Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Do I envy the Ryan Reynolds Hollywood aura at Wrexham? No, but if George Clooney fancies subsidising us at Farnborough then I’ll save him a seat!
SPENCER DAY put together the greatest side the world has ever seen. Better than any hotchpotch XI on parade in Qatar.
On paper, Farnborough boss Day’s dream team should have had the rocket fuel to climb miles higher than 15th in National League South, where they sit now.
Gordon Banks, Cafu, Franz Beckenbauer, Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Lothar Matthaus, Johan Cruyff, Paul Gascoigne, Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona and Gary Lineker would normally be expected to wipe the floor with Concord Rangers or Dulwich Hamlet.
But managing all those galacticos is not as simple as arranging them in a 3-4-2-1 formation and sending them out to put Tonbridge Angels to the sword.
In truth, Day’s all-star cast didn’t quite live up to the legends on the back of their shirts after Farnborough’s players and coaching staff changed their names by deed poll in a £100,000 stunt with bookies Paddy Power to stop the club going bust nine years ago. But when Boro go to the Racecourse Ground in the FA Cup second round, Day wishes he could confront Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mcelhenney (together above) with more stardust than they’ve ever seen on Sunset Boulevard.
“One of their players’ wages is my total budget for a week,” said Day, or Jose Mourinho as he was briefly known in 2013.
“Their sponsors are Tiktok – the only tick-tock around here is the clock on the wall.
“Have you seen their home record this season? Played 12, won 12, average 3.7 goals per game. Barnet went up there a few weeks ago and scored five – no problem, Wrexham just hit seven.
“Am I jealous of Ryan Reynolds and his Hollywood aura? Not at all, good luck to him. But if Jennifer Aniston or George Clooney fancy subsidising us at Cherrywood Road, I’ll save them a seat in the directors’ box.
“No disrespect to Wrexham, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, but I think they are going to rise back up the pyramid as fast as they came down.”
Day’s deed-poll gimmick was marketing genius which saved Farnborough – and it was not his first brush with changing names.
Before he adopted his mother’s maiden name 24 years ago, in a previous incarnation he was Spencer Trethewy, the teenage tycoon who was branded a false messiah when Aldershot were heading for meltdown in the 1990s. It emerged he was unable to repay the £200,000 he had borrowed to try to save the Shots.
In the fall-out, he also lost his house. Then, at 23, he was jailed for breaching the Companies Act after his airline company was suspended from trading, but his redemption has unfolded in tandem with football management.
Now 51, Day is a successful asset fund manager and property developer. For the last 11 years he has been in charge at Farnborough, where he has presided over two promotions.
“I’m not hiding from the past or pretending I was totally innocent.
I did some stupid stuff, my life went into a downward spiral for a time and I’m not trying to defend it. But, look, my ‘other’ life was 30 years ago and I left that behind in the last century.
“I was taken in and spat out by some bad influences, destroyed by my own stupidity. But I’ve since rebooted my life, built a business, lost a business – I lost £25million in 2012 due to fraud against me – but football has been my escapism.
“I make no bones about it, we are total underdogs at Wrexham.
“My players normally drive themselves to away games – the last time we travelled together on a team coach, we went to Tiverton on a Tuesday night and got tonked. We won’t be doing that again in a hurry.”
Farnborough reached the fourth round in 2003, and 11 years earlier they held top-flight West Ham 1-1 at Upton Park before losing narrowly in a third round replay.
They were known as Farnborough Town 30 years ago. But what’s in a name?