Wrexham AFC: The Backlash
The visceral reaction among some football fans to the rescuing, revival and rise of Wrexham would provide enough material for a psychology conference.
Social media algorithms sometimes make it feel that a world which four years ago pitied and patronised us, now loathes us. It’s a dizzying ride for those of us who stood shivering on The Kop twenty years ago or tried to raise money to save the club from oblivion.
But let’s not get carried away with our own importance. While it is true, we live rent-free in the heads of some fans from surprisingly big clubs, many more people — those with a calmer, more balanced outlook on life — are broadly indifferent albeit perhaps a little curious.
Take Sunday’s controversial “big day out” tweet from the official club account which prompted the sort of furious responses normally reserved for Joey Barton or Donald Trump. Even if all the comments and quote tweets were negative (and they weren’t) this apparently egregious example of “Hollywood arrogance” still attracted a positive sentiment, drawing seven times more “likes” than any other type of interaction on day one. The accompanying video had 10m views within 24 hours, yet only a few hundred were moved to comment, positively or negatively.
Algorithms push us towards controversial posts on things we love because they know we’ll respond. But that leaves us with a warped perception of mainstream public opinion. Trust me, most people may not love us. But most don’t hate us either. They just like a good story.
That said, the rage and fury from a minority of unhinged inhabitants of the more troubled corners of the Twittersphere (X-sphere??) deserves a closer look.
Some of the common refrains:
- Wrexham have no history. Third oldest club in the world, European quarterfinalists, three times FA Cup quarterfinalists.
- Wrexham have “skipped the struggle”. Fans saved the club from extinction not once but twice in the last twenty years.
- No-one supported Wrexham before 2020. Gates on a par with Cardiff in the mid 90s and Swansea in the early 00s.
- Wrexham’s attendances weren’t this high before the takeover. People like to watch a winning team … shock.
- Wrexham are not humble enough. Presumably this means we should apologise for beating local rivals.
Why are these people willing to embarrass themselves with such flamboyant displays of ignorance?
The most common answer is righteous indignation and rage at the idea of a club “buying the league”. But our League Two promotion rivals, Stockport County have an owner with estimated assets not far off the combined wallets of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. In the league just above us, Portsmouth, Barnsley, and Wigan all have owners worth more than double Wrexham’s. And in the Championship, the owners of Ipswich Town — in League One just last year — are 21 times richer!
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Why do these clubs get a relatively free ride from the self-appointed guardians of purity? And why are the champions of fairness apparently more exercised about two philanthropic self-made actors finding ways to help a working-class community than they are over the involvement of oligarchs, human rights abusers, and reckless absentee owners at the top of the Premier League?
Maybe it’s because we are “due a humbling”.
Because fans who fifteen years ago were in tears after handing over the deeds to their home in order to save the club; fans who have been persistently lied to, ripped off and laughed at by fraudsters masquerading as property developers; fans who endured defeats to North Ferriby, Stamford and Telford as part of a two decade slide into obscurity; fans who genuinely thought Covid would see the end of the team their great-grandparents swapped mining shifts to watch; fans who were at their wits end and had mentally prepared themselves for semi-pro status — those fans, yes they are well overdue a humbling!
Do Wrexham fans revel in winning moments? Yes. Are they making damned sure they enjoy this ride? Yes. Do they like to make the most of local bragging rights? Yes. Are some of them sometimes obnoxious with a bit of success? Yes. Is this any different from any other club? No.
My Leicester City supporting wife likes to provoke me by saying that everyone liked them when they won the title in 2016. And that’s true. Yet Leicester fans rightly lorded it over Spurs during that run-in. And they lost no opportunity to remind Forest and Derby fans who were top dogs in the East Midlands. I loved to see it, and no-one accused them of lack of humility because of it. It’s just part of football.
So, what’s the difference?
Possibly over-exposure. I’ll be honest even I have started to become sick of the relentless procession of Wrexham stories in the tabloids and on telly. As someone who used to buy the Daily Post as a boy, desperately scouring for any piece of Wrexham AFC news, this is an odd feeling. I was once impossibly excited when Blue Peter presenter Tim Vincent mentioned us one night. Now I actively try to avoid most of the press coverage. And if I feel that, imagine how others feel. If this was happening to another club, I can quite imagine feeling bitter enough to set aside the facts and invent my own narratives to make me feel better, never mind that the media coverage has nothing to do with the actual supporters.
But there is something more. There is a sense that Wrexham should “know it’s place”.
Had this happened to an established Championship side with topflight pedigree — let’s say Bolton — would there have been the same reaction? Has there been the same reaction to Tom Brady’s arrival at Birmingham? No.
Because it’s ok for big established teams to have fabulously rich and famous owners (no matter their reputation or intentions). But not Wrexham. It’s ok for big clubs with a bit of cash and success to engage in obnoxious chants and tweets, winding up rivals. But not Wrexham. Because we should be humble. We should stay in our lane. We should know our place. It’s football snobbery.
Three years ago, the minority with this outlook consoled themselves in the belief that it will all “end in tears”. But now, as it becomes clear that Rob and Ryan are not “getting bored”, that feeling has turned to anger at pretty much anything connected with the club.
If we are going to achieve our dreams, this will only get worse in the coming years. But we should embrace it. There is nothing wrong with mixing things up a little and putting a few established noses out of joint.
The universal view of Wrexham used to be “proper club”, “so sad to see them down there”, “I hope they get back up one day”. And while that felt nice and warm and fuzzy, I would then turn and look at my club rotting away. Then again, I turned and saw a town, apologising for its own existence.
Today, I am more than happy to take a few bitter and ill-informed social media rants if it means in return, I see a self-confident city and a full Cae Ras buzzing with excitement.
Sorry. Not sorry.
