Extreme weather in the American city of Philadelphia has meant it took four hours to finish Wrexham’s final game of their pre-season tour of the USA.
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The summer has afforded the Welsh club, owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the opportunity to grow even more as fans outside of the United Kingdom have been able to watch them in person up against some of the world’s biggest teams.
Indeed, Wrexham began their US tour with a resounding 4-0 victory win over MLS outfit LA Galaxy, before losing 5-0 to Premier League club Chelsea. A win 3-1 against a weakened Manchester United team would have been a high point, but it was marred by a nasty injury to key striker Paul Mullin who was left with a punctured lung.
To end their tour, the Red Dragons travelled to Philly to take on Philadelphia Union II in a game which ultimately finished 1-1, with Tom O’Connor netting for Wrexham and Jeremy Rafanello scoring for the home team.
However, it wasn’t as simple as that as extreme heat and humidity at kick-off in Philadelphia meant fans were warned to take shelter amid heavy rain, lightning and gusty winds.
Co-owner McElhenney was at the game and took to social media to send a message to fellow Wrexham investor Reynolds to explain what was going on.
Indeed, speaking on his Instagram page, the actor said: “Hey Ryan, still at the match. There was a little bit of a rain delay, by about four hours. For some reason we’re still playing.
“If you’re in the UK you’re probably waking up, can probably still watch the rest of it. There are still some people chanting Wrexham, there’s still lots of people that remain.
“Anyway, Up The Town. Let’s hope we don’t get struck by lightning.”
Ben Foster also shared an update on Twitter from the stadium.
What did Paul Parkinson say about the Paul Mullin injury?
Thankfully the two clubs eventually managed to play the game in the end and this will no doubt be great for Wrexham as they try to prepare for a promotion-chasing campaign in League 2 next term.
The awkward delay, however, is somewhat representative of a few unfortunate moments for the Welsh outfit of late. After all, as mentioned before, star player Mullin is likely to now miss the start of the upcoming season after suffering an injury that left his manager furious.
Indeed, Paul Parkinson said: “It’s a straight red. The reason it’s a straight red, and even if the ref said to me that maybe there’s a covering defender, it’s a dangerous challenge.”
Adding to that, there have been some reports that all hasn’t been so rosy behind the scenes. According to reports,
“it’s not all good vibes all the time” at the club, and there are “questions” over owners’ high-interest loans well, as talk of a “rude, arrogant” board member whose behaviour led some staff members to quit.
Unfortunately, though, issues such as these tend to just be part of the package when it comes to running a high-profile football club and so there is no need to suspect anything particularly murky is happening at Wrexham.
So long as the good results keep coming, the good vibes should remain intact.
