The Non-League Football Thread

[Rafa Justice]

Thank **** I'm not forced to watch Wrexham and can choose one of hundreds of other channels and forms of entertainment.

[Buzzo]

Nah, though it’s clearly a massive boon to Wrexham it’s better they do this than pour some money into a minor share holding at a PL club (say like Lebron did with us). Plus they are vested they have an emotional attachment.

If anything they have given some focus to that League and the way they spoke about the qualities of Notts County and sympathising with Yeovil getting relegated was quite refreshing.

It must be slightly galling for the teams who didn’t get this level of media attention - but I guess it must have added some excitement to the division whilst it lasted.

[Fosterbloke]

It's absolutely not a non-story - two interesting holywood characters buy the club, engage with the fans, invest wisely including the stadium, and market it using their acting and producing skills to a worldwide audience.

If Liverpool wasn't already a famous club we'd be made up with this.

Also, two sides on record points totals, a high profile death, personal tragedies, and one promotion place? The stuff of Hollywood films wouldn't you say?

[Norbs]

Average Gates are way above all time highs. I was among 3,800 fans at the weekend, Bromley's average attendance is mid table at around 2,500 and the worst supported side gets 1,300 average. It's way bigger than the 3rd and 4th tiers of Scottish football.

Next season Rochdale will be getting their first taste of it. Bring it on

[Alex]

Nah, though it’s clearly a massive boon to Wrexham it’s better they do this than pour some money into a minor share holding at a PL club (say like Lebron did with us). Plus they are vested they have an emotional attachment.

If anything they have given some focus to that League and the way they spoke about the qualities of Notts County and sympathising with Yeovil getting relegated was quite refreshing.

It must be slightly galling for the teams who didn’t get this level of media attention - but I guess it must have added some excitement to the division whilst it lasted.

Absolutly. You can see its genuine.

Rob McElhanney is brilliant. Funny man and creator of my favourite TV show. Its giving eyeballs to non league football in the UK. I doubt itll ever be a Prem Club. But imagine if it was one day. They seem to have embraced the community aspect as much as the football club. Good for them, id love for them to have done it to my Local side.

I think we are Liverpool fans lose a lot of perspective because we expect to be winning always. But most fans down League 1 and below are desperate for any sort of investment to keep them going and getting some wins. Mate of mine who supports Charlton has spoken quite a lot about clubs like Newcastle/Man City and them being the lucky ones. Its not how we see it from this Ivory tower, and the human rights abuses cant be ignored. But most people dont care about that, just like they dont care where the petrol in their cars come from, or the Cobolt in their phones. Most just want to live their life and have fun with their friends and family.

[Tribute]

It's absolutely not a non-story - two interesting holywood characters buy the club, engage with the fans, invest wisely including the stadium, and market it using their acting and producing skills to a worldwide audience.

If Liverpool wasn't already a famous club we'd be made up with this.

Also, two sides on record points totals, a high profile death, personal tragedies, and one promotion place? The stuff of Hollywood films wouldn't you say?

Sounds like 'Deadpool 2.5'...

[Buzzo]

I really like the way they are driving it.

[ame]https://twitter.com/RMcElhenney/status/1650520644457742336[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/RMcElhenney/status/1650254979532464129[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/RMcElhenney/status/1650502600054173698[/ame]

[Mark79]

Have to admit, I quite enjoyed Welcome to Wrexham.

But there’s no 2 ways about it, they’ve Man City’d the National League.

Another parallel is that Notts County used analytics based recruitment to bridge Wrexham’s massive financial advantage and ended up pushing them all the way in a record breaking title race for points totals.

It’s great for the town, the club and their fans. But as a neutral, it’s hard to bash City but also celebrate Wrexham without feeling massively contradictory.

[The_weatherman]

Have to admit, I quite enjoyed Welcome to Wrexham.

But there’s no 2 ways about it, they’ve Man City’d the National League.

Another parallel is that Notts County used analytics based recruitment to bridge Wrexham’s massive financial advantage and ended up pushing them all the way in a record breaking title race for points totals.

It’s great for the town, the club and their fans. But as a neutral, it’s hard to bash City but also celebrate Wrexham without feeling massively contradictory.

Do feel the City comparison is a bit OTT, one is owned by a sovereign state, and the other by two wealthy blokes.

I find myself engaged in this story and will be following their progress, Reynolds is a bloody good businessman and seems to turn everything he touches into gold.

[Mark79]

Do feel the City comparison is a bit OTT, one is owned by a sovereign state, and the other by two wealthy blokes.

I find myself engaged in this story and will be following their progress, Reynolds is a bloody good businessman and seems to turn everything he touches into gold.

Yeah but regardless of the nature of the ownership, it's still financial doping in either case.

[Norbs]

There's no spending cap in non-league, plenty of clubs have tried to spend their way up and they usually end up in dire straits. Dorking are recent big spenders and it's not working out that well for them.

Plenty have come and gone, this season has been richer for Wrexham's participation. And did I already mention that the mighty Bromley beat them at Wembley last May?

[Rafa Justice]

Do feel the City comparison is a bit OTT, one is owned by a sovereign state, and the other by two wealthy blokes.

I find myself engaged in this story and will be following their progress, Reynolds is a bloody good businessman and seems to turn everything he touches into gold.

Same here. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't recall Tik Tok or Aviation Gin being fake shell companies above a cab office in London. Nor do I recall Ryan and Rob being human rights abusers.

Happy to be corrected though.

[Mark79]

I don’t think anyone compared the ethics or morality of the people involved though.

Purely the financial and competitive distortion.

[Fivex]

I think there’s still some fascination & romance involved with watching them build a club up like this from obscurity.

That’s probably me getting some nostalgia from years spent playing champ/football manager & giving your non-league team a bit of a boost on the club finances/stadium via the editor then seeing how far you can take them

I wouldn’t have a soft spot for them if the owners were pricks, but on the other hand, nobody would be arsed either if there wasn’t the media circus behind them due to who their owners are.

[Angryred]

Same here. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't recall Tik Tok or Aviation Gin being fake shell companies above a cab office in London. Nor do I recall Ryan and Rob being human rights abusers.

Happy to be corrected though.

A good comparison would be Blackburn Rovers in the 90s with Jack Walker using his own to fund the drive to the PL title.