Tom Brady v Ryan Reynolds – the North American dream in English football’s third tier
But not even Birmingham’s buccaneer approach to spending can come without having a plan. In an address to supporters in April, Wagner set out his.
On the back of the stadium plan announcement, the American financier spoke of making Birmingham a globally-recognised brand, with being a named-club in England’s second city part of it.
He even suggested the sponsorship deal with streetwear firm Undefeated was with this in mind, saying: “You go to New York City, you go to LA (Los Angeles), you will see people wearing Birmingham City kit on the street.
“I don’t really think they know what they’re wearing but they will. We don’t want to draw too much attention to it yet but they’ll figure it out.”
The problem for Birmingham is that North American fans already know they are wearing Wrexham, the documentary darlings of the world game.
Exact replica sales are difficult to pin down, but Wrexham’s merchandise and retail was their biggest driver, accounting for a third of their income in 2022-23, while their revenue from outside of Europe was almost a quarter of turnover.
All that before sell-out summer tours to the US and Canada where officials from Chelsea were said to be casting envious eyes at the fan base being established and genuinely competing with Premier League names.
Perhaps that is why it was reportedly floated in the summer to stage Monday’s fixture in the US, a notion shot down by Reynolds.
“I often look back over the trends and the metrics, and some weekends Wrexham are just as popular as Premier League matches and certainly there’s more publicity than the big MLS (Major League Soccer) teams,” says Chris Harris, editor of US-based WorldSoccerTalk, who says only Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami can similarly compete.
“Do not underestimate it – you can see through social media there are a lot of people who are Wrexham fans, and not just passing, but on top of the new signings, what’s going on at the club.
“They are following a club like Wrexham just as easily and as much as they would follow Manchester City or Chelsea.”
It is a support that could be super-charged further with the EFL’s US TV deal with CBS, with an increase in the number and the ease in which games outside the Premier League can be viewed.
So far this season, Wrexham have been a featured game nine times – more than any of the recent Premier League clubs or giants in the divisions below the top flight such as Leeds United. Only one Wrexham fixture, league or cup, has not been available through either cable network or streaming.
No surprise considering the press release to announce the deal mentions Wrexham in its headline, and the promotional poster for the coverage comes with Wrexham striker Paul Mullin as the central image.
“The CBS deal is the Wrexham effect,” says Harris. “Their popularity, through the documentary, would have been a major reason why they came in hard to get the rights.”
