Its there for the taking


Ambitious

By wrecsam am byth
February 2 2004

Wrexham chairman Mark Guterman today expressed his desire to see Wrexham in division one next season. With the play-offs being so tight and with half the season gone already, he sees no reason for Wrexham Football Club not to be a division one side next season. New Page 1

It's there for the taking
 

Wrexham are in a front row seat for promotion, says ambitious chairman Mark Guterman.

Saturdays late postponement at Bournemouth meant Wrexham just dropped out of the top six with Brighton beating Plymouth. But Guterman believes Wrexham can achieve promotion for the second season running after getting out of division three.


He told the Evening Leader: "We are now in a front row seat for promotion. I'm not saying we are going to get automatic promotion like last season, although that isn't entirely out of the question, either.


"What I am saying is, we believe we have a good chance of making the promotion play-offs to take this club up into the first division. Thatīs what everyone at the club wants.
“If you look at the second division at the moment, everyone is capable of beating everyone. The team who will get into the play-offs - and possibly beyond - is one who now puts a run together of winning results.


"Thereīs no reason why that canīt be us. We did it last season and, letīs face it, no one really expected that to happen until it did. Also, how many people last season would have believed that this February we would have been where we are in the second division now?

"Winning is just a habit like losing is and if we get another three or four points our first objective for this season will be achieved. Staying in the second division is massively important to us but, of course, winning promotion to the first division is far more important if we achieve that

"You look at the top six in the division as it now is and they are all bigger clubs than Wrexham, Queens Park Rangers, Plymouth. Bristol City and so on. They are all capable of getting big crowds in the first division because they are based in big cities. The population is there to ensure they get big crowds if they are doing well.
"But I'm sure we would fill the Racecourse if we got up and were doing well in the first division."

Red Dragons chairman Guterman leaped to the praise of manager Denis Smith and his squad of players for achieving what they have.

He said: "There was a time last season when things didn't look so good. But then we came with that incredible late run that got us up there and we went up automatically.
 

"I think Denis Smith has proved himself to be a very good manager. He was an excellent appointment after Brian Flynn left and the players we have now got also deserve praise for the way they have performed for the manager."

Chairman Guterman and manager Denis Smith were disappointed by the late postponement on Saturday. It cost Wrexham around Ģ2,000 to get to Bournemouth plus an overnight hotel stay, which didn't go down to well with Guterman.

Saturdays initial referee Lee Probert, from Bristol, made pitch inspections but was finally forced to call it off with a small crowd of Wrexham fans already at the Fitness First Stadium expecting to see a game of football.

Probert said: "When I got here the pitch was under a lot of water. But you have got to give it every chance because of the financial situation of clubs like these. I tried to get the game on because we are in the entertainment business, but I didn't what it to become a farce. If I started the game, I had to be sure it would last 90 minutes.''


"But when I got here at 10am, I have never seen as much water on a pitch as there was. Around 12.30 pm it was 50-50 we could get the game on, but then we had another heavy shower and that undid all the hard work the grounds men had put in."
 

Denis Smith said: "I do not think the referee had any choice. He left it as long as he could while they were working on the pitch. Both teams wanted it on and the referee wanted it on, but if the pitch is unfit there's not a lot you can do about it. It would have been a farce."

 
Wrecsam am byth

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