sport news JONNY OWEN: Wrexham is a football-mad city... the club could take off like a ... trends now
Late Sunday night I found myself in a small Irish pub just off the Essex Road in North London. Myself and two mates had run to catch the final game of the FA Cup on Sunday. We were all supporting Wrexham against Sheffield United.
Me and one mate because we are Welsh and the other because he's a Forest fan and they have history with the Blades. A kind of localish rivalry. I've always had a soft spot for Wrexham.
Obviously our shared nationality comes into it but also they are seen as a very Welsh club. The town is football daft and always has been. Rugby has never really got a foothold in the north as it did in the southern Valleys. It's the oldest club in Wales.
Wrexham is a football-mad city with a great tradition of producing players and the club could take off like a rocket
That is exactly what is now happening under ownership of Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds
It's where Wales played their first international - making the ground the oldest in the world to host two countries playing one another - and its badge couldn't be more Welsh if it had Tom Jones and Charlotte Church on there singing the Green Green Grass of Home with a choir in a coal mine.
It's a town that's had some of the most famous Welsh players ever, like Mark Hughes, and still produces internationals (Neco Williams) at an extraordinary rate considering its size of just over 130,000.
A decade ago the club was in serious danger of going out of business altogether. A litany of poor ownership had led to the fans themselves bailing the club out as they lost their much-cherished league status.
The fact you never heard the name of the Dragons (or Robins depending on your age) on Final Score hurt the proud mining town (now city) deeply. They are a people with giant hearts who have faced a fair amount of tragedy. The Gresford Mining disaster of 1934 is still very much part of the DNA of the people. They are fighters.
Famed in Wales for their fanatical support of the national team, home and away. I noticed something had really changed when I was up there before Christmas working for the BBC on the World Cup.
We asked a packed live audience whether they'd want Wales to win the World Cup or Wrexham to return to the Football League. They didn't even hesitate. 'Wrexham in the league' the whole pub shouted at us.
The Welsh side secured a superb 3-3 draw against Sheffield United in the FA Cup on Sunday
I was with some lads from Newport and we looked at one another. They couldn't mean it surely? I asked again, really? Over Wales winning the World Cup? 'Not even close' they screamed back. That's how much the club and their return now means to the people there.
There is a reason for this of course. While all the intentions of being fan owned are to be admired, there's no doubt that a kind of Groundhog Day scenario develops. Balancing the books becomes, quite rightly, paramount but with that frugality you lose any kind of financial power in the area.
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