There is no doubt about the hot topic of conversation surrounding Wrexham right now.
Chelsea and the first genuine glamour FA Cup tie of the Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac era was the talk of the travelling fans at Bristol City for Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw.
When will tickets go on sale? How much will they cost? Will kick-off be 8pm UK time to suit the two clubs’ sizeable followings on the other side of the Atlantic? And do Phil Parkinson’s side stand any chance of springing an almighty upset?
Wrexham’s proud cup history suggests the latter cannot be discounted, even allowing for the fact Chelsea will head to the SToK Cae Ras as football’s world champions.
Also fuelling hope of this North Walian David slaying Goliath is the manager’s own CV, which includes one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s long and storied history when Parkinson’s League One Bradford City went to Stamford Bridge in 2015 and dumped Jose Mourinho’s soon-to-be-crowned Premier League champions out in memorable fashion.
Phil Parkinson’s Bradford City produced one of the great FA Cup upsets when they won at Chelsea in 2015 (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Next month’s fifth-round tie against the two-time Champions League winners really is the stuff of dreams, as was evident when Reynolds watched Monday’s fifth-round draw with fellow actor Hugh Jackman.
“Hol(y)…… wait, wait, we’re home, home with Chelsea…. aaaah, daaaaah, yes…f***, what the f***,” spluttered the Deadpool star as ball number ‘7’ confirmed Chelsea would be heading to Wrexham for the first time since 1982.
Not the level of eloquence we’ve come to expect from the Canadian but surely a reaction shared by many among the club’s growing fanbase. Less than a decade ago, Wrexham were knocked out of the FA Cup by eighth-tier Stamford.
One man determined not to be swept away by this Chelsea tide, however, is Parkinson. As with every manager whose side has just been handed a plum draw, he is at pains to stress that the focus must remain on the league, with the draw at Bristol City the first of four Championship games before tackling Liam Rosenior’s side.
“It will be a great day when it comes round,” he said pointedly about the cup tie after Max Bird’s stunning 89th-minute volley had denied Wrexham a victory that would have taken them back up to sixth.
This same message was drummed home in private to the players on Monday after they had all watched the cup draw together at the team hotel in Bristol. Judging by a display so impressive at Ashton Gate that it felt a case of two points dropped by full time, his words hit home.
Perhaps we should not be surprised, with Parkinson an old hand at ensuring glamour cup ties are not allowed to overshadow events in the league.
As Bradford manager in 2012-13, he made history by leading the Yorkshire club to the League Cup final, the first — and only — time in English football history a team from the fourth tier has reached a major Wembley final.
A trio of Premier League sides in Arsenal, Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic were beaten along the way. At the same time, Parkinson made sure his team remained fully focused on the league, eventually going on to clinch promotion later that same season via the play-offs on their second visit to Wembley inside three months.
“Phil is the perfect manager to ensure Wrexham don’t get distracted by Chelsea when important league points are up for grabs,” says Julian Rhodes, joint Bradford chairman during Parkinson’s five years at Valley Parade.
“He proved that time and time again with us. When we drew, say, Arsenal in the quarter-finals or Chelsea a couple of years later in the FA Cup, Phil worked hard to ensure the players never looked too far ahead. Instead, all that mattered was the next match.
“Then, as soon as Phil won one game, he was on to the next one. He’s relentless like that. He won’t tolerate anyone slacking off between now and the Chelsea game, whether they don’t want to get injured or whatever. He won’t put up with that. He didn’t here and he won’t at Wrexham.”
Landing a plum tie at home to Chelsea is big, big news, even for a club who have spent the past five years in the spotlight thanks to their famous owners. Arguably, it will be Wrexham’s biggest day since knocking out reigning champions Arsenal at The Racecourse Ground in January 1992.
Certainly, the old place will never have hosted a more expensively-assembled team. Last summer Chelsea spent £275million ($373m) on new signings, a colossal sum that puts into perspective Wrexham’s own unprecedented outlay of £33m during the same window to assemble a team equipped for the Championship.
“It’s not a nice place to come to,” warns midfielder Lewis O’Brien about Wreham’s 10,500 capacity stadium. “Especially on a night. Cold and windy. So, yes, we are excited.”
First, though, Wrexham face back-to-back home games against Ipswich Town and Portsmouth before rounding off the month with a trip to Charlton Athletic. With things so tight in the race for the play-offs — goal difference is keeping Wrexham out of the top six after twice surrendering the lead on Tuesday — Parkinson’s side can not afford many more slip-ups.
However, even if there are further dropped points in this mini-run of fixtures, former Bradford chairman Rhodes is still backing Parkinson to prevail in his quest to keep Wrexham motoring in the Championship.
“I remember a couple of setbacks we suffered before big cup ties,” he says. “We were 1-0 up at AFC Wimbledon the week before playing Swansea (in the League Cup final) but conceded twice late on to lose 2-1.
“Then, before beating Chelsea (in 2015), we lost 1-0 at Yeovil, who were bottom of the league. These results can happen. What matters most, though, is the season we beat Arsenal and Villa, we also got promoted. And, in the season we beat Chelsea and got to the quarter-final of the FA Cup, we finished seventh in League One.
“We just missed out on the play-offs, when in reality we’d been miles off all season until coming with a late burst alongside the cup run. That was all down to how Phil kept everyone focused.”