On eve of Chelsea Cup clash, Wrexham fans say club's storybook ascent still feels unreal

WREXHAM, Wales, March 6 - The floodlights at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground, bright, towering structures installed in 2023, still catch Geraint Parry off guard sometimes.

The club's longest‑serving employee and now its official historian, Parry spent more than two decades as secretary at a time when one of the biggest pre‑match concerns was not international broadcast standards, but whether the old lights would switch on at all.

"I remember when you crossed your fingers that they would even turn on," Parry told Reuters. "Or you wondered how many bulbs had burned out."

For a club placed into administration in 2004, regularly struggling to meet the next wage bill and staff often going months without pay, the arrival of Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021 felt almost too good to be true.

"You're thinking, here comes another strange twist," Parry said. "Then you think, well, they haven't got a lot to gain really. Why us?"

Wrexham host Premier League giants Chelsea in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday in the biggest fixture at the Racecourse Ground since McElhenney, an American, and Canadian Reynolds became owners almost five years ago.

The Welsh side have surged from English football's fifth tier to the second with three successive promotions and are now lying sixth in the Championship, pushing for a place in the Premier League via the playoffs.

Off the pitch, the club's popularity has skyrocketed on both sides of the Atlantic due to the owners and Disney's "Welcome to Wrexham" documentary.

"We couldn't get people to cross the road 10 years ago to watch the football," said Parry. "Now they're coming from all over the world."

SURVIVAL MODE TO SKY-HIGH AMBITIONS

Lifelong fan Bryan Still also lived through dark days, when the club quite literally survived on volunteer labour. A week before the season kicked off, fans would turn up to paint, sweep and fix locks on the turnstiles.

"We'd have snow and 500 fans would be on the pitch two hours before kick‑off clearing it," said Still, whose van licence plate reads 'WC02 WXM' (Welcome to Wrexham).

Still's guided tours of the club draw visitors from all around the world, and he regularly shares a pint with guests at The Turf, the pub at the edge of the stadium, after games.

"I love it," Still said. "Why wouldn't we want to love this? We'll be in the Premiership in two, three years. We'll be in Europe in five years, six years.

"And how lucky are (McElhenney and Reynolds) to get one of the most passionate football clubs in history?"

AT THE TURF, ROYALTY AND REGULARS

Few places have felt the shift more than The Turf, where owner Wayne Jones has poured pints for Prince William and Hollywood A-listers Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell, and tourists start queuing up before the doors open.

"We're not open yet and there are tourists outside," Jones said, nodding out the window to a group of eager Brazilians. "I love it because no day is the same.

"Pretty much everybody knows about the success on the field, but the knock‑on effect is also that the town is more prosperous."

Jones laughed when asked whether it feels normal to share a drink with Prince William, who pulled a pint and took a shot of whiskey to celebrate the club's success during his 2024 visit.

"No, absolutely not," he said. "I'm just a regular guy who runs a bar.

"We were instructed how to greet Prince William and he walked in and said, 'Forget all that nonsense. Just call me Will,'" Jones said. "Ryan's the same. Rob's the same. They're just lovely human beings. I'm humbled that they want to come to our tiny little pub."

FROM MICHIGAN TO MOLD ROAD

Americans Gains and Tacey McDonald have tickets to three Wrexham games as part of their third trip to the Welsh town.

They both have Welsh roots and are big fans of the Disney show. Gains even has a licence plate on his truck at home in Monroe, Michigan that reads "Wrecsam", the Welsh spelling of the club's name.

They said the warm-heartedness of people around the club and Wales in general keeps bringing them back.

"We were in the van today coming from the airport, and when we hit town, it was just like ... I don't know how it can feel like our home, but it does," said Tacey, clutching a bag of souvenirs purchased at the club shop.

WHY NOT THE PREMIER LEAGUE

The top two finishers in the Championship will automatically go up to the Premier League, and the teams finishing third, fourth, fifth and sixth contest playoffs with a one-off final at Wembley to decide the last promotion spot.

"(McElhenney and Reynolds) have always said 'Why not the Premier League?'" Parry said. "Us who've been watching football that long say, 'Don't be silly.'

"But then you start getting carried away. Could it be another silly, silly story that actually plays out?"

In Wrexham these days, no one is ruling anything out. REUTERS

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