Juan Ugarte Retires

If you know who he is great, if you don't, i'd introduce him as the Wrexham / football league goal machine of the 04/05 season. The clubs first Spanish player (?), with a goal tally up at around 25 in 30 appearances (league and cups - with 5 in one game) in 04/05. After a triumphant day, and scoring the winner, in the Millennium Stadium in April 2005 he would only make 3 more appearances for Wrexham FC. His injuries would never recover, and on Wednesday he took the decision to retire from the game, this is his farewell letter to the fans and club:

Firstly - thank you all very much!

I would never have thought I was going to be in this situation, but I have to say that I'm retiring from football. The football club and I have agreed to cancel my contract by mutual consent.

My hamstring won't let me give 100% to play professional football and that's why I am taking this decision.

After speaking with Brian Little, and I have say that he is one of the best managers I have worked with in my career, we thought that this was the best option, because he can now bring in another striker that, hopefully, will score a lot of goals and help the team stay up.

As for our supporters, the only thing I can say to you is "Thank you very much". You have been absolutely fantastic to me, even if I haven't been able to do for you what I would love. You made me feel I was in the best team in the world. The day we won the LDV Vans Trophy is going to live with me forever, because, without a doubt, it was the best day of my life.

So thanks again to you the supporters - I love you all!!!

Thank you very much also to Denis Smith and Kevin Russell because they were fantastic to me, and that season I scored all of those goals is going to stay as the highlight of my career. That is why I was working hard, because I wanted to have those feelings back.

Thank you also to all the players, including the YT's, that I have played alongside, with a special mention to Matty Crowell - I wish him all the best in his career that I am sure is going to be good.

Thanks a lot to all the staff, especially Brian Little, because they have been fantastic to me.

Thanks to Mel Pejic for being so patient with me.

All the best to Wrexham FC for the rest of the season and I hope we stay up!

Wrexham will be in my heart forever. Love you all!

Juan Ugarte

It's not often a player gets to sign off on such good terms, I thought it worth a post in it's own right.

I only saw Ugarte score 2 goals, and I only saw him play in 3 full matches; but one of those matches, and one of those goals was that Millennium Stadium final. A trophy which in the July 2005 was paraded around the Racecourse by Juan and Co., alongside Steven Gerrard & Co.'s big shiny trophy at the Pre-Season Liverpool friendly; they'd won something in Europe that season...

Cynics would say; he was a striker paid for doing what he did. Fair comment, but this was Juan Ugarte, who early on in his time at Wrexham was placed amongst the legends (he even had his own mug made and on sale in the club shop the week after his 2 goals against Chester!). "He came from Real Sociedad, and made the Chester sad"; Thanks for the memories.

Everton - 1 Manchester City - 0, Goodison Park: 12.01.08

It's hard to support a team from a distance. To follow Everton from North Wales was expensive but to do it from Cardiff, well it's almost impossible, especially when I have to work pretty much every weekend. My working commitments mean my only hope is for Everton to be drawn away to Cardiff or Swansea in one of the domestic cups. It's therefore been a while since I could consider myself a regular at Goodison Park. I'm embarrassed to admit it but it's going back to a time when Manchester City's Richard Dunne and Michael Ball were young players wearing the royal blue of Everton. It wasn't the best game to make my return. Missing key players, endless long balls and a distinct lack of goal mouth action made it a drab affair but come the final whistle I was glad of the three points.

As always it was a good day out. Although I made a rookie error by enjoying a few pre game pints with my mates (including my first pint of Chang) Those familiar with the Upper Bullens Stand will know once everyone has sat down for the game there's no chance of getting out for a pee. This left me aching for the half time whistle for a toilet break. The thing I was most pleased about the first half was not Joleon Lescott's goal but the fact I hadn't pissed myself. Once the whistle came I painfully made my way to the gents only to find it (as always) over populated. When you're there unsuccessfully trying to position yourself next to the trough it's hard not to feel like the runt of the litter. There's something extremely unsettling about having a stranger lean against you as you're both urinating, it takes a level of concentration I don't really possess. I have to dig deep. While I'm in the loo I miss the half time entertainment. A fan randomly picked from the crowd has the chance to win a £30,000 Audi, if he can hit the cross bar with a football from a good distance. And he does it to the delight of the masses! When asked by the announcer "What do you think about your new Audi?" the man replies with the trademark scouse wit "It'll do for now". The second half was pretty bad, I don't think there was a single shot on goal for Everton. I think the highlight was Joe Hart falling over when he took a goal kick...or was that the first half? It was pretty bad. There was a fantastic roar from the crowd when the final whistle came and a overall sense of relief.

We'd parked up near Anfield and as we walked back towards the car we passed a small child no older than four sat alone outside a terraced house sandwiched by two boarded up houses. As each Evertonian passed him he pointed at them and said in his squeaky scouse accent "Everton stink you know, Everton stink!" He repeated this as each of us walked past. We imagined that his father was probably waiting behind the door ready to punch anyone who dared to say anything back to his nipper. Initially we all chuckled but we soon came to the conclusion that it was probably not the best way to introduce your young child to football. Lesson one, abuse strangers in numbers. In twenty years the little fucker will probably be throwing patio chairs at rival fans and policemen during the World Cup.

Holy Fuck

This band released my favourite album of 2007, simply entitled; "LP". So I didn't hear every album released last year, but still, sometimes right, sometimes wrong, but always certain, and this is certainly my favourite!

Being somewhat involved in 'the music industry', I sometimes get pre-release albums or label sampler CDs sent to me. Thank you "Young Turks"! It's not often i'm caught out by music, but for whatever reason when a track called "Lovely Allen" popped onto my LCD car stereo display, I thought nothing of it; until maybe 40 seconds in. I was unashamedly caught out good style! A combination of my current mood / state-of-mind, and this wonderful stuff pouring out of my car stereo, caused a "hairs on the back of my neck and on my forearm to stand up" moment - love it! The album was sought out and purchased within 10 minutes of leaving my car. The rest of the album is much more intense than "Lovely Allen", which is no bad thing at all!

Holy Fuck's ethos revolves around "creating the equivalent of modern electronic music without actually using the techniques involved in creating modern electronic music: looping, splicing, programming, laptops and the like—of that". Preferring to make instruments from stuff in the trash/skips... true.

The listening experience in this album, is basically progressive rock, punk, avante-garde, dance, blips and clicks - binding a few bands together, they'd basically be "Godspeed You Black Emperor" with "Explosions in the Sky" with "Sigur Ros" with "Chemical Brothers" in some psychedelic dancey blip fuelled frenzy. The opening track, a live track "Super Inuit", has all of the commitment in delivery as though their lives were about to end / depended on it - phenomenal!

For reference Kev, i'm talking about that band I had on in the office today who "sound a bit like your on level 4 of that shitty 2 gear driving game that used to be in the Golden Goose", yes. Recreating such classic retro blip-pop sounds is just one string to their (found in a skip) bow on this album / throughout their repetoire.

http://www.myspace.com/holyfuck

The fact i've based an entire post and am gushing about a record, tells you, you too should own this record and not just listen to the above (sub-quality encoded Mp3s) myspace link now and again, this needs to be within distance of any of your music playing mediums, have it near.

The 15 Point Plan

So half the season over, Happy New Year, and Wrexham have amounted a staggering total of 15 points, with 6 goals scored at home, abysmal. As in, shocking. Most of these players endured the cliff-hanger "staying up, going down, staying up!" final day back in May last year. Over December / Christmas period they have gained 0 points out of a possible 18, hitting it home that this long-established (there really is no need to write about the clubs football league & cup history, it's drenched in it) club is once again on the brink. From financial brink, administration, relegation, players leaving, rebuilding, restructuring, financial future looking brighter, the team out on the pitch has gone, "its just gone". Brian Little i'm sure is working as hard as possible to get them confident and believing they can drag this club out, there is still time! < I can't believe I wrote that, my words wreaking of desperation!

So what is the drag required? Survival in League 2 for the past 5 or so seasons has been around the 49/50 point mark. Wrexham survived last season with a 51 point tally. With the 15 point plan accomplished, this leaves Wrexham 'needing' to win 11/12 of their remaining 23 matches (half!) and the odd draw in there for good measure. Meaning every defeat 'must' now be matched with a win. The abyss (pictured) is looking onimous, but they ran out of it once this season (gaining 0 points).
Picture: Rotherham FCs 'tunnel', truly the dank truly grim (thanks to Mark Griffiths - legend of Wrexham World!). Think i'll do a short 2007 Review next too, good post Dave!