By Matt Badcock
Five years ago, this weekend, Wrexham fans had dug themselves out of snow to get to Wembley so they could watch their side lift the FA Trophy.
The win on penalties against Grimsby Town will live long in the memory of the north Wales town.
Back then it seemed only a matter of time before the Red Dragons would be returning to the Football League.
The season before they’d finished second in the table on 98 points behind a Jamie Vardy-powered Fleetwood Town, only to lose in the play-off semis to Luton Town. At the end of the Trophy winning campaign they finished fifth and made it one step further in the play-offs, but were beaten by Welsh rivals Newport County back at Wembley.
Since then, their best finish has been eighth, two seasons ago, when they were 11 points adrift of the play-off places. A ninth campaign in Non-League beckoned. And then a tenth. They’re now the National League‘s longest-serving club.
Which brings us up to the present day and their promotion tilt. Dean Keates, the captain who lifted the Trophy that day at Wembley, rebuilt the squad over the summer.
The club was re-shaped too with walls knocked down to create more space and a culture of togetherness instilled with fines handed out for players on mobile phones or for not clearing away their dirty plates.
They have the best defensive record in the division and have lost the fewest games. The fans are dreaming of glory again.
But when the Walsall job became available, there was a sense of inevitability about what would follow. Keates, a boyhood Saddlers fan turned club legend from his playing days, couldn’t turn down the opportunity.
In Andy Davies, Keates’ replacement, Wrexham have a local lad of their own at the helm for the rest of the season.
It means continuity reigns with Davies and his coaching staff determined to keep the ship on the same course.
Continuity
“The club asked myself and the rest of the staff to take the game at Woking last Saturday,” Davies says. “After that game, I think for continuity for the players and staff, they asked if I would do it until the end of the season, which obviously I’m delighted to do.
“Hopefully we can get the aim we had at the beginning of the season, which is promotion. That’s still the aim.
“The players are fully focused on that and so are we as staff. Dean obviously led us, we all worked very closely with Dean, so we continue that on.
“It’s a crucial time of the season. We’ve got eight games to go. It keeps everything in place and everyone knows where we’re at. Then at the end of the season that can be reviewed depending on what the rest of the season holds.”
Davies knows the club better than most. The 39-year-old joined as a 14-year-old schoolboy and eventually moved into coaching in the youth set-up. He’s headed up the academy before stepping on Keates’ first team management staff last season.
“I’ve been through every role now,” he says. “I’ve lived in Wrexham all my life so I know what the club means to the community. I’m fully aware we’re slightly different in terms of being a fans’ owned football club.
“I’ve been through all that transition of the owners and the fans taking over, so I understand the background of that and how it all works. I’m fully aware of the aspirations of everybody in the town.
“The supporters have been great. The attendances have been fantastic. The last couple of homes games we’ve had 8,500 against Tranmere, 6,500 against Chester. The people and supporters are out there so if we can provide the football they want – obviously winning football – then they do come and follow. We take big numbers away from home as well.
“So it does mean a lot to the town. We’re a working-class town so what we’ve tried to do is get players who want to run round for the shirt and supporters, first and foremost.
“Fans can then appreciate the odd mistake or wayward pass. If they see you working hard it means a lot to them.”
Former Liverpool defender Stephen Wright, another member of the Trophy winners, has come on board from the youth team to join Davies, first team coach Carl Darlington and Michael Oakes.
The message from Davies is simple: Nothing has changed.
“The personalities and characters we brought in over the summer, they manage that for us,” Davies says. “We help and guide them and prepare them the right way. The group of players we’ve got certainly take care of themselves.”
Parks to Premier League for Jack
There can’t be many players signed by Premier League clubs playing out the season on local pitches while finishing their exams. But that’s the case for Jack Withers, who will leave Boston United‘s youth set-up to join Swansea City in the summer.
The 18-year-old defender has all the raw ingredients to success. He’s just shy of 6ft 5ins, comfy on the ball, can move across the ground and knows how to defend.
The Swans liked what they saw in the centre-back who was playing for Pinchbeck in the Peterborough League before joining the Pilgrims’ youth team and studying at Boston United Sports College.
After spending a week at training in November he was signed in January – just three minutes before the window closed.
“They said the first time you’ll hear about it is when it’s on Sky Sports – so I had to sit tight and hope it all went through,” Withers told me. “It came up on the Breaking News ticker at the bottom. I couldn’t quite believe it. I was just playing for Boston youth team and local football all my life, and then it was on there. It was all a bit strange!”
Withers trained with the Boston first team when ex-boss Adam Murray was in charge, but is now playing the youth team’s final games of the season.
In the Easter break he hopes to be in at Swansea before he joins up permanently when school is out.
“The training facilities are brilliant,” he said. “The U23s and the first team train at the same place, which is really good. Seeing the first team players in the canteen is surreal.
“The training is so intense. You have to be bang on it literally every touch. All the details are so much finer.
“People expect a bit more from me now, but I’ve said to a few that apart from me signing a piece of paper, nothing has changed. I’m still training the same. You can’t go away from what has got you in the position.”
*This article originally featured in The @NonLeaguePaper which is available every Sunday and Monday
