Football Museum officer appointed
As part of the ongoing football museum developments we are happy to announce that Nick Jones has recently joined us, and is now in post as the football museum officer.
We invited Nick to tell us a little bit about himself, his previous roles and what his roles will be at the museum…
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Hi, I’m Nick and I’ve recently joined Wrexham County Borough Council (WCBC) as the new Football Museum Officer.
I’m very excited to be involved with this project from the kick off.
It will no doubt be an exciting and challenging role, but one that holds plenty of opportunity!
The project will aim to work alongside communities to encourage participation and inspire visitors from all backgrounds.
The project will complement other developments in Wrexham including the Wrexham Gateway Project
What does the role entail?
I’ll be tasked with the curation and care of Wrexham Museum’s existing football related collections as well as growing the collection further to ensure that the new museum is fully able to tell the evolving story of football in Wales.
My role will also involve working and engaging with stakeholders across Wales and in the wider football world.
Previous to joining WCBC I worked at the English National Football Museum (NFM) based in Manchester.
During my time at the NFM I was fortunate to work on a number of projects. These included exhibitions commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Football League, football and WW1, Pelé and the 50th anniversary of England’s 1966 World Cup win (sorry, last time I’ll mention it!).
I am passionate about football, particularly its rich and diverse history. In the modern football world, heritage can often be overlooked. The creation of a new football museum in Wrexham presents a tremendous opportunity to tell the stories of football in Wales, some well-known, some yet to be uncovered.
It’s an extremely exciting period for football in Wales from the success of the national team, right through to grass roots football and the exponential growth of the women’s game.
We hope to showcase the best of football in Wales, and become a place of pilgrimage for all football fans.
Diolch
Nick
We also put a few quick-fire questions to Nick:
Favourite Team: Crewe Alexandra
Best away ground: Edgeley Park, Stockport County
Favourite player past/present: past – Ian Rush & John Barnes present – Erling Haaland & Charlie Kirk (Crewe)
Did you play? What positon?: poorly – right-back or right-midfield
Best football memory: coaching Whalley Range Juniors in Manchester from under 7 to 11
Best tournament: first World Cup – Italia ‘90
Best kit: my first Crewe shirt from ’92 (worn at club’s first Wembley appearance) – similar to the Man Utd 1990 blue and white ‘speckled’ shirt
Worst kit: too many to mention!
VAR? yes but it needs to be smoother/quicker
Best footballer’s haircut: Carlos Valderrama
Dinner with 4 footballers past and present. Who would they be: Ted Drake (was a neighbour of my Grandma), George Best, Bill Shankly, Marcus Rashford
What’s your best football ‘fact’: Crewe Alex have won the Welsh Cup twice, in 1936 & 1937!
Best computer football game: FIFA ‘97
Best football site/show tv/blog/podcast: WSC podcast
*If you would like to contact Nick in relation to the project you can email him here: nick1.jones@wrexham.gov.uk
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