by Welcome to Wrexham is a worldwide broadcasting phenomenon, as evidenced by the number of foreign tourists who suddenly flocked to The Turf, the pub next to the Racecourse Ground.
The TV documentary about the Hollywoodisation of an ailing football club was watched everywhere, from Aachen to Zanzibar. Everywhere, that is, except Shrewsbury.
“I point blank refused to watch any of it,” says Chris Allen, a member of the Shrewsbury Town Supporters’ Trust. “I’m sure it’s a very interesting show. People say it’s a fairy tale. I wish it could happen to anyone but them.”
Allen is not alone. As the two teams prepare to face each other in the third round of the FA Cup – their first meeting for almost 16 years – in Shrewsbury any suggestion of romance in Wrexham’s new global curiosity is quickly dismissed. Take the reaction of Tom Flanagan, the club’s Northern Ireland international defender.
“They are a League Two team,” he says of Sunday’s opponents. “Who they are with, what they wear, who they are, it has no bearing on the game. Let’s make sure it is known that they are coming here as a Tier Two team. Another league where two teams were here and they beat us. And hopefully we’ll beat them.”
And even as his manager Matt Taylor tried to reduce the tension embedded in the encounter, it was clear in his words that this was a game with added meaning.
“Wrexham are a very talented team,” he says. “I understand the competition because it’s a local team for us. It will be a great game. What I’m looking forward to is seeing the stadium get worse.”
Every last ticket is long gone. With 2,000 away fans filling one end, it promises to be some atmosphere in the ground; Shropshire air full of spice and infectious. A proper derby, a proper rivalry.
There is none of the geographical claustrophobia of Tottenham versus Arsenal or Birmingham City versus Aston Villa, where rivalries marinate in the school playground and the workplace. The two lands are 35 miles apart; the hourly train service takes almost 40 minutes on a good day. But the hostility between the two sets of fans is equally intense in the country. Or rather in both countries.
“A lot of it is the cross-border, English/Welsh thing,” says Allen. “I remember the last time they came here the away end was completely covered in Welsh flags. I think they think they are representing their nation against our nation.
“My first season after Shrewsbury was 1978-79 when we played them in the Welsh Cup final. It was a two-legged relationship and I went to their place with my father. I was very surprised at how hostile he was; there were police horses everywhere. We had won the League One title so we were up for a league and cup double and they wanted to stop us. But it wasn’t.”
When the two clubs met in the finals back then – Shrewsbury beat Cornwall six times – all West Mercia and North Wales Police holidays were cancelled. It was absurd, rowdy and often riotous. But then in 1995 English clubs were banned from entering the competition. Still, the hostility continued as the two were often in the same department.
“Geographically Wolves should be our main rivals,” says Allen. “But they’re on a whole different level to us. And for 100 years we were always on par with them [Wrexham]. That makes it that much tougher.”
In 2008, however, the opportunity to experience regular meetings was reduced. Wrexham sank out of League football, driven by financial mismanagement. And it was Shrewsbury who made an impressive start to their goal, winning 3-0 to effectively seal their rivals’ fate.
“Wrexham were down at the bottom, but we weren’t that far ahead of them,” says forward James Constable, who got the third goal that April day. “When you were around the place you could feel it. There was more tension. And the noise when that goal went was electric. The relief was for them, not us, going down.”
Unlike Shrewsbury, who bounced back immediately after being relegated to non-League in 2003, Wrexham were marooned in the fifth tier. But then, after 15 years of Shrewsbury’s bane, things changed when Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s money arrived in North Wales.
And so Phil Parkinson’s team will be turning to the Croud Meadow not only to be able to compete in the League Two high-flight, but with an international sensation; the Hollywood football club.
“They come here with a much bigger wage bill than us, on real upward momentum,” says Allen. “It might be our last chance to prove we’re still on top. Let’s just say it’s going to be tense.”
