And so the Hollywood media circus comes to town again, weather permitting, of course (it was lashing down earlier in the week when I was writing this). Another big attendance, I am sure – a far cry from the 737 dedicated souls (just over 100 from Wrexham) who came to Broadfield the first time we played Wrexham, in a Conference game on a wet and windy day similar to current conditions in March 2009.

As I have previously mentioned, we managed to do the double over them that 2008/09 season, winning 1-0 at Broadfield and 2-0 at the Racecourse Ground a few weeks later. Having lost a close game quite unluckily earlier this season in Wales, let’s hope for a similar performance with sharper finishing to kickstart our push away from the relegation places. Also, am I old-fashioned to want to see players eventually have a shot or ten (having just watched Mansfield game that’s better)?

3rd March 2009 1st Wrexham meeting at Broadfield Teamsheet

3rd March 2009 1st Wrexham meeting at Broadfield

I have included a couple of items from the 2008/09 game at Broadfield with the report page coming from the Wrexham programme a few weeks later. On the stats section, I noticed that the number of fouls in the game was incredibly high – 17 from us and 22 from Wrexham. Maybe the wet and windy conditions played a part in that, as well as an ultra-fussy referee? Having said that, there were mentions in the report of some standing water on the pitch, so at least the referee let the game finish, the players – as was the case in past times – just having to adapt to the conditions.

You may notice in the programme page of that game that one of the action shots shows our defender Glenn Wilson challenging for the ball. Glenn was a good servant to the club, playing over 150 games for the Red Devils between 2007 and 2012, and having a varied footballing journey after being released in May 2012. After leaving us, Glenn (pictured below) went to Gateshead to start that journey and is still turning out this season closer to home with East Grinstead Town, at the age of 38.

Glenn Wilson receiving a MOTM award from Jim Green club VP

For some reason that got me wondering how many of the other players featuring in that game in 2009 are still playing or involved at a high level. I did a brief check and thought I would list some of interest, starting with the Crawley Squad:

– Simon Weatherstone, who scored our goal in the 1-0 win, is now first-team coach at Premier League Newcastle United.

– Jake Wright is still playing as a defender in the UCL for Eastwood CFC in Nottinghamshire, which formed when Eastwood Town folded.

– Jon Shaw, who was on loan to us, was still playing in the North East for Blyth Spartans up until last season and also subsequently had a spell as manager. Several spells with Gateshead, as well (what is it with us and Gateshead?!).

– Gavin Hurren is now, I believe, manager of Northern Premier League Hednesford Town, taking over in November last year.

And for the Wrexham squad of the time:

– Gavin Ward is now a goalkeeping coach at Cardiff City.

– Andrew Crofts is now assistant head coach for Brighton and Hove Albion, one of the clubs for which he also played, and is also, I believe, a coach with the Wales national team.

– Ashley Westwood has managed teams as diverse as Kettering Town, RoundGlass Punjab and Afghanistan, and is the current manager of the Hong Kong national team which he recently led to the finals of the East Asian Football Federation Championships to be held later this year.

– Ryan Flynn was on loan from Liverpool (he scored goals for them in two FA Youth Cup winning sides) when he played for Wrexham at Broadfield, currently still playing for Arbroath in the Scottish Third Division.

– John Curtis, who was sent off against us, is the founder of a coaching academy in the USA.

– Aurelien Collin, another who found a career in the USA, is currently assistant coach at Houston Dynamos.

– Michael Proctor is currently first-team coach at Sunderland.

– Jefferson Louis – last but by no means least – is arguably the most travelled footballer around. He joined us from Wrexham the following season when less than halfway through his journey to try and play for most clubs in the UK! Currently still playing for Thame United (for the third or fourth time) in the Southern League Division One, at the age of 45. He was let go from Wrexham by future Red Devils manager Dean Saunders.

Jefferson Louis football club collector

I did see an article in our programme for the home game that season written by Bruce Talbot of The Argus (and our future media manager) bemoaning the poor crowds in Sussex football at the time. Bruce was largely talking of the midweek fixtures, linking attendance with the amount of Champions League football showing on TV. Crawley had attracted only 593 the previous Tuesday for a home local derby in the Conference against Lewes, and that included 83 fans from Lewes. We couldn’t even blame poor form, as our 5-1 victory (Shaw, 2, Rents, pen, Weatherstone, Quinn) took us up to eighth in the Conference table to maintain our push for the play-offs.

Bruce did also highlight that Brighton had a mere 5,000, their lowest of the season, while a local derby in the Rymans league between Worthing and Burgess Hill attracted only 244. Thankfully crowds at lower league levels these days seem on the up, despite wall-to-wall televised football, though for midweek games it can still be a struggle to drag fans away from their TV screens.

The article also mentioned how, only days previously, Crawley had successfully appealed a four-point deduction by the Conference for playing an ineligible player (Rankin) in August (it was now March and the issue hadn’t come to light until December). The punishment was reduced to a single point and also seemingly prompted a full review of the Conference registration system, which seemed to rely on the national postal system. Bruce in his article suggested they were using a system more primitive than the Chipping Norton Sunday League!

Back to Wrexham and season 2009-10, and with Jefferson Louis now in our ranks, we would meet them early that season, on 15^th August 2009, at Broadfield and again came out winners 1-0 with a 50^th-minute goal from Jamie Cook. Jefferson Louis would come on as a late substitute in place of the injured Lewis Killeen.

2009-10 1-0 Victors over Wrexham again at Broadfield

We had started our Conference campaign that season away to Mansfield Town with a crushing 4-0 loss (writing Tuesday evening  – but we beat you tonight though didn’t we and deservedly so!). We followed that defeat with a comfortable 3-1 home win over Forest Green on 11^th August (Cook, Eddie Hutchinson, Charlie Ademeno) in front of only 776 fans, which increased to 1,014 for the Wrexham game.

We followed the Wrexham win with another 1-0 victory (Cook, yet again!) away to Cambridge United (strange how several of our current EFL League One opponents were with us in the Conference that season, Stevenage were another) to put the Mansfield result firmly behind us.

Sadly we were then heavily beaten 4-1 at home by Gateshead in the next match and would struggle for results mainly away from home. That spell of inconsistent results also included an unwelcome loss to fellow Conference club AFC Wimbledon in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round. A 1-1 draw (Danny Forrest) at home on 24^th October 2009 before a crowd of 2,204 was followed by a 3-1 loss (Louis) in the replay at Kingston in front of 2,467.

FA Cup v AFC Wimbledon Danny Forrest being manhandled by James Pullen (he was only booked)

The loss was all the more galling since we had dominated the home game, while in the replay, Louis had levelled the scores in the 23^rd minute and Wimbledon had been reduced to ten men right on half time. Sadly we were caught on the break for them to go 2-1 up, and in added time Simon Rayner dropped a cross onto the feet of Danny Kedwell for him to make it 3-1. All I remember after that is a very despondent journey home that evening.

Sorry to end on a low note, but hopefully this evening (Mansfield) and Saturday can cheer us all up (yes the Mansfield win did!).

Mick Fox – mjfjo@yahoo.co.uk