December 3 – Wrexham Wrecked
A NEW Football League rule was enforced for the first time today in 2004, as Wrexham fell into the hands of the administrators and subsequently became the first club to be docked ten points as a penalty as the Welsh side battled to save themselves from a chairman that fancied a block of flats more than a football stadium.
Since the turn of the millennium the Robins had been piling up the problems and at the route of these was, as ever, a dodgy chairman. Alex Hamilton was a property developer that took over the club in May 2004 and it soon became clear that he wanted to ditch the club and sell the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham’s home since 1872, to the highest bidder.
As is often the case when a jumped-up cowboy estate agent tries it on with a football club, the fans were not impressed and began to mobilise.
Wrexham supporters have to be credited for their originality, as instead of just chanting “Hamilton Out!”, they piled empty boxes out side his home, repeatedly ordered him taxis and one fan took this even further, buying a taxi and painting it pink and turquoise, labelling it the ‘crazy taxi for crazy Hamilton’. Death threats and stolen mail were the less big and clever actions that they also resorted to.
By September a tetchy Hamilton gave notice to quit the Racecourse Ground in a year’s time and transferred ownership to another company that was registered in his name. Hamilton tried yet more legal shenanigans, quitting as chairman a month later, but retaining his 78% share in his club, as the fan groups still fought for the future of their club.
Meanwhile, debts mounted and the Inland Revenue lodged a petition to wind up the League One side who owed them £800,000. A fans’ buyout failed in November as the club’s total debt reached £5m.
Administrators were appointed and the Football League, having re-jigged their rules following Leicester City’s financial manoeuvring that saw them exit a mountain of debt with promotion and a shiny new stadium, snatched ten points away to take the Welshmen from welcome mid-table obscurity to rock bottom in the League One table.
The administrators were quick to try and save the club, taking Hamilton to court over the transfer of ownership of the Racecourse Ground. Here they won the approval of Judge Norris, who ruled that Hamilton had acted improperly and returned the ground to the club, meaning that they could get on with saving one of the league’s oldest teams.
Although Wrexham could not beat the drop that season, a pair of local businessmen, Neville Dickens and Geoff Moss lead a successful takeover in the summer of 2005, meaning that the first game of the 2005/06 season had a carnival atmosphere as the club exited administration with a more secure future.
As in the case of York City, another club where fan power was enough to ruin one man’s desire to make a quick buck, an organised, loyal fan base had proven that they would not be moved and the good guys won, proving that despite all the sharks lurking around in the murky waters of the beautiful game, there’s still the occasional feel-good story to be had.
Relegation to the Conference has since followed for the Robins, ending 87 consecutive years in the Football League, but with Welsh legend Dean Saunders making a superb start to life in the dugout following the sacking of Brian Little, they look a decent bet to return to the league sooner rather than later.
See footage of Hamilton (boo, hiss!) squirming in front of some irate Wrexham fans below and see what another slippery character was up to today here. We’ll be back with some more footballing nuggets for you tomorrow, but if you can’t wait that long check out the OTFD book which is available here or in all good (and some bad) bookshops now.
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