Memories vs Roma 1984/85

[MrBoss]

Please add your memories.

[el poncho]

I was working at the Wrexham leader at the time on a work placement from school, flitting between the journos and the photographers.

it was good fun. reg herbert was still editor of the paper then.

Jim steel had beaten the Portuguese giants by himself at the Racecourse, with the canny scot Bobby Roberts orchestrating arguably the greatest victory against any European team on our home soil.

The European football world were taking notice of Wrexham and in particular one man Jim Steel.

Wrexham had narrowly lost the away leg 2-0 in that massive stadium.
the day before the home leg I was in the offices of the Wrexham/evening leader journos and left on my own to make tea and biscuits for myself.
The phone rang and i answered it. it was an Italian man with a big booming voice speaking in Mafiosi English asking for a photo of our big danger man.

I thought he had got his wires crossed and had a called the wrong number on a mafia hit, but eventually realised he was meaning big Jim Steel. I asked him who was calling from and he said the Roma Gazzette [which felt failry large and impressive in my head at the time] and he wanted a telexfax photo immediately wired down the line as they wanted to put our target man Jim as a big picture on that evenings back page.

It felt at the time, like a big responsibility for a work placement kid so i went off in search of some help. When i explained this telexfax thingie, the other journos looked at me as if i was stupid and said 'they want what? and started laughing 'we don’t have that sort of fancy equipment in Wrexham, tell them we can send a photograph by post. ' think th irony of it arriving after the match was lost on him. So i went back to the booming Italian and uttered some excuse like we dont need such fancy equipment. He seemed well ****ed off with that and out the phone down. i just thought yeah, yeah whatever what a loser, and big jim steel will stick one up you.

My memories of the match were this big Italian owners rocking up in cashmere floor length city coats, with their huge cigars billowing smoke across the racecourse. It was a cold night and the Brazilian falcao was playing for Romas as was the Italian world cup winning winger Bruno Conti. Who was i remember the first man ever to wear tights at the racecourse and he was ribbed all night long for that. he ended up sulking and just standing on the halfway line at the centre circle and not bothering to run.

We lost the game narrowly 1-0 and put up another great performance against such illustrious opponents. Thinking of it now it seemed ridiculous to think we might have had a chance but we had beaten so many big teams before the bigger they were the bigger their fall. It wasn't quite to be against Roma though who were very relieved to pass though to the next round after seeing Porto humiliated.

[Ellesmerered]

My memory of the away game involved a long long long train journey through France and into Italy with my father, once at Rome station the numbers of italians walking about in Roma scarfs and shirts was amazing. They certainly out numbered the 30 or so of us that had travelled on the train from Wrexham and they did not appear welcoming. We decided to attempt the journey on foot to the stadium but it was miles so gave up and took a taxi from somewhere near the collisum and had to pay something like 65000 lira for the 10 minute trip. This was a shock to me but once i'd understood the monetry exchage rates realised that it was only about £6....... When we arrived at the stadium its size was very impressive, it was the biggest stadium i'd ever been in before and dwarfed places such as wembley and old trafford but it was uncovered so on a wet day it would be a hell hole for visiting supporters..... As the game neared, the sound of the italians signing their songs was very intimidating and for the players walking out into that kind of atmosphere must have been terrifying but once the game began we held our own for long periods, I'm sure Stuart Parker played in goal as a last minute replacement and he had an excellent game against some of the worlds best players. Although we lost 2-0 it was an excellent effort from our team against a world giant, i managed to miss the 2nd leg for some reason...... probably still doing the return journey after the french went on strike and caused our train to be detoured through most of europe only to be woken at every border by armed police entering the carriages at silly hours. A memorable trip not just for the football but for the experience of a stadium of that size and the travelling..........

[serencoch]

stadio olympico before the roof for italia 90 and just how Wrexham would have seen it.