Wrexham fans have torn into Charlton boss Nathan Jones after he branded their club as “the circus”. The Welsh side have attracted global attention following their takeover by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021.
Phil Parkinson‘s side are in pole position for League One‘s second automatic promotion spot after beating Blackpool 2-1 away on Easter Monday. Wrexham leapfrogged rivals Wycombe after they were beaten 4-0 by Charlton at home.
The Red Dragons are now two points ahead of the Chairboys in second place, while the Addicks are four points behind and still in with a shot of automatic promotion themselves. Wrexham and Charlton go head to head on Saturday in a huge clash which could decide who follows Birmingham into the Championship.
If Wrexham win and Wycombe fail to defeat Leyton Orient then they will register an astonishing third successive promotion under Parkinson. However, a Charlton victory would blow the race wide open heading into the final game of the season. Jones has stoked the tensions between the two teams ahead of the crucial tie after aiming a dig at his side’s next opponents.
“All we do is take a game as it comes,” he said. “We are not looking at the play-offs, we are not looking at Burton at home on the final game.
“We’ll finish, we’ll debrief, we’ll breathe a little bit and then we’ll move forward with Wrexham. It’s a bumper game, we have to go to the circus and see what we can get.”
Jones’ comments triggered a backlash from Wrexham supporters after footage of the interview aired on ITV4’s EFL highlights show was shared on social media. Responding to the video shared on X, one fan said: “What a cheek! They’ll be the ones looking like clowns.”
In a similar vain, another member of the Wrexham faithful replied: “He should feel right at home then the clown.” Another person wrote: “Absolutely nothing against Charlton Athletic FC, but this bloke is about as dislikeable as they come.”
Meanwhile, someone else added: “Another middle aged man trying to bow to the masses. Just puts more pressure on his team.” Wrexham manager Parkinson has urged his players to relish the challenge ahead of the important game against Charlton.
Wrexham AFC is the arguably the fastest-growing club in the world at the moment thanks to a certain Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
The Dragons have achieved two consecutive promotions and are cheered on by crowds from not only North Wales but also from all over the globe, thanks to the success of the Disney+ documentary ‘Welcome to Wrexham’.
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He said: “What we spoke about is making sure the lads are enjoying it, because so much work has gone to get this club in this situation. We want to look back in the summer and say that when those big games came, we really thrived. We don’t want to look back and say, ‘Oh, we didn’t produce our best performances today’.”
A bumper crowd is expected at the Racecourse Ground for Saturday’s game, with Reynolds and McElhenney likely to be in attendance. McElhenney was in the away end for the Blackpool match and was credited with spurring Wrexham to victory after he gave a rousing pre-match speech.
Revealing the advice he gave to the players, Wrexham captain James McClean said: “Yesterday we had Rob in and he had a good chat with us,” he said. ” [He was] just saying that all the outside noise is both good and bad and you’ve got to drown it out and relax.
“Hearing that from the owners, I think it took a bit of pressure off the lads today and I think you could see that in our play.”
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