. These endured some good-natured (if classless) ribbing as we queued beside home supporters to enter our small block of the main stand paddock. Sutton actually started much more confidently than their league position might have suggested; nevertheless, Paul Mullin’s opener for Wrexham – an unexpected yet stonking curler from outside the box – gave visiting ‘keeper Dean Bouzanis no chance whatsoever.
Sutton battled on. Their reward came when Harry Smith drifted through statuesque defenders and squared for Aiden O’Brien to almost break Arthur Okwonko’s net. This woke Wrexham up. First Jacob Mendy hit the bar, and then – just as it seemed Sutton had survived – up stepped Elliott Lee a minute from time with tonight’s second piledriver. You’ll seldom see a better over-the-ball half-volley; this was, however, scant consolation for the crestfallen visiting fans.
Teams and goals
Wrexham: Okwonko, Jones (Lee 72), O’Connor (Dalby 72), O’Connell (Tozer 30), Evans, Tunnicliffe, Davies, Barnett (Mendy 69), Palmer (Fletcher 73), Mullin, McClean. Unused subs: Howard, Young.
Sutton: Bouzanis, Kizzi, Milsom (John 92), Sowunmi, Goodliffe, Clay, Jackson (Coley 78), N’Guessan, Smith, Beautyman (Patrick 78), O’Brien (Pereira 92). Unused subs: Arnold, Fadahunsi, Mellor.
Goals: Wrexham: Mullin 14, Lee 89. Sutton: O’Brien 59.
Attendance 10,190.