Wrexham’s party on their first outing in the U.S. may have been spoiled by a resounding Chelsea victory.
But when it came to spreading the Welsh gospel across North Carolina, the League Two club proved more than equal to the two-time Champions League winners in the one-upmanship stakes.
Chelsea boast their own ambitious owners. But it was cardboard cut-outs of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney that adorned the entrance to an open training session in Carey, with not a Todd Boehly in sight as fans flocked to take their photos next to the Hollywood pair.
Then there was the pop-up version of The Turf, the pub that sits in the shadow of the Racecourse Ground, welcoming fans to the Kenan Stadium on Wednesday evening rather than Frankie’s Sports Bar or any of the other watering holes that supporters pack on a west London matchday.
A pop-up version of The Turf
If there were any lingering doubts as to just how big a deal this club from north Wales has become across the Atlantic then Turf landlord — and Welcome to Wrexham breakout star — Wayne Jones posing for photos with fans next to the Chapel Hill version of his pub as the temperature gauge nudged up towards the mid-30s Celsius surely puts those to bed.
As, to be fair, should the huge pre-match queues snaking towards the entrance of the fanzone set aside for supporters of the League Two club with not-so-subtle banners proclaiming ‘Wrexham USA Invasion 2023’.
“It is brilliant to experience,” says Elliot Lee, the midfielder whose 12 goals played such a key role in Wrexham’s promotion to the EFL last season. “We landed (on Sunday) and wandered (into Chapel Hill) an hour later.
“People were coming up and welcoming us to North Carolina, telling us how they were all Wrexham fans. We just don’t get to see that side when back home.”
Kenan Stadium, usually home to the North Carolina Tar Heels gridiron team, vividly illustrated the popularity Wrexham currently enjoy in North America. Sure, there were thousands of Chelsea shirts on display in the sell-out 50,596 crowd, as the locals took another chance to watch live a club who had twice previously played down the road in Charlotte.
But there were plenty of pockets of red on display, too, for a game that was broadcast live to almost 100 countries. Yet another indication of the tremendous impact made by a documentary that is broadcast on FX in the States and Disney+ in the UK.
“The fans have bought into this story like you wouldn’t believe,” says Ben Foster, the former England international who came out of retirement to re-join Wrexham last March.
“I was on holiday in Mykonos just a couple of weeks ago. It was weird, because there weren’t any English people due to it still being term-time in the schools back home. But there were a lot of American people.
“The amount of Americans coming up to me in the street and saying, ‘Wow, we absolutely buzz off that Wrexham documentary’ was phenomenal. Even then, though, I don’t think I had a grasp of it.
“Rob and Ryan would tell us how it had taken hold of people out there. But it’s only now we can see that for ourselves.”
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For a brief spell as the 1970s morphed into a new decade, Wrexham and Chelsea were footballing bedfellows thanks to three seasons together in the old Second Division that included a trio of incredibly tight FA Cup ties inside 10 days.
After that, Chelsea moved to another footballing stratosphere and can lay claim to being the most successful Premier League team of the past two decades thanks to two Champions League triumphs, five league titles, two Europa Leagues and the 2022 Club World Cup.
Wrexham, meanwhile, were going nowhere fast until the arrival of Reynolds and McElhenney in February, 2021. Since then the club has been transformed, with turnover expected to top £20million ($25.9m) for the first time in the 2023-24 season.
Compared to the financial behemoth that is Chelsea, such a sum is a mere drop in the ocean. Hence the surprise in the UK when a first friendly between the two clubs since 1984 was announced in April.
That sniffy attitude was not evident across the Atlantic, as tickets were quickly snapped up along with every hotel room in host town Chapel Hill to provide a boost to the North Carolina economy local tourism chiefs put in the $20million (£15.5m) bracket.
Fans from all 50 states in the U.S. bought tickets, with many of those travelling long distances to get a first glimpse of Wrexham.
Brock Bender made a 620-mile round trip from his home in Augusta, Georgia. Even his car conking out on the morning of the trip couldn’t deter him.
“I had to rent a car,” he says. “I’ve just had the call (from the garage) and it’s not looking great for the car. Last rites time, I think!”
The reward for such a Herculean effort was a chance to join fellow fans from a WhatsApp group who had never met before.
“We’re all on Twitter,” he adds. “All using the #AskWxm hashtag during the games at first and then getting in contact with each other. Fifteen of us have just met up in the pub. One of the guys has come from Florida.
“Everyone has the same story. We watched the documentary and were hooked straight away. The first game I watched live on the TV was Blyth Spartans away (last season’s FA Cup tie shown live by ESPN in the United States).
“After that, I listened to all the games via Mark Griffiths and the club commentary team. That really helped me feel connected to the team. At first, you do feel like you’re intruding on something special. This community has been with the team forever.
“But everyone has been so warm and welcoming to all of us. To now have a chance to see these guys play live is massive. I had to be here.”
Brock was among around 4,000 fans who took in training the day before the big game, as both sets of players were put through their paces at the impressive WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.
Here, fans had the opportunity to take photos with those cardboard cut-outs of Wrexham’s Hollywood owners and mingle with the players.
Matt Stoner, the self-styled president of the Mark Howard fan club, joined wife Michelle and sons Kyle and Jace behind the goal where Wrexham’s back-up goalkeeper trained alongside Foster and Rob Lainton.
“I’ve been a soccer fan all my life,” says Matt, who lives just down the road in Benson, North Carolina. “I loved the show and even managed to get my wife to watch it through Ryan Reynolds.
Left to right: Matt Stoner, with children Kyle, Jace and his wife Michelle
“Being from Pennsylvania, I could identify with Rob’s story. I’m a huge (Philadelphia) Eagles fan as well. What I really like about soccer — and the Wrexham story — is how the team can rise and fall. We just don’t have that here, though there is now talk of the USL (Championship, America’s second tier) introducing promotion and relegation. That would be great.”
Wrexham have never quite had a pre-season like this. Just four years ago, the warm-up to a new campaign featured games against Curzon Ashton, Cefn Druids and Telford United. There was also a trip to Fleetwood Town that was played at the League One club’s training ground.
Nothing wrong with that, it should be stressed. These fixtures can be a Godsend to the finances of local non-League clubs, while plenty of EFL promotion campaigns have been built down the years on a similar July schedule.
But, facing Chelsea — and next week Manchester United in San Diego — really is taking the club to the next level commercially.
For Phil Parkinson, moving up to the next level in a footballing sense is the challenge. He will have been pleased with some of what he saw, particularly in the first half when Wrexham were fielding what was effectively the same starting XI as the promotion-clinching win over Boreham Wood.
Only Ryan Barnett was missing from that never-to-be-forgotten day in April, the right-wing back slot instead going to Anthony Forde.
(Photo: Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
Ian Maatsen, wanted by Burnley but priced at £20million, was Wrexham’s chief punisher with two exquisite finishes at the start and end of the first half. But, in between those goals, the League Two side performed well, causing Chelsea problems as Paul Mullin ran the channels impressively and Lee displayed some fine touches in midfield.
Parkinson had changed his entire line-up with half an hour to go, five making way at half-time before the rest followed on 60 minutes. The upshot was a game being shown live in the States and S4C in the UK losing some of its fluency, even allowing for how Mauricio Pochettino brought on England international trio Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell and Conor Gallagher.
Ollie Palmer did go close with a header but Lucas Bergstrom’s smart save meant any chance of a fightback had gone, goals from Gallagher, Christopher Nkunku and Chilwell in the closing stages making it 5-0.
“Playing in front of 50,000 was a great occasion,” says Parkinson. “It was a tough ask in just our second outing of pre-season but there were positives. We worked very hard and had chances against a very good team.”
As the pop-up version of The Turf started to come down at the final whistle, along with the ‘Wrexham USA invasion’ banners, the players’ time in North Carolina was all but over. Judging by the ovation at the final whistle, they won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
Next stop, Los Angeles and Hollywood.
(Top photos: Richard Sutcliffe)
