A FOND FAREWELL
Over the next fortnight we’ll pay a daily tribute to one of the players who are leaving Wrexham AFC this month.

The most transformative signing Wrexham made before the takeover was Rosie Hughes. Mari Gibbard was the first game-changing deal we struck after Rob and Ryan bought Wrexham.

Bringing Hughes in was obviously an enormous statement of intent: the north’s star striker, her goals propelled us to the top tier in remarkable fashion. Gibbard’s arrival was the first example of the sort of signings we would now be making as we made the jounrey from Adran North to Europe.

Wrexham had been keen to draft Gibbard in for a while. Her CV included 16 goals for Llandudno in the top tier in 2018-19, including two brilliant strikes against Cardiff City. She had a strong record in the Adran North following the rebranding of the women’s game in 2021 with Bethel (now Y Felinheli) and in a second spell at Llandudno. However, in an amateur league it wasn’t possible to make the deal work: for a player to have a full-time job and be available for training an hour away in the evening wasn’t feasible.

Once it was clear our circumstances were changing, the signing was possible and Gibbard arrived with perfect timing to boost our promotion bid with five league games remaining. She came on with half an hour left and made an assist in a 6-0 win over Llanfair United, then started the next three games, the last of which saw us clinch the Adran North title. Rested for the game against Connah’s Quay Nomads at the Racecourse, she started in the hole against Briton Ferry in the play-off and played a full part in the victory which secured promotion.

Gibbard’s experience and adaptability were crucial as we enjoyed an excellent first season in the Adran Premier. Able to play in any central midfield position, she enabled Steve Dale to adjust according to game situations. Her height was useful in breaking up play and winning the ball back in midfield, as was her ability to read the game. She played in every game in all competitions that season, starting all but two. One of her pair of substitute appearances saw her score against Cardiff Met, one of four she struck that season. Her most memorable moment was a finish with fifteen minutes left at TNS which clinched a 3-2 derby win in a match we had gone 2-0 down in after 11 minutes.

She played in all but one league game the following season, delivering with quality from set pieces and playing with threat in the hole behind Ava Suckley and Abbie Iddenden at the end of the first phase. Particularly memorable in that spell was an extended stint at Cardiff City off the bench in December: the game ended in one of those 4-1 defeats which could have turned out so very differently. Gibbard set up Suckley’s goal and forced Ceryn Chamberlain into a string of superb second half saves to keep us at bay until Lily Billingham finally put the game out of reach in the last minute.

Sadly, she wasn’t able to make an appearance under Jenny Sugarman. Injuries to her thigh and back meant that, despite being eager to join the new-look squad and make a contribution, she wasn’t able to. However, she had already made an excellent contribution to the club, living up to the symbolic nature of her signing. She was crucial to our success in hitting the top tier running and it would have been fascinating to see what part she might have played as we capped that process by winning the league last season.