Wrexham trust member says the FA Cup brings memories of the club's finest moment and encouragement for the future
I'm 59 and I have been supporting Wrexham since the early 1960s when I was seven. I've seen us win away at Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City, I've been into Europe and seen us win, but the third round FA Cup win over Arsenal in 1992 was something special.
The season before, we finished bottom of the old fourth division and Arsenal were champions. On the day I agreed to sell programmes so I was there early and the whole atmosphere was very special. Wrexham's ground then was three-sided ? what is now the main stand was a very old wooden one that was closed down, and we stood on that side of the pitch.
Without a doubt, Arsenal were the better team in the first half and if they'd been more than one up that after Alan Smith's goal that would have been fair enough. We were thinking it would be nice to get a draw and go to Highbury. But then we got the Mickey Thomas free-kick after 82 minutes. It's shown many times on TV, but I can still remember it flying into the back of the net: a fantastic feeling, one of the best I've ever had watching football.
Then, suddenly, two minutes later, a long ball found its way to Steve Watkin and he scored. I don't think any of us could believe this, it was the most unbelievable feeling: we partied long into the night, let's put it that way.
Everybody talks about the magic of the FA Cup and that's because it exists. That day still lives with me, I've got the programme, every single newspaper that was printed the following morning, with The Shock Of The Century headlines.
Brian Flynn hadn't been in charge long and he took us up to Division Two but then problems ensued with the lack of money, and administration in 2004, becoming the first league club to have a 10-point deduction, and we've had to fight all of that since. The club was also served a winding-up order from HMRC last April.
Now, I'm a member of the trust that bought Wrexham just last December. I'm fully behind the concept of a fans owned club, though I understand how difficult this is going to be. It's down to us, there isn't a sugar daddy anymore. We've got to put our hands in our pocket, it's up to us to make sure the club succeeds.
To me, that's how it should be. When you look at the debts of major clubs it is just astonishing. Our philosophy is for every �1 we make we spend a pound on Wrexham. Obviously that makes it a very difficult situation. As fans we can raise money through attending matches, sponsorship, community share issues. We need to take it further than the four or five thousand people who go through the turnstiles, we need to get the people of Wrexham, and the Wrexham area, to actually believe in this and take part in it, that's the difficult bit: everybody in football is used to the sugar daddy, some people are struggling to understand the concept.
At last count there were just over 1,900 members of the trust. Since administration seven years ago, the trust has built up around �400,000 in the bank, in readiness for this day, through many schemes. For example, 160 of us climbed to the top of Snowdon in the worst weather last July and raised �20,000.
We would have loved to have drawn a Manchester United but Brighton and Hove Albion is ideal: when we were going through the troubles they were one of the biggest groups of fans behind us as they went through a similar experience. So Saturday is an opportunity to thank them but it'd be great if we won, don't get me wrong. It has the makings of a good day out that's for sure. Almost 2,000 fans travelling down there ? for a five-hour trip, to watch a non-league team. Interview by Jamie Jackson
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jan/06/wrexham-fa-cup-brighton-hove
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