RACECOURSE GROUND – Something Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney did not bargain for when they attempted their Hollywood epic in north Wales was just how unpopular Wrexham are becoming.
Of course, much of the vitriol coming their way has more than a tinge of envy. From total obscurity to the cusp of the Premier League is already a blockbuster tale. What they have created, and how they have gone about doing it, however, has already fast-tracked their superficial status to that of the supervillain, over the all-conquering hero, in many eyes.
Billed as a FA Cup giant-killing, box-office smash, Wrexham came up agonisingly short as Chelsea needed extra time to secure a spot in the quarter-finals at a raucous Racecourse Ground. But this was no ordinary David and Goliath tussle, despite what the billboards said.
10-man Wrexham think they've equalised deep into extra-time against Chelsea but the goal is judged offside by VAR
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 7, 2026
@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/mzlQbb0H7b
Being in attendance at a buoyant Racecourse only added to the feeling that, especially for the traditionalists among us, there is something overly-manufactured, even unsavoury about what is happening in north Wales.
“How far have you travelled today?” one interviewer asked outside the stadium pre-match.
“I live just over there,” came the reply from a rather less zealous supporter in red. Not what the excitable American had wanted to hear.
While the numbers have obviously swelled as interest in this struggling Welsh town has gathered momentum, there remains a core support within the Racecourse who have been there long before the dollars poured in.
As Chelsea initially laboured under great pressure on a bitter Saturday evening, Wrexham supporters stayed true to their roots with their jibes: “Are you Chester in disguise?” A team who used to be their wealthy, bourgeois rivals.
When Wrexham stormed into a second-half lead, however, another terrace chant summed up the bizarre circumstances we found ourselves in: “You’re only here to see the Wrexham.”
To have American broadcasting behemoths like Bleacher Report and Fox News competing for time with half-cut Welshmen outside, what five years ago, was a non-league ground, is just part of the furore, here and across the Atlantic, Reynolds and McElhenney have started. Chelsea, one of the most glamorous elite Premier League clubs, were hardly discussed. Everyone really was here to see the Wrexham.
Flight trackers flooded social media pre-match, checking that their star-studded overlords would be in their box, high in the Mold Road Stand. Blake Lively hanging onto her billionaire husband only increased the need for more cameras and microphones being pointed towards them than the action itself.
There was still plenty of minnows-against-top-flight elite feel about the occasion. A cramped press room full-to-bursting. Free FA Cup shirt-sleeve badges handed out. Programmes sold out an hour before kick off.
That is where labelling Wrexham alongside any of their lower-league peers ends.
While the obvious parallels between this encounter and the defeat of Arsenal in 1992 dominated the pre-match discourse, that team, led by Mickey Thomas, was a world away from a club who had United Airlines as its shirt sponsor in League Two. Or a team who generated £14m in revenue in League One. Or one who has a net spend of £35m this season in the Championship, double that of any opponent.
The project has done wonders for the wider area. Tourism, jobs, stadium redevelopment, new training facilities, a town and its people enjoying a mood shift of grandest proportions. The benefits for the owners, with Welcome to Wrexham season five starting soon on Disney+ and Reynolds and McElhenney, rather controversially, on Sky Sports co-comms for the Welsh derby clash with Swansea City on Friday – conflict of interest, anyone? – far outweigh the social byproducts of the success.
Your next read
On this weekend five years ago, a few days before Reynolds and McElhenney’s investment was confirmed, Wrexham were playing Sutton United, behind closed Covid doors, in a stadium that had 750 seats. The match ended 0-0.
Taking Chelsea to extra time, so early into their project, is way beyond Reynolds and McElhenney’s wildest dreams. The owners gushed with pride after the match. As they made their way onto their luxury transportation, supporters climbed fences, no matter how dangerous, numbering in their hundreds, begging for autographs, desperate to express their gratification.
“You promised me a hug,” a rather delirious female supporter screamed – one of the few promises the pair have not followed through with. This “Hollywood script”, swiftly becoming football’s most tiresome moniker, is still only in its infancy. Whether we like it or not.
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/PD47Mbf
Post a Comment