Football legend Dixie McNeil has been reunited with his long lost shirt thanks to a museum to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Wrexham FC.
Dixie, 67, had appealed for help in tracing the number 9 shirt he last saw during the 1977-78 promotion season.
He made the public plea to find the shirt as part of campaign to drum up exhibits for the pop up museum at Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham.
Dixie had always believed his team mate, John Lyons, who played in the final game of the season because he was injured, threw the famous shirt into the Kop after the final whistle of the last game of the season.
Thirty six years on life-long Wrexham fan Geoff Reynolds, 57, of Buckley, read of Dixie’s wish to see the shirt again.
He handed the shirt into the museum and has insisted Dixie keep it.
Dixie, now the club President, said: “It was the last game of the season and I was injured. John Lyons took my place in the side and wore my shirt.
“At the end of the game, in the dressing room, I asked John where my shirt was and he said he’d thrown it into the Kop. I hadn’t seen it since until Geoff kindly got in touch.
“In those days we only had one kit and the shirt was precious to me. However, it turns out John Lyons hadn’t thrown into the Kop at all he’d given it to Geoff who he knew from their school days together.
“I thought I’d never see that shirt again so for Geoff to come forward and not only let me see the shirt but to give it to me as a gift is incredible and really generous.
“To be perfectly honest I won’t get a better Christmas present this year. It’s amazing that Geoff saw the article about the Eagles Meadow pop-up museum in the newspaper and got in touch. I am just thrilled to bits.”
Geoff, a self-employed truck driver, is thrilled to have made Dixie’s dreams come true by returning the slog-lost shirt.
He said: “I actually went to school with John Lyons and used to go up to his parents’ house on the Friday evening before games to see John and chat about the game and tactics.
“The night before that final game of the season he told me he was playing as Dixie as injured and told me to get on the pitch at the end of the game and he’d give me a memento.”
He added: “When the final whistle went I ran on the pitch, with lots of other supporters I might add, and ran over to John. I asked him for the shirt and reluctantly he took it off and gave it me and I have had it ever since.
“When John passed away I offered the shirt to his mum and dad but they told me I should keep it. So I put it away.
“Then when I saw the pop-up museum was opening at Eagles Meadow I decided to loan the shirt and vowed to drop it off. But then I saw the article in the newspaper and thought straight away that I had to give the shirt back to its rightful owner.
“Had I been aware Dixie had wanted the shirt and was so upset he hadn’t got it at the end of that game, I would have made sure he’d have got it many years earlier. At least now he has it and I’m thrilled to have been able to hand it to him personally.”
Dixie who now works as the lottery manager for Wales Air Ambulance, was grateful the organisers had also been raising money for the life-saving service.
He said: “I was here for the opening and couldn’t get over the crowds. It’s been a fantastic success.
“It has been a wonderful way to celebrate the club’s 150th year and I know fans have really enjoyed it. I hope lots of younger children have been inspired and will want to go along to the Racecourse and watch the Reds play next season.”
The club, established in 1864. is the oldest in Wales and the third oldest in the world while the Racecourse is the world’s oldest international football ground still in use. The first international match was played there in 1877 when Scotland played Wales.
The museum featured interactive exhibits and free family entertainment such as table football tournaments and treasure hunts.
Among those remembered at the museum was world’s first playboy footballer, Leigh Roose, the son of a Presbyterian minister from Holt, near Wrexham, who died at the Somme in the First World War.
There was also a recording of Mickey Thomas, a guest of honour at the official opening, talking about the most famous single kick in the history of the club – his thunderous free-kick against First Division Champions Arsenal at the Racecourse in the 1992 FA Cup third round tie in 1993 which remains an iconic moment in the club’s history.
Stuart Bellis, the Operations Manager at Eagles Meadow, is himself a huge Dragons fan.
He said: “The pop up museum has been a resounding success and has proved extremely popular with fans young and old.
“Dixie is rightly hailed as an absolute legend of the club and the icing on the cake was the fact that he’s been reunited with his famous number 9 shirt.”
