‘Inconvenient’ - Why documentary stars Wrexham can’t moan about TV coverage as Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney prepare for another game moved to meet demands of growing fan base

The Red Dragons have seen the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ series put in place by Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney open up a window to the world. They are now household names a long way outside of North Wales and boast a global fan base that continues to grow at a rate few could have seen coming.

The added attention brings with it demand for games to be beamed to every corner of the planet, with Wrexham’s FA Cup fourth-round clash with Blackburn another to have been rescheduled due to television demands. Club director Harvey has said of seeing games moved: “You can look at it in a number of different ways. For a football club whose profile has been magnified through a TV documentary series, we have to understand that media is massively importantly. Yes, it is inconvenient that the game is no longer at the weekend for a lot of fans who may no longer be able to get there to watch it live. In an ideal world, of course we'd have played on Saturday at 3pm, but we haven't played at FA Cup tie on a Saturday at 3pm for as long as I can remember. It's the nature of the game.”

While Wrexham are happy to operate under the brightest of spotlights, Harvey added on the drawbacks of being selected for FA Cup coverage: “My biggest issue with the game going to the Monday night is that we have effectively lost a potential midweek date, to be able to catch up and play one of the league games. That is another midweek gone by and we have still got two league games to rearrange. We want to make sure we keep a balanced league fixture list.”

Wrexham, with Reynolds and McElhenney continuing to pull strings behind the scenes, have played two games fewer than a number of their League Two rivals this season – as a result of games being postponed for various reasons. They have to fit revised dates into an already packed schedule, with the hope being that an FA Cup fifth-round tie with Premier League giants Newcastle can be booked when locking horns with established Championship side Blackburn.