Wrexham FC chief Pete Jones reveals he's standing down

The Wrexham FC club board has come under fire, especially this season, when the Reds came so close to being relegated to National League North.

Lifelong Reds fan Jones, who has been on the WST board from day one and has written books on the club, revealed his decision to stand down in a long statement in the club's yearly report.

"These are unprecedented times, with all football in the UK having been suspended since 19 March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic," said Jones in his review of the year.

"It has also put a huge question mark on when we see live football again, with some suggesting it could even be the new year.

"This has certainly put a strain on the finances of every football club, and how many will survive to the end of this situation is questionable.

"The Football Club board at Wrexham have acted swiftly by furloughing all employees to give the Football Club a chance to see this

through."

The launch of the 150 year celebration for Wrexham FC at the Guildhall The Trust Board with the mayor David Bithell

Mr Jones added: "Thankfully, due to the rigorous financial regime that the Football Club undertake, and the fact that the Supporters Trust hold, at the time writing this, £213,000 in the WST account, will hopefully see us through this time of uncertainty.

"This calendar year we have only had income from two home games, and with the loss of the Lionel Ritchie concert and other planned events, our income stream has been greatly depleted.

"With all of this in mind, we need supporters to get behind the Football Club, whoever is in charge, until we recover from this setback.

"We have all seen the call for heads of certain people; but I deplore those who take to personal abuse of individuals who are working extremely hard to ensure we have a Football Club to go forward after this pandemic.

"The way to remove anyone from the positions that they are in, is by democratic procedures that we have in place as a Fan owned football club, and not by using what can be described as bullying tactics from people using social media as a tool for their own agenda.

"The Annual General Meeting has always been a way to go forward. If you are unhappy with what is happening and with the way things have been run, you can either vote for the people you want on the Board or stand for election yourself. The door is open to any member to do this.

"However, having said that, we do need people with the skills to come on board; people who have the capabilities to represent the running of the business side of the Football Club, whilst also, most importantly, the time and availability to give to the Football Club cause.

"From my own position, I understand the need for change, and to have new faces come on board which I welcome, and, it is with this in mind, that I will be stepping down from the Chair of the Supporters Trust and the Board as well, to ensure new faces get the chance to bring a fresh approach to both the Trust and Football Club Boards.

"This decision was made last year when I decided to give one more year, as I really felt that last season would be the year. How wrong was I?

"The proposed EGM at the latter end of the year never received enough votes to back the resolutions that were being put forward.

"We, as a Board, tried to engage with these people, who remained behind their usernames on social media, but the offer was turned down. I did not agree with all the resolutions that they made, but as a Board we did want to discuss how we could improve the way things are and could be improved by mediation.

"However, the fact that the Trust Board get accused of a lack of transparency, these people disappointingly declined the offer to discuss their issues.

"Hopefully, this year’s AGM will see the call for change that they feel is needed, and that we see people who will put Wrexham Football Club first as previous Board members have. After all, we are all fans of Wrexham AFC.

"Looking back, there is no doubting that this past season has been a huge disappointment for us all.

"Pre-season, and everything looked quite promising. Several new signings had been made by the manager Bryan Hughes to add to the squad that reached the play-off the previous season.

"Fans were obviously hopeful going into the new season as was shown by the attendance at the opening game of the season when we beat Barrow 2-1.

"However, just one further win in the next eleven games proved otherwise, and this led to the replacement of Bryan Hughes as manager. Brian Flynn took temporary control, before Dean Keates was chosen from four candidates interviewed to take up from where he left us a couple of years go.

"Following on from last year, the interviewing for the new manager took place, and the Football Board put forward their proposal to the Trust Board with the reasons to appoint Dean over the other candidates.

"The Trust Board were unanimous in agreeing with the decision to appoint Dean as manager of Wrexham AFC.

"Not every appointment pleases all fans, but the Board made their honest decision in the best interests of Wrexham AFC. Going forward, I wish him well when the new season eventually starts."