Whilst witnessing the substitution of the referee at Slough last Saturday, Club Historian Ron Parrott started wondering if anything similar had ever happened before and although he couldn’t find anything, he provided BN with this wonderful story of something similar that happened at neighbours Worcester City back in November 1985.
Ron reports:
Things could have been much worse at Slough as Wrexham’s former manager and United legend Dixie McNeil would surely have agreed when the following events unfolded:
“Fairground assistant Malcolm Cutler hoodwinked everybody when he stepped in as an emergency linesman in last night’s Welsh FA Cup tie between Worcester City and Wrexham at St. George’s Lane. An appeal was made for a local official to come forward when linesman Paul Hughes suffered a hamstring injury 15 minutes into the first half. But Worcester-based Cutler, who has no refereeing or linesman’s qualifications, was first on the scene and took over the flag for the remainder of the opening 45 minutes. He raised a cheer from the crowd after awarding several decisions in Worcester’s favour but his antics did not amuse Wrexham’s manager Dixie McNeil and he was replaced on the line by Worcester League referee Simon Powell in the second half.
Cutler, who helps run the dodgems on fairs that pass through Worcester every year, quickly disappeared after his spell of glory, to leave officials from both sides red-faced with embarrassment. McNeill commented “I thought there was something up when he took a big drag on a cigarette before taking over the line and then kept waving at the crowd!”
Ron concluded: Although I’d heard the story before, I still fell about laughing at Dixie’s comments”