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Wrexham’s Hollywood Derby has set up an Engrossing Plot Line For the Rest of the Season

By Graham Thomas

It was billed as the Hollywood derby, although the Oscar for best team was shared between Wrexham and Birmingham City.

A 1-1 draw at the Racecourse Ground was not what the scriptwriters from either club would have penned, had they been given the chance to determine the plot.

But for Wrexham, the result was proof enough that their ambition of a third successive promotion – this time from League One to the Championship – is not some fantasy story.

The club are still third in the table, but they look well-placed to chase down both Birmingham and Wycombe for the rest of the season as the trio battle it out for the two automatic promotion slots.

Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were not at the game on Thursday night and neither was Birmingham’s minority shareholder, Tom Brady.

They were all home in the USA, watching on screens as their investments were put to the test on a cold night in north Wales.

Investments is the right word, certainly more accurate than “fairytale”, which is often the term given to the involvement of Reynolds and McElhenney.

The purchase of the club, the careful PR machinery, the documentary series sold around the world, and the meticulous cultivation of a global fanbase poised to dig deeper as we head towards streaming services of live matches, it has much more to do with the manufacture and selling of glass slippers than it does with Cinderella.

In that sense, the ownership of Wrexham differs little from that of half the clubs in the Premier League now owned and run by wealthy Americans.

The difference, maybe, is that Reynolds and McElhenney got in early when Wrexham were still slumming it beneath the Football League.

Not many Americans were interested in watching Wrexham on TV back then, but through clever marketing as well as success on the field, they are now many viewers’ favourite “soccer team” on the other side of the pond.

Thursday night’s game was the club’s 27th match of the League One season – and the 27th time they have been shown live on CBS.

Want to watch Wrexham live on TV in their next Saturday game, away to Crawley Town on February 1?

Then, get yourself a flight to the States, where the game – as always – will be live in any sports bar you care to visit.

Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, though, there is more than one way to buy a football club and try to revive it.

Birmingham were not following the same trajectory as Wrexham, when their owners came in.

They were busy falling out of the Championship into League One, their recent ownership history had been a disaster, and their St. Andrew’s Stadium was almost as much of a tip as the original waste land it was built upon.

There were empty stands, not just because the football was rubbish and the Blues fans had stayed away. But the concrete itself was rotten and it was a health and safety risk to have them open.

Now, though, Birmingham are flying – thanks a little love, investment, and razzamatazz.

They remain five points clear of Wrexham and have two matches in hand.

Wycombe – sandwiched between Thursday night’s rivals – have two more points than Wrexham and one game in hand.

It’s going to be a tough road ahead for Wrexham to win automatic promotion and there are no guarantees if they go through the play-offs.

But manager Phil Parkinson – such a solid, old-school presence among the day-dreamers and get-rich schemers – knows the club are still riding a wave that has not yet broken.

“I said to the lads before the game, that two years ago this week we were playing Gateshead away in front of 1,000 people and now we’re entertaining Birmingham in front of a full house and live on television,” said Parkinson.

“We’ve earned the right to be here but now we’re here in these big games, we’ve got to show everybody what we’re all about.

“I think we did that all bar getting the winning goal.”

DragonBet make Wrexham 7/5 to win promotion this season – behind Birmingham (1/66), Wycombe (4/7) and Huddersfield (1/1).

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