THERE’S A NEW FC HOLLYWOOD IN TOWN
While even the most cynical among us genuinely struggle to find anything unpleasant to say about the job Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have done since taking over as Wrexham owners, if we had one bone to pick, Football Daily would suggest that their presence at the Racecourse Ground does tend to distract from the coverage of the actual football being played. While it’s hardly surprising the camera loves them given the success they’ve achieved in their day jobs, those from BT Sport border on harassment in their obsession with cutting away to the duo if Wrexham win so much as a throw-in, let alone promotion back to the Football League after an absence of 15 years.
It’s difficult, then, to imagine either McElhenney or Reynolds getting more screen time across 162 episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and two Deadpool movies, respectively, than they did during BT’s coverage of Wrexham’s win over Boreham Wood on Saturday. And while both celebrity owners were visibly emotional to see the team in which they have invested so much time, money, energy and what appears to be genuine love go up, their delight was nothing compared to that of the long-suffering fans who invaded the pitch at full time, before celebrating long into the night at the nearby boozer, The Turf.
“Everything I own smells like champagne, beer and grass,” hooted Reynolds on Social Media Disgraces in the wake of their promotion as champions, in the kind of message you just don’t expect to see from Joel Glazer, Stan Kroenke or the notoriously abstemious and clean-living Mohammed bin Salman. “I’m still somewhere between giggling and sobbing. This town and this sport is one of the most romantic things on Earth. Thank you, Wrexham AFC.” It is important, however, to remember that long before the Welsh caught the eyes of anyone as a potential #content-provider far away in Tinseltown, it had been saved from the brink of extinction by a supporters’ trust with nowhere near as much clout.
Having finally escaped their National League purgatory, the future could scarcely be more bright for Wrexham, who are already being touted as strong contenders to win promotion again next season, from a division which, with its four promotion places, is far easier to escape than the one they have just left. Of course, for every fairytale there is a hard-luck story and Wrexham’s triumph has consigned Notts County to the playoffs, despite them having amassed 106 points already. “This entire story, the reason we are all on the edge of our seats is because Notts County are so damned good,” roared Reynolds. “They deserve to go up. We are rooting for Notts County. We want to see them go up.” As does pretty much everyone beyond their playoff rivals, if only to level the playing field and give comparatively impoverished clubs a chance.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I have no answer for this because it is not a question for me. We have to apologise with everyone [for the performance] – and I hope that today is my responsibility because changing system was my decision. I hope it was this that was the problem” – Spurs interim boss Cristian Stellini laments their 6-1 shoeing at Newcastle, which included the hosts racing into a 5-0 lead inside the first 21 minutes. Club suits are now readying the axe over Stellini.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
With regards to Mike Smith on Corsham Town’s busy run-in (Friday’s Football Daily letters), I am sure that there are many teams, particularly in non-league, that have had fixture congestion at the end of a season. Back in the 2000-01 season, bad weather affected many teams. It was a 42-game season. Tooting & Mitcham United played the first 25 league games across 224 days, interspersed with cup games. Eighteen games were played in 33 days between 3 April and 5 May; 17 were league games. Ask the Premier League boys to give their all for that sort of run-in – and after a day earning a crust at their normal 9-5 job – and they’d laugh at you” – Ewen Anderson.
I seem to recall Guernsey having to play something like 20 games in 40 days in the Combined Counties League some years ago. The last four in four days” – John Newell.
Big Website is just asking us to troll Spurs’ players by asking for answers to this question, isn’t it?” – Noble Francis.
So, ‘Ten Hag’s biggest job this summer is to sort the sense from the hysteria, the future from the past and the wheat from the chaff’ (Friday’s Football Daily). If you decide to change the name of this communication (again), The Chaff seems like a perfect candidate” –Nigel Sanders.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Nigel Sanders.
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