An Evening with Denis Smith, David Rhodes, and the London Reds. It doesn’t take long for you to be in the company of Denis Smith to respect and trust him.  He comes across as most of us know him already, keen, enthusiastic and lives up to his nickname “The Winner” 

I was a bit nervous attending my first London reds meeting not knowing anyone but there was a really friendly feel to the room as I walked in.  London Red's must have seen my unfamiliar face and greeted me.  I didn’t recognise as many people as I thought I would but there were definitely a few familiar faces.  Denis was in the middle of them all chatting away happily. I got myself a pint and within minutes was chatting away to a couple of  southern based Wrexham fans. Its suprising how many people know you if you mention your message board postin nickname.  Think I better start talking a bit more sense, I didn’t realise people read it.

Once everyone had arrived, order was called and  Denis and David sat down (seems strange ever calling him David without his surname, he just is David Rhodes isn’t he).  They were both introduced and Denis was congratulated on his career as both a footballer and a Manager. Mr Rhodes looked slightly uncomfortable about the whole event but Dennis made it clear that he would attempt to answer all questions and nothing was off topic. 

A couple of early questions about Stoke and old derbies got Denis off to a start and it was easy to see he is a keen Stoke City fan, although he still gives you the feeling that if Wrexham drew them in the FA cup next year he would relish the chance to beat them.   The next question threatened to take us right off the reason most people had come for and an appeal for football related questions was met with a superb one from some intelligent, articulate young Wrexham fan who obviously knew his stuff. 

Oh ok, I asked this because I know it has come up a lot in forums.  Do you think that our away form is better than our home form because the 532 system works better away than at home, and would you consider ever playing 442 perhaps just at home?  Denis’ answer was an expansion of something I had read before, he explained how 532 isn’t particularly his own favourite system but he believes it is the best way he can organise the team to maximise the players potential.  It makes up for certain players lack of pace and suits other players well.  

On the whole he led us to believe it was right for the current squad.  The problem with being at home is that a lot of teams come to defend and we seem unable to break them down, where as away the game is more open.  Once we get a goal at home the game often opens up to our advantage and we get more comfortable.  He added that Morrell used to be able to open up defences well and knows that Chris Armstrong will too if he stays fit. 

It was a long time coming and I’m sure anyone reading this will want to know what was said too.  Questions were raised about who owned the lease to the ground and why the hell would any company want to purchase a lease that only paid £1 a year in ground rent.  David Rhodes looked as if he knew there was no escaping this subject and without going to deep into this, accepted fans questions and worries on the subject.  You couldn’t help but get the impression that he like us was just hoping that whatever happens with Mr Guterman that it will be alongside the success of Wrexham FC not instead of it. 

Denis joined in to say that in his opinion Wrexham FC will still be playing at the Racecourse in the foreseeable future.  It was a very difficult point in the evening because you could tell that it could have quite easily decended into a meeting about Gutterman, the lease and the ground but at the same time, here was a room full of lifelong Wrexham supporters with an hour of the manager’s time at their disposal. Which was it to be Football or Politics?  It seemed that they had covered as much as they could regarding this issue and it was the majority of the fans who wanted to move on.  

How disappointing was the Yeovil result?  It had gutted “The Winner”.  Denis Lawerence is surely the most improved player in the Wrexham squad under Smith but how did he achieve such a transformation? Apparently Smith had told Lawrence it was unlikely he would be part of his team and the rest was down to Lawrence who worked extremely hard on many aspects of his game.  Carey was described as a true professional and when questioned about the youngsters, Denis explained how yes they have a lot to offer but don’t be mistaken they are not the instant answer.  Rumours of Leeds interest in Carlos were quashed but ok there were questions asked about Morgan during “Reid’s time at leeds”.  

The abuse of Pejic was discussed and some fans even wondered how this young kid had come thro such abuse from his own fans and Denis agreed he had done well, accepted odd parts of his game he needs to work on but describe him as the best one on one defending prospect we have. 

Marketing issues came up and like the fans in Red passion or One nil constantly ask “What are Wrexham FC  doing to encourage fans?” “Could buses be laid on to bring people into home games?”  Most of which were explained away as too costly. The supporters bus laid on by Wrexham FC to the Brentford game has only 27 people on it and even that costs money to the club.  It was suggested that perhaps the club should work closer with other supporters running buses and the point was taken on board.  

I am very interested in the Marketing of Wrexham FC myself and spent a further 30 mins chatting with another fan and  David Rhodes informally afterwards.  Here is not really the best place to go too far into it but we covered most of the fantastic brainstorms we think we have in the chatrooms without considering cost or consequences.  For instance have you ever considered turning the ground around?  Yes but there is no way North Wales Police would allow it. It struck me as so easy for us to come up with ideas most of which can be flattened in a couple of sentences with realistic reasons why they wont work or aren’t feasible.  

Tickets are given away to schools already and  a good couple of hundred are taken up each home game.  350 kids from the junior welsh league came along to the Sheffield Wednesday game and were allowed to bring their parents. (Perhaps this also answers some questions about how the attendances always look bigger than we say) 

Back to football and to be honest Denis didn’t really come up with a great deal more than you can pick up from his quotes in the press or programs but it was great to hear it first hand.  Yes he thinks we have a realistic chance at the play offs, and if we get there, he believes that we have an advantage with the experience of the likes of Jim Whitley, Brian Carey and Andy Dibble. 

What about Trundle and Morrell, well Morrell was described as one of the best professionals Wrexham have had and all the offers he received  he had gone through with Denis. Trundle?  Could we have kept him?  Well rumours of not being able to get in touch with him or his agent, phone calls not returned were all accepted as truths.  It seemed to me that Trundle didn’t want to stay at Wrexham even if he had have been offered the top wage. 

In my post Q and A chat with David Rhodes it just made me more aware about it from the clubs point of view not from a fans eye view.  My own opinion on Wrexham FC is that things could be a lot worse.  Here you have a business that has had a pretty long rough time over the last ten years, we have never been financially stable and what if any other offers than Guttermans could have ended up with us in administration sooner rather than later.  It is hard at the moment to know the truth behind what is going on but for the time being we are still playing football and in the scheme of things not doing too badly on the pitch that is.  

Lets hope Chris Armstrong stays fit and starts doing the business for us. I don’t think any of us there are much wiser than any of you that didn’t attend. Perhaps David Rhodes did a good job at convincing us that he doesn’t know the whole picture himself and I’m sure many would have liked to have gone much deeper into the club finances and politics but the evening wasn’t supposed to be about that and it would have been a shame if we had gone too far down the road. 

I’m sure everyone there enjoyed the evening and would like to thank Denis for meeting a set of supporters in his own time.  He came across as a decent man to be in charge of the team we all support.  Finally something else that struck me tonight was that we as supporters could do a lot more for the club.  Apparently, anyone at Grimsby would have witnessed them still singing at 3-0 down.  The club are trying ideas to get more people in but perhaps it is time for us as fans to give it our best shot too. 

Evenings like tonight make you realise that there are a lot of people who want something better for Wrexham FC it is all about pulling together, stopping shouting abuse at the players, (some of which were described as more sensitive than you’d imagine) and generally getting behind the team and Denis Smith. Please note I haven’t included too many “” because all of this has been written from memory and it would be unfair of me to say Denis Smith or David Rhodes definitely said it like this.

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