Wrexham AFC - Ryan Reynolds/Rob McElhenney

[Demitri_C]

14 hours ago, Mister_a said:

This one did make me chuckle

A bet a cardiff fan wrote that

[bannedfromHandV]

3 hours ago, bobzy said:

Who's running them down?  It's just discussing the merits of financial doping in football.

 

I don't see why people have a problem with discussing that when they're happy to slag off a myriad of other clubs that do it.  Weird,

Source of funds.

[bobzy]

8 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Source of funds.

That's fair enough.

How far down the rabbit hole do we go?  I can't remember exactly who it was (possibly @LondonLax?) who suggested that our Nas's wealth possibly comes from a very dodgy source. (I haven't looked into it, so I don't know).  Is this OK because he isn't a nation state?  Is it the case that people are generally happy with clubs spending incredible amounts and getting sporting advantage because of who their owners are, as long as they aren't a nation state?

The same criticism has been levelled at Salford City, by the way, who didn't get anywhere near the same love and admiration as Wrexham are getting - despite Wrexham's spending being far in excess of anything Salford did.  In fact, Salford were (and are) just disliked by most of the clubs "down there".  I imagine it's because Reynolds and McElhenney are creating far more media buzz and are lovely, friendly people.

Personally, I find the discussion interesting and, as I said before, would wish that every club had owners like Wrexham do.

[duke313]

5 minutes ago, bobzy said:

That's fair enough.

How far down the rabbit hole do we go?  I can't remember exactly who it was (possibly @LondonLax?) who suggested that our Nas's wealth possibly comes from a very dodgy source. (I haven't looked into it, so I don't know).  Is this OK because he isn't a nation state?  Is it the case that people are generally happy with clubs spending incredible amounts and getting sporting advantage because of who their owners are, as long as they aren't a nation state?

The same criticism has been levelled at Salford City, by the way, who didn't get anywhere near the same love and admiration as Wrexham are getting - despite Wrexham's spending being far in excess of anything Salford did.  In fact, Salford were (and are) just disliked by most of the clubs "down there".  I imagine it's because Reynolds and McElhenney are creating far more media buzz and are lovely, friendly people.

Personally, I find the discussion interesting and, as I said before, would wish that every club had owners like Wrexham do.

Ryan Reynolds is considerably more likeable than Gary Neville.

[turnbull]

10 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Ryan Reynolds is considerably more likeable than Gary Neville.

Now that is the very definition of an understatement. 

[John]

Funny enough @Sid4ever, I remember Wrexham somewhat fondly, for the part they played in another terrific cup tie that we played  in 1971. Having drawn 2-2 at Villa Park, we then drew 1-1 at The Racecourse Ground a.e.t. before winning the third match 4-3 at The Hawthorns in front of 20,697 fans, with 2 late goals scored in the 85th & 86th minutes, giving us the win. I remember the feeling of relief, as we had been looking defeat in the face and celebrating that Andy Lochhead winner with my Dad. They also have a Villa connection as Brian Little and then Dean Saunders managed them from 2007 until 2011 and on a personal note one of my mates at school Vince, played in goal for them in their famous 1992 FA Cup win against Arsenal. From my point of view, I hope they do make it back this season. Hopefully Chester can join them, before too long too.     

[Stevo985]

What Wrexham are doing is basically how we got out of the Championship.

[sidcow]

5 hours ago, bobzy said:

That's fair enough.

How far down the rabbit hole do we go?  I can't remember exactly who it was (possibly @LondonLax?) who suggested that our Nas's wealth possibly comes from a very dodgy source. (I haven't looked into it, so I don't know).  Is this OK because he isn't a nation state?  Is it the case that people are generally happy with clubs spending incredible amounts and getting sporting advantage because of who their owners are, as long as they aren't a nation state?

The same criticism has been levelled at Salford City, by the way, who didn't get anywhere near the same love and admiration as Wrexham are getting - despite Wrexham's spending being far in excess of anything Salford did.  In fact, Salford were (and are) just disliked by most of the clubs "down there".  I imagine it's because Reynolds and McElhenney are creating far more media buzz and are lovely, friendly people.

Personally, I find the discussion interesting and, as I said before, would wish that every club had owners like Wrexham do.

Wrexham are a long standing league club who have been out of the league for years. 

Salford were a lower non league team till the United played took over. 

One is being restored to it's natural position. 

The other has been taken way, way beyond it's natural position. 

[DJBOB]

Whatever the 'true' motives or whether the cash train can keep running 4+ years from now, I think the general sentiment is that the two R's have gone out of their way or at least done their due diligence PR to try and pay it back towards the supporters and the community who kept the club going through difficult times. I can't imagine the gravy train will run forever and can see it crashing similarly to any owner who realizes they can't keep pumping money in forever without some model of sustainability. But unlike Neville who tried to turn Salford into a mini-United, the two R's seem to (or at least their PR is very on point) be trying to keep it in line with what the supporters and community want.

[HanoiVillan]

38 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Wrexham are a long standing league club who have been out of the league for years. 

Salford were a lower non league team till the United played took over. 

One is being restored to it's natural position. 

The other has been taken way, way beyond it's natural position. 

Have to say I dislike this idea of 'natural positions'. 

[Keyblade]

31 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Have to say I dislike this idea of 'natural positions'. 

Where's the fun in sport if everything has to be hierarchical?

The underdog story is one of the most compelling. As long as it's within the rules, I don't see what the problem is.

[sidcow]

45 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Have to say I dislike this idea of 'natural positions'. 

You may dislike it but it will sway people's opinions. You've only got to see the number of people on here saying they're glad to see them restored after hard times and it explains the resentment of Salford. 

[bobzy]

4 hours ago, sidcow said:

Wrexham are a long standing league club who have been out of the league for years. 

Salford were a lower non league team till the United played took over. 

One is being restored to it's natural position. 

The other has been taken way, way beyond its natural position. 

Surely no-one cares about “natural position”? That’s utter bollocks.

Reynolds and McElhenney could’ve done this at, say, Buxton and the result would be the same tbh. 

[sidcow]

1 minute ago, bobzy said:

Surely no-one cares about “natural position”? That’s utter bollocks

Well as I said quite a few people as per all the comments on here. 

[avfc1982am]

34 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Reynolds and McElhenney could’ve done this at, say, Buxton and the result would be the same tbh

I don't think so. Wrexham City demographically covers the north of Wales as far as club support goes, has 3 times the population of Buxton Town which is in the middle of nowhere. Not a chance they could replicate what they are doing in somewhere like Buxton. No doubt they could elevate any club but as far as overall potential is concerned you cannot just invest in a club anywhere and expect the same results over the longer term. You need supporters.  

[MrBlack]

The only people that like Salford are united fans.  Noone else gives two shits about the United class of 92 or whatever they call themselves. Footballers buying a football club to make it a bigger team than it is, off the back of unrest at their former club,  is only ever going to attract partisan support. 

Wrexham have no real affiliation with most of the wider footballing public, they're owned by a film star who is generally liked by the wider public.  Of course they'll attract more neutral support.

There will also be the subset who hate the idea of a club spending their way out of a league on the basis of luck essentially.  Although it's pretty hypocritical for a villa fan to claim that morale high ground given our escape from the Championship. Slightly less egregious maybe, but essentially the same thing. 

[bobzy]

8 hours ago, MrBlack said:

The only people that like Salford are united fans.  Noone else gives two shits about the United class of 92 or whatever they call themselves. Footballers buying a football club to make it a bigger team than it is, off the back of unrest at their former club,  is only ever going to attract partisan support. 

Wrexham have no real affiliation with most of the wider footballing public, they're owned by a film star who is generally liked by the wider public.  Of course they'll attract more neutral support.

There will also be the subset who hate the idea of a club spending their way out of a league on the basis of luck essentially.  Although it's pretty hypocritical for a villa fan to claim that morale high ground given our escape from the Championship. Slightly less egregious maybe, but essentially the same thing. 

Agreed on the middle bit completely.

No idea why it’s hypocritical to dislike spending your way out of a league as a Villa fan. I presume you’re assuming all Villa fans want to have ridiculous wealthy owners rather than being, say, fan owned?

[Demitri_C]

18 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

What Wrexham are doing is basically how we got out of the Championship.

Exactly what i said a few pages back and is correct

[MrBlack]

4 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Agreed on the middle bit completely.

No idea why it’s hypocritical to dislike spending your way out of a league as a Villa fan. I presume you’re assuming all Villa fans want to have ridiculous wealthy owners rather than being, say, fan owned?

Because of how we spent our way out the championship. Like I said, it's less egregious because we were previously in the league above only a couple of seasons before, but the owners we had when we escaped were far wealthier than any other team in the division.

I feel you can't then look at Wrexham and be disappointed in how they've bought players around them that the rest of the league couldn't afford, as its largely what we did.

 

[bobzy]

5 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Because of how we spent our way out the championship. Like I said, it's less egregious because we were previously in the league above only a couple of seasons before, but the owners we had when we escaped were far wealthier than any other team in the division.

I feel you can't then look at Wrexham and be disappointed in how they've bought players around them that the rest of the league couldn't afford, as its largely what we did.

 

Why can’t you be “disappointed” with Villa’s approach?