Despite huge ambitions, the Birmingham-Wrexham rivalry will continue in the Championship

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As now do Birmingham City, the presence of all-time NFL great Tom Brady in the Birmingham boardroom having brought sufficient glitz and glamour for some to dub any meeting between the two teams the ‘Hollywood derby’. Sunday’s latest instalment of this burgeoning Anglo-Welsh tussle, broadcast live on both sides of the Atlantic, further backed up the sense this is a game that now matters. Certainly there was no love lost at a fired-up St Andrew’s, as Wrexham’s play-offs hopes were dealt a serious blow by a 2-0 defeat that left the locals crowing, “You can stick your documentary up your arse”. “We are not down and out yet,” insists Phil Parkinson, whose side sit four points adrift of the play-offs with four games remaining. “People will probably be writing us off and you can understand that, to a certain degree. “But, we are not writing ourselves off. We are one win away from getting ourselves going again.” When this fixture was shifted to a Sunday lunchtime slot for live TV broadcast, it was telling that supporter grumbles included many, particularly among Wrexham’s sizeable North American following, bemoaning a kick-off time that equated to 7am on the east coast and 4am on the west. This global appeal has not happened by accident, with both clubs having chased the overseas market from the very start. Wrexham got in first, via the 2021 takeover and subsequent screening of Welcome to Wrexham, now so popular the show was last week renewed for another three series. This left Birmingham’s owners, Knighthead, playing catch-up. In many ways, those attempts have included following Wrexham’s lead. First, by bringing on board Brady, one of the most recognisable faces in U.S. sport, as a minority investor in 2023. And then by creating their own behind-the-scenes documentary, Built in Birmingham: Brady & the Blues. This alignment in approach doesn’t stop there, either, with neither hierarchy exactly shy about their Premier League ambitions nor ability to think big in terms of building for the future. Wrexham’s new Kop Stand will cost a little under £70million when fully opened sometime next season, while Birmingham have even grander plans via a 60,000 capacity new stadium to be built on land in the east of the city expected to cost in the region of £2-3billion. All this ambition is admirable. But what really matters is how things go on the pitch. In that respect, City have had a disappointing season, bouncing around mid-table for much of it despite adding 12 new faces last summer to an already expensively-assembled squad that had looked Championship-ready in the division below. Further investment followed in January — £15m or so was spent on six more signings, including Carlos Vicente from Deportivo Alaves and August Priske from Djurgarden — but even this has failed to spark their season, suggesting recruitment has been a problem. Wrexham’s policy of signing largely proven performers at this level has proved more successful, albeit with the sting in the tail of a late-season slump featuring four defeats in the last seven games, which means the play-offs increasingly look a tall order. Nevertheless, this season has exceeded expectations in north Wales. That 19-point gap to Birmingham in League One has been overturned to such an extent that Chris Davies’ side now trail by eight points, even after winning so comfortably on Sunday that Wrexham failed to muster so much as a shot on target. “The positive of the day is we have come to Birmingham,” Parkinson adds, “a team who were a long way ahead of us last season in terms of points and we are ahead of them in the division. We were the team today still with a chance of the play-offs.” Wrexham’s season still being alive in mid-April is testament to the squad rebuild that followed the third of the club’s three promotions, as 13 new faces arrived last summer. Where they are perhaps paying the price now, however, is the inability in January to plug what was an obvious hole in their squad out wide. They did try, with Portsmouth’s Terry Devlin and Festy Ebosele of Istanbul Basaksehir both chased hard in the final few days of the window. Had either of those targets been landed, maybe the past month pans out differently. As it is, such a key area in terms of how Parkinson’s side attack has looked threadbare. Issa Kabore again looked horribly out of sorts at Birmingham, his frustration at how things are going evident when berating George Dobson for a misplaced pass just after the hour. George Thomason, signed as a central midfielder last summer, has stepped in admirably at left wing-back since Christmas. But, by being deployed elsewhere, the former Bolton Wanderers man has not been able to solve what has become another problematic area due to injuries in holding midfield. Ben Sheaf has been sorely missed these past two months, while Matty James was starting his first game since February 7 at St Andrew’s. In their absence, Wrexham have struggled to repeat the control shown earlier in the year. That, together with the problems out wide, has meant the service to the forwards has suffered. Wrexham’s lack of attacking threat against Birmingham — only in November’s goalless draw at Ipswich Town has their expected goals (xG) been lower this season than Sunday’s 0.08 — gave the home fans bragging rights, something they marked with the chant, “It’s a long way to Wrexham when you’re s***”. Whether this is a rivalry destined to last longer than those involving Notts County and Stockport remains to be seen. Both clubs reaching the Premier League in the near future, and then just as importantly sticking around, will surely decide that. But, for now, Birmingham versus Wrexham remains a fixture of such note that even those tuning in on the other side of the Atlantic think it worth forsaking a few hours’ sleep. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms