Wrexham County Borough 119 - A visit to the STok Racecourse /into the belly of the Macron Stand /Elton John/Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez sat there/an old Castrol GTX tin

---

Well the day had arrived and it was raining . Why does it always rain on us when we have to stand outside ? We had booked tickets for a tour of the Stok Racecourse Ground for the princely sum of £10 each. These were taster tours around the ground and we were on the last week of them . Two every week - all booked up . We were guinea pigs apparently on the new initiative of stadium tours . Issued with our lanyards our names were ticked off the list . Even though we visited the Racecourse ground every other week in the season we hoped that we would learn something new today.

We got there early and wandered around around the club shop which was selling the new home shirts. They were selling like hot cakes . Sponsored by United Airlines the logo was emblazoned on the front . A large globe which was usually blue. United had agreed as the shirts were red then the colour of the globe had to be red . We were still a little taken aback at having the words United on the shirts . Vista Print moved from the arm to the back and local company Ifor Williams on the shorts . Tik Tok had been ditched as had Expedia. The homage of 1934 the year of the Gresford Disaster was missing this year .. Subliminal dragons were just there in the fabric if you looked hard enough. The third kit a trendy black number would be in the shop for sale next week . Gradations from back to charcoal grey were supposed to echo the coal mining heritage of the area. Already hooky Chinese companies were copying the shirt and selling it for a pittance on the net . We were just one of a handful of clubs wearing black in the league this season . Last season the referee wore black so this colour of shirt and shorts were banned in the National League . The away shirt would be available in a couple of weeks . White with red and green . It had been likened to an old castrol GTX tin . Look it up on the internet if you are too young to remember tins of Castrol GTX.

Our guide began his tour . He opened the gates into the area we stood in every match . The children waiting were getting fed up and had taken to kicking the gate . The parents took little or no notice of them. The grandparents did make an effort to chastise them . Usually this area would be heaving with fans waiting for the match to start Queuing to buy food and drink. Today it was eerily quiet .

We walked onto the edge of the pitch up to the directors box . We sat above this on match days . The price for a season ticket seat in that box was double what we paid for our season ticket . So what did the directors and a select bunch of what I would call "others " get for their money? Not a lot really. A soft padded seat which was not that padded . A match day programme. A cup of tea and a place to shelter before the match if it rained and during half time . And a piece of bara brith to eat . I think I preferred my seat higher up in the Wrexham Lager Stand. I had no desire to move to the directors box . So who had perched their rear ends on those seats in the past ? Our guide went on to tell us Sir Alex Ferguson when he came to watch his son play for Wrexham . It was at one of these matches he first saw Ben Foster who went on to play in goal for United and England.. Rafa Benitez the Liverpool Manager watched Liverpool Reserves when they played their matches at the Racecourse ground . And then there was Elton John watching his team Watford .

Leaving the directors box we were pointed in the direction of the press box just in front of our seats before walking round the corner where we stood behind the goal . A bit of a potted history was reeled out from us being one of the first teams to join the English League along with Notts County and Sheffield . We were the oldest International Stadium in the world still in use . The first international being played between Wales and Scotland .The floodlights which were being replaced with even higher ones were bought from another team whilst the towers they sat on were prefabricated in the town by a local company. The all changing information boards were the second ones at the ground . The first came from the old Wembley Stadium when it was knocked down . The scoreboard came from Brighton I believe and was sponsored by Minera Roof Trusses . So many facts and I never wrote one down . The Turf pub now outside the ground once stood inside . Its balcony used to watch cricket initially, athletics and latterly football .

The pitch looked pristine and ready for the up and coming season in the English Football League . The third pitch in as many years . We were invited to stand in the middle of the goal to get the scale of the distance Ben Foster had to leap to save the penalty against Notts County. The penalty that effectively gave us the Champions Medal at the top of league leaving Notts County to fight it out in the play offs .

We headed out of the rain into the underbelly of the Macron Stand otherwise known to us old time supporters as the Mold Road Stand . Each stand had a name and they had changed over time . Our stand the Wrexham Lager Stand had been known as the Yale Stand and the Tech End . The Stok Cold Brew coffee stand had been known as the Wrexrent Sand and the University Sand . A new sensory room with calm and soothing lights had been recently constructed in a corner and furnished with toys for the children and soft music . An area of the ground had been cordoned off as the sensory /quiet area . Steps were painted yellow to help those with sight problems to navigate the ground . The toilets were being converted to stoma friendly . All making the ground more accessible to those with health issues .

We could not visit the Boardroom nor the managers room which was somewhat a disappointment . But it was ever onwards and upwards . We could buy chips on the concourse in the Mold Road Stand . We felt a little jealous looking at the better catering in this newer stand. In comparison to our stand which is the oldest in the ground it felt palatial with many more toilets, murals on the walls and a large mosaic celebrating players and managers from the past . Names were bandied about John Neal , Joey Jones, Mickey Thomas . Stories told about the mismanagement of the club . The sale of land with the promise that the money would benefit the club for years to come .None was ever seen. . The Hamilton /Gutterman years and the near extinction of the club with the attempt to sell off the ground for a B & Q Superstore . The money raised by fans who mortgaged their homes , gave to bucket collections , a member who ran Whitchurch Photography who approached all 92 football league clubs asking them to donated signed shirts which were sold at auction in Sotherbys . The club was saved by the skin of its teeth but went into administration to avoid the sale by Hamilton and Gutterman . The FA fined us and deducted 10 points from our points tally meaning we were relegated and the long decline and slide down the leagues began. With hindsight we were the first to be deducted points and we should have appealled as were not bankcrupt but had to choose this route to avoid losing the club we all loved .

Back out again we were told we would not be able to go in the Betty Buzz suite which was the domain of the owners Rob McEllenney and Ryan Reynolds . There was much disappointment to this and the children on the tour were getting fed up and began flicking the seats up and down .

Underneath the STok Cold Brew Coffee stand was the state of the art gym. What once was an empty space was now filled with gym equipment that was better than some of the Premiership teams. So we had better gym facilities , excellent chefs who cooked for the team , a brilliant team of sports scientists/physios and a doping room . One player per game from each team was randomly picked out and kept in the doping room until they provided the obligatory urine sample. We were shown the players dressing room . Whose locker is that one ? The guide asked us random questions - Ben Foster we all shouted . Easy that one - a bottle of Tomato Sauce on top of the locker . What about that Lion bar sticker ? The story went that one of the team driving home swore he saw a Lion on the road . We all smiled and moved on past the amazing mural of a dragon which now adorned the outside of the away team changing room . That room was utilitarian as you would expect for the away team. The officials room less than palatial and finally we were allowed to walk out onto the pitch just as the players would do for every game .

The photo opportunity came when we arrived at our last port of call . The club had placed the Adran Womens Leagues cups but what was missing was the Vanerama League Cup which was on a tour of the USA with the team . We were told we would be called back at some time to see the cup but as we left the ground , leaving our lanyards behind we doubted somehow that we would get that invitation . On the whole was it worth two hours of our time ? Yes it was. Was it worth £10 ? Definately . We came away pleased to have been round areas we never would have normally seen. We felt sad to see the old Kop unloved and unused . Our three sided stadium is having a new Kop stand. Construction should have begun at the beginning of June . Perhaps the next tour will include that area of the ground.

---