With My Little Pick and Shovel - A Cardiff City Story

2030 FA CUP FINAL
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WREXHAM v STOKE CITY
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League 1 champions Wrexham take on Stoke at Wembley today in what is quite frankly a strange match up for the FA Cup Final. Neither side have won the competition although Wrexham manager Matthew Hawkins does have history, having lifted the famous trophy on no less than 6 occasions when he was Cardiff boss

ROUTE TO THE FINAL

WREXHAMSTOKE
R12-1 vs. Stalybridge CelticN/A
R21-0 vs West BromN/A
R33-1 vs. Liverpool (Replay)2-1 vs. Burnley
R44-3 vs. Rotherham2-1 vs. Huddersfield (Replay)
R53-2 vs. Chesterfield3-0 vs. Barnsley
R63-1 vs. Watford2-1 vs. Cardiff (Replay)
SF3-2 vs. Brentford3-1 vs. Newcastle


Wrexham have had a much longer route to the final than Stoke, having to play two extra rounds than the Potters

LINE UPS
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Both sides go with a 4-2-3-1, looks like an attacking final!

KICK-OFF
16th Minute-Mitchell, to Schraam, inside to M'Changma!!! 1-0 to Stoke!
18th Minute-Paddy Boyle plays it long to Schraam, takes it inside, hits it... GOAL! 2-0!
22nd Minute-Cross whipped in to the far post... BOYLE!!! 3-0!

HALF-TIME
Wrexham 0-3 Stoke
Stoke have scored each time they've shot

SECOND-HALF
64th Minute-Ball played out wide to Lillis, played to the near post for BOYLE!!! 4-0!
78th Minute-Schraam, long ball to Pedro, cuts inside, plays it to Luis Henrique!! 5-0!
81st Minute-Ball whipped in, nodded on by Pedro

FULL-TIME
Wrexham 0-5 Stoke City
Wrexham gave everything but were overwhelmed in the end

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2030 WORLD CUP SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT
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The Wales squad for the 2030 World Cup in Italy has been announced

GOALKEEPERS
NAMEAGECLUBCAPS
Rikki Morris30West Ham114
Ryan Roberts29Wolves3
Dan John28Fulham0

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DEFENDERS
NAMEAGECLUBCAPS (GOALS)
Taylor Llewelyn-Hughes21Leeds14 (0)
Kyle Davies28Leeds48 (3)
Danny Bellamy25Derby52 (4)
Geraint France21Tottenham12 (0)
Tom Giggs25Leicester56 (1)
Gareth Cook25Southampton31 (0)
Robert Pugh27West Ham72 (1)
Gareth Jones18Tottenham1 (0)


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MIDFIELDERS
NAMEAGECLUBCAPS (GOALS)
Mitchell Grant28Cardiff111 (15)
Oliver O'Leary28Bournemouth24 (3)
Richard Owens28Norwich11 (0)
Gareth Powell22Southampton5 (1)
Adam Felgate26Stoke75 (2)
Gary Lloyd29Leeds69 (21)
Jamie Parry24Cardiff55 (20)
Kieron Sellick19Cardiff18 (1)
Chris Pennock24Cardiff55 (8)
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ATTACKERS
NAMEAGECLUBCAPS (GOALS)
Tyler Roberts31Swansea77 (51)
Rob Wynne24Newcastle5 (2)
Joe Feeley24Middlesbrough21 (11)

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WORLD CUP GROUP STAGE
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Our 2030 World Cup group is an interesting one - featuring South Africa, Mexico and Portugal, let's do this

WORLD CUP GROUP E
South Africa 0-3 Wales
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Morris, Llewelyn Hughes, Bellamy, Davies, France, O'Leary (Owens 62), Felgate, Lloyd (Powell 78), Pennock, Sellick (Parry 62), Wynne
A side weakened by injuries overcame a potential banana skin with relative ease. Oliver O'Leary's thunderbolt got us to a great start and we never looked back from there, with Rob Wynne scoring his first World Cup goals

WORLD CUP GROUP E
Wales 3-0 Mexico
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Morris, Llewleyn Hughes, Bellamy, Davies (Giggs 76), France, Grant, Felgate (Powell 76), Lloyd, Pennock (Owens 76), Parry, Wynne
Another game where we did better than expected - in my opinion at least. I though Mexico would pose more of a challenge but once we found out their only tactic (knock it long) we ripped them to pieces, with the game over before half-time

WORLD CUP GROUP E
Portugal 2-1 Wales
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Morris, Pugh, Giggs, Davies, France, Grant, Felgate, Powell, Pennock, Sellick, Feeley (Wynne 59)
We just weren't at the races today and made mistakes all over the pitch, allowing Portugal to capitalise, which they did, scoring both of their goals off the back of individual errors

LEAGUE TABLE
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Absolutely gutted to have finished second and to have lost to Portugal, leaves us with a huge challenge in the second round...​
 
2030 WORLD CUP KNOCKOUT STAGES
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When I said we had a big challenge, I might have been slightly "economical" with the truth...

WORLD CUP SECOND ROUND
Jamaica 0-4 Wales
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Morris, Llewelyn Hughes, Giggs, Bellamy, Cook, Grant (Powell 69), O'Leary, Lloyd, Owens, Sellick (Wynne 69), Roberts (Feeley 43)
A very professional performance has landed us a very tasty quarter final clash with Scotland, a very winnable game that could set us up for yet another semi final. We ran Jamaica ragged and were good value for the 4-0 and we could have scored more

WORLD CUP QUARTER FINAL
Wales 2-1 Scotland
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Morris, Llewelyn Hughes, Davies, Bellamy, Cook, Grant, Felgate, Lloyd, Pennock, Parry (Powell 64), Feeley (Wynne 64)
A very good performance ended in a narrow victory as we struggled to beat Ian Nelson in the Scottish goal. A well-worked goal scored by Welsh legend Mitchell Grant is what us going today after a slow start before national hero Gareth Powell's winner 5 minutes from time

WORLD CUP SEMI FINAL
England 1-2 Wales
After Extra-Time
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Morris, Pugh, Giggs, Bellamy, Cook, Grant (Felgate 76), O'Leary, Owens (Lloyd 76), Pennock, Parry, Feeley (Wynne 102)
This ame would have been over within 90 minutes had Joe Feeley taken his chances. The Middlesbrough striker missed chance after chance as we dominated, not allowing England a sniff, so, of course, they take the lead in extra time. Fortunately Joe Feeley wasn't on the pitch to miss from five yards as Rob Wynne tucked his chance away, inspiring Gary Lloyd to do the same and put us in the final​
 
2030 WORLD CUP FINAL
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WALES v USA
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A repeat of the 2026 World Cup final as Wales and the USA face off once more

ROUTE TO THE FINAL

WALESUSA
MD13-0 vs. South Africa5-1 vs. Uruguay
MD2 3-0 vs. Mexico0-0 vs. Scotland
MD31-2 vs. Portugal2-0 vs. Croatia
GROUP FINISH2nd1st
SR4-0 vs. Jamaica1-0 vs. Morocco
QF2-1 vs. Scotland1-0 vs. Portugal
SF2-1 vs. England (AET)1-0 vs. Germay

Both sides are high scoring, with Wales scoring 15 goals in 6 games and the USA scoring 10, with half of those coming in their opening game!

LINE UPS
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Two fairly attacking sides as Wales go with a 4-2-3-1 and the USA go with a 4-4-1-1

KICK-OFF

HALF-TIME
Wales 0-0 USA
No big chances but Wales have been on top
SUBS: Tim Ramirez replaces Christian Pulisic for USA

SECOND-HALF
49th Minute-Kraft stands over the free kick, whips it in to the near post, nodded on for KELLY!!!! 1-0!
55th Minute-Gareth Powell replaces Gary Lloyd for Wales
60th Minute-Parry plays it forward, Powell nods it on for Wynne, Davison brings it down for the USA.. its a poor touch.. Powell's in here.. GOAL!!! 1-1!
60th Minute-Varnah Clarke replaces Josue Mejia for USA
65th Minute-Gediom Zelalem replaces Alessandro de Luca for USA
74th Minute-Richard Owens replaces Oliver O'Leary for Wales

FULL-TIME
Wales 1-1 USA
Wales are on top but the USA are holding firm

EXTRA-TIME
90th Minute-Pennock, inside to Owens, he knocks it on to Wynne, plays it round the corner for POWELL!!! So close, he should have scored!
96th Minute-Joe Feeley replaces Chris Pennock for Wales

HALF-TIME
Wales 1-1 USA
This is tense

SECOND-HALF
113th Minute-Powell, to Owens, back to Powell, the cross is aimed for the past for FEELEY!!!! GOAL!!! No! He's offside!
116th Minute-Ball intercepted by Wynne, Wales pass it around and now Giggs plays it forward to Wynne, good first touch and he plays it for Powell, he knocks it on and whips it in for JOE FEELEY!!! GOAL!!! THERE'S NO DISPUTING THAT ONE!!! 2-1 TO WALES!

FULL-TIME
Wales 2-1 USA

Wales have retained the World Cup, beating the USA for the second World Cup final in a row!

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WOW. Just WOW. That 2025/26 season was sensational man! Septuple is the stuff of dreams! Topped off by winning another huge tournament with Wales. What a career you've had and what a read this is. I've still got another 12 pages to read, I think, but I just had to put that out there. Well done. Really do hope you've now moved on to topple Celtic haha! Rangers fan :)
 
Fully caught up on this now. I like the move to Wrexham and it's definitely going well for you so far isn't it? Shame about that FA Cup final score but let's be honest, you should never have reached that stage so in doing so was a fantastic achievement! Hope to see another successive promotion and for you to become the best team in England with a Welsh team for the second time! The success with Wales is phenomenal too, if I was to guess I'd say raising the profile of Cardiff and subsequently getting much better Welsh players through the system has helped?
 
1magine said:
WOW. Just WOW. That 2025/26 season was sensational man! Septuple is the stuff of dreams! Topped off by winning another huge tournament with Wales. What a career you've had and what a read this is. I've still got another 12 pages to read, I think, but I just had to put that out there. Well done. Really do hope you've now moved on to topple Celtic haha! Rangers fan :)
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Cheers mate, the Cardiff team I built was essentially a world XI at that point it was absolutely unreal

The team I was going to choose to try and topple Celtic with was going to be Hibs as they were in League 1 at the time but they got promoted soon after
 
1magine said:
Fully caught up on this now. I like the move to Wrexham and it's definitely going well for you so far isn't it? Shame about that FA Cup final score but let's be honest, you should never have reached that stage so in doing so was a fantastic achievement! Hope to see another successive promotion and for you to become the best team in England with a Welsh team for the second time! The success with Wales is phenomenal too, if I was to guess I'd say raising the profile of Cardiff and subsequently getting much better Welsh players through the system has helped?
Click to expand...
The FA Cup was a bit of a downer to be honest, yeah it was great how far we got in the competition but Stoke are absolutely amazing on this save and have come very close to the title 3/4 times now

I think the success with Cardiff has really helped with the Welsh national team, if you look at the Welsh team 5 of the best players were all produced at Cardiff and the youth teams are filled with Cardiff players, there are also players like Feeley who were produced at Cardiff but never made it there but have had good careers elsewhere. Success with Wrexham should really help on the Welsh front too as Wrexham always seem to produce a few good players (i.e. Llewelyn Hughes in the Wales team is a Wrexham graduate) so hopefully the influx of cash will improve the academy and in turn take some of the weight off Cardiff in terms of producing players

This guy came through at Cardiff in the intake before the World Cup and came very close to making the squad
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FIVE IN AT RACECOURSE
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Five new faces have been walking around Wrexham town centre today as Wrexham begin to bolster their squad for the new season

The club have spent a total of £4,000 on the newbies who have arrived from all over Europe

The first signing announced was that of striker Keith Lowdon from TNS for a fee of £4,000.

16 year old Lowdon made 3 appearances for the Saints last season and obivously impressed the Wrexham scouts enough for him to make the short trip from Oswestry to the Racecourse
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The second signing announced was the signing of Spanish midfielder Jose Maria Martinez from Notts County on a free transfer

24 year old playmaker Martinez started his career at Alaves, making one appearance for the club before being plucked from home by Atletico Madrid, where he made 6 appearances before leaving for Notts County on a free transfer

The midfielder, who has 33 Spain Under-21 caps, impressed in his 40 appearances last season efore running down his contract in order to join the newly promoted Robins
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The third signing announced was that of another midfielder, Fabio Faccin, who has joined Wrexham from Italian amateurs Renato Culi Angolana for nothing

Faccin, 16, was wanted by numerous lower league Italian clubs but took the plunge and decided to join Welsh outfit Wrexham to enhance his ability and further his career
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The fourth signing was that of 17 year old Greek winger Lakis Symeonidis from Makedonikos on a free transfer

Another former amateur, Symeonidis has moved to Wrexham in order to become a professional and further his career away from his homeland
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Last, but certainly not least, is Greek centre back Alekos Montesantos, who looks like he may have been a bit of a coup

The 18 year old has joined Wrexham from Greek second tier side Kerkyra on a free transfer and is touted as a future Greek international
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ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK AT WREXHAM
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You'd think a newly promoted side would focus on their defence in the summer transfer window, Wrexham obviously didn't get the memo as they have splashed out on a variety of attacking options

Leading the way for Wrexham was Mark Giles, who has rejoined the club for a fourth loan spell at the Racecourse

Giles, 20, has enjoyed two promotion campaigns with the Robins, scoring 52 goals in 115 league appearances for Wrexham, becoming a fan's favourite in the process
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Shortly after the signing of Mark Giles came another striker, this one being Welsh international Philip Osbourne, who has joined from Botlon Wanderers for a club record fee of £450,000

Osbourne, 27, has had a colourful career, appearing for Sunderland, AFC Wimbledon, Derby, Yeovil, Leyton Orient, MK Dons and Bradford before joining Bolton for £250,000 where he was League 1's top scorer last season, racking up an impressive 33 league goals
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Then came another big money signing as right winger Willie King arrived from Wrexham's FA Cup final vanquishers Stoke City for £350,000

England Under 19 international King, who can also play for Ireland, has left his boyhood club at the age of 21 after 6 seasons and no appearances for the Potters
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Shortly after the arrival of King came the arrival of another winger, 22 year old Ceri Lacey, who has arrived on loan from Huddersfield

The 22 year old, who joined Huddersfield from boyhood club Swansea for £1.4m two years ago has been a long term target of Hawkins who is delighted to have finally got his man
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Wrexham then brought in ANOTHER left winger, this one being Niall Higton, who has joined from Hull City for £150,000

Higton, also 22, caught they eye on loan at Shrewsbury last season, racking up 8 goals and 12 assists in 39 league games and will operate as backup this season
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Last, but certainly not least is Alvin Manning, who has joined Wrexham from Stockport County for £6,250 on the recommendation of Head of Youth Development, Grant Brown

Manning, 18, has been given a years contract to impress at the Racecourse following three years and 68 league appearances in the Conference
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WREXHAM SPLASH CASH AS THEY BRING IN FOUR
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Newly promoted Wrexham have sent out a statement to their new Championship rivals as they have spent £580,000 on four players

The most expensive signing was that of Terry James, who's joined from Rotherham for £400,000.

Wales international James, 28, has joined Wrexham just a season after joining the Millers from Southend for £1.5m, he made just 20 appearances for Rotherham

James enjoyed his best run of form at Southend, where he made 189 league appearances over a period of 5 seasons
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The second most expensive signing was the signing of David Rogers, who has returned to Wrexham permanently for £180,000

Rogers, 22, has spent the past two years on loan at Wrexham from Southampton, making 71 appearances for the Robins before joining from the Saints
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The third signing was a bit of a marquee one as Wrexham brought in Spurs legend Harry Kane on a free transfer

Kane, 37, has joined Wrexham following the expiration of his contract at New York Red Bulls, where he made 29 league appearances, scoring 10 goals

England and Spurs legend Kane made 408 league appearances for Spurs, scoring 213 league goals for the club as well as winning 102 England caps, scoring 91 goals
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The final signing was that of Richard Peake, who has also joined Wrexham for nothing

19 year old left back Peake has joined the Robins following the expiration of his contract at Stoke, where he spent two years
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OMG Harry Kane with 37 years old ! 102 caps for 91 goals....... OMG a beast !
 
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ROBINS WITH CASH TO BURN
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Wrexham will have cash to burn in the January transfer window following a HUGE sale, with the club raking in its record sale

The player sold was promising right back Matthew Brown, who has joined Hull City for a massive £4.5m

Brown was of course subject to numerous bids last season, with the highest coming from Liverpool who offered £1m for the teenager's services, with manager Matthew Hawkins refusing these offers, labelling them "derisory"

18 year old Wales Under 21 international Brown made 19 appearances for Wrexham after signing from boyhood club Newport for £16,000 in 2028

Wrexham have also inserted a clause which states 40% of the next sale will find its way to the Racecourse
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Yeah of course, was always going to be a big ask!

Aye I thought that might be the case but now that you are with Wrexham it's time to become the best Welsh team again and as Cardiff have been built up so well you should have the chance of getting great players from both clubs which will help! You seem to get a good couple of regens from Swansea too.

Busy transfer period for you eh? Class signing in Kane regardless of wage haha! Great work getting almost £5m for a player you paid absolute peanuts for, always a great feeling that.
 
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