Wrexham Football Club's history has been a modern day version of the tale of David and Goliath, writes Joanne Gallacher. Like David, the club has fought and won some uneven contests, with its Cup giant-killing acts on the football field.
My first experience of the club's tenacious spirit was in 1992 when the Robins, as they were then known, beat the mighty Arsenal 2-1 in the FA Cup. I was a teenager when I saw Mickey Thomas' famous goal against Arsenal. He scored in the 83rd minute from a free-kick. The crowd went wild and my friend and I soon forgot that we had been complaining about the cold.
From that moment on, and probably for the first time in my 16 years I was proud to be from Wrexham; the town finally got its recognition.
With that strike from Thomas, my years as a Liverpool supporter were pushed to the back of my wardrobe, along with the scrapbook I compiled on Ian Rush.
However, 12 years later and the scorer of that goal is worried that memories will be all that fans might have left.
"Wrexham gave me the opportunity to be a professional footballer and I'll never forget that," says Thomas who was 37 and ready to retire when he scored that goal against Arsenal.
"Arsenal were the champions of the league. They were expected to hammer us," he recalled proudly.
"The euphoria afterwards was incredible, it was a magnificent night.
"Chelsea were playing that night and they started singing my name when I scored.
"We made all the newspapers, even in Australia and America," he added.
Wrexham fan and football historian Gareth Davies can recount other moments from the sometimes quirky club history, stretching back more than 130 years.
"The club was formed in 1872 not 1873 as is on the badge," said Mr Davies.
"The Racecourse had been used for many things including boxing, women's wrestling and in the late 1880s it was used for a proclamation for the National Eisteddfod.
"The Racecourse was a horse racing ground and they played cricket there too," said 59-year-old Mr Davies from Anglesey.
"It was cricketers who wanted something to do in the winter who formed the club," he recalled. It was formed in the Turf Hotel which is where the winning post for the horse racing used to be."
Wrexham fan Peter Jones said that up until the 1940s, players even changed inside the Turf pub.
"People used to sit on the Turf balcony and watch the football," he said. "Up until the 1940s the players used to change upstairs in the Turf. They used to go down some stairs and onto the pitch. During the early 1920s there was one player, I can't remember his name and his parents were the landlords of the Turf.
"He played in the first game for Wrexham in 1921 and he'd fought in the First World War. A few days after that game he caught pneumonia and he died in the Turf," he added.
Sitting in the Turf Hotel, Wrexham fan Dave Williams said "on match days the atmosphere's brilliant here". "I used to go on the balcony and watch the games. I've supported Wrexham since I was young and it's the community to me," he added.
Mr Davies said the first friendlies played at the Racecourse involved teams of up to 16-a-side.
"Most of the matches ended scoreless, mainly due to the large numbers on each side," he said.
Wrexham Football Club grew and rose through the divisions. In Mr Davies' opinion, the club's heyday was between 1977-78.
"Around this time they were promoted to the old Division Two, which is now the Championship league and they also reached the quarter final of the FA Cup," he said.
"We had the likes of Dai Davies, Dixie McNeil, Graham Whittle and Mickey Thomas playing for us," he added. Mr Davies said that the modern Racecourse is much improved. "It's a much better ground now than it used to be. At the end of the Kop, there used to be a balcony and we called it the 'pigeon loft' because it was on stilts," he said.
However, despite the fact that the club has a good ground and a great deal of history a number of people from Wrexham still look across the border to England to support premiership teams like Liverpool and Everton.
Mickey Thomas, who had two spells at Wrexham, remembers a time when the club could get 25,000 people through its turnstiles now they get around 3,000.
