"Ludicrous" - Wrexham fan pundit lambasts Birmingham City's EFL request for US-based fixture | OneFootball

The Blues were looking to take their show on the road and overseas for the first time ever.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Birmingham City reportedly wanted to try and play their 2024/25 home league fixture against Wrexham AFC over in the USA, in a move which has been turned down by the EFL.

The American influence on English and Welsh football has been slowly growing over the past four or five years. By Christmas 2023, 22 of the 72 clubs in the EFL had some level of investment, whether it be full ownership or partial, from people originally from across the pond.

Ipswich Town's promotion to the Premier League took one number off that, but the takeover of West Bromwich Albion by Florida-based businessman Shilen Patel earlier this year balanced that equation.

14 of the 22 have received an injection of dollars since the Hollywood duo of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over at Wrexham in 2020.

One such domino to be knocked over as a result of this was Birmingham, who were purchased by the Knighthead group in July 2023.

They have plans to spend big both on and off the pitch, with a reported £20 million budget at the disposal of new boss Chris Davies. Getting out of League One and back to the second tier is their mission statement, but they are also looking at ways of generating money too.

One brainwave they had was to see whether the EFL would sanction their home game their Welsh counterparts to be played in the United States. This was reported by the Daily Mail, who added that the EFL promptly rejected the suggestion.

While some at St. Andrew's were left disappointed by the decision, as per the Daily Mail, Reynolds took to X to clarify that no discussions on the matter had happened at their end.

Potential Birmingham City clash in United States lambasted by Wrexham fan pundit

Liam Grice, Football League World'sWrexham fan pundit, has shared his thoughts on the possibility of his side playing the Blues in the States

Grice believes that it would be a terrible thing to see an English league game being played in America, purely for the monetary gain of the owners.

He told FLW:"I think the whole idea of playing a game that is in the English pyramid abroad, where the football market isn't even the biggest market in the country, despite the interest that both Birmingham and Wrexham generate in America, is completely ludicrous to be honest with you.

"Both teams have large sets of fans over there, but the core fanbases are based in England and Wales, and it's incredibly harsh for both sets of fans who pay their money for season tickets or regular tickets to put them out of pocket and to alienate upwards of 20,000 fans just to play one game in America."

Ryan Reynolds' provides a refreshing ownership perspective

The current footballing landscape is dominated by those who are looking to profit off of owning a club, rather than those who do it for the enjoyment of it as well. In his brief but impactful comments, Reynolds came across as one of those who isn't just interested in making a quick buck.

Of course there are financial motivations there, but that's not the sole basis of his interest in owning Wrexham.

That isn't that common these days because of how lucrative the sport can be. This opportunity could, and probably would, have been a great opportunity for him, McElhenney and the Birmingham owners to raise their clubs' profiles in the US. But they said no, and that's brilliant to see.

The majority shareholders that think as the Blues' big bosses do are completely naive to what they actually possess. Charging fans hundreds of pounds every season to then take what they're paying for away from them is, as Grice said, ludicrous.

Football clubs may be a business on the black and white of a sheet of paper, but they aren't. They are a completely unique entity to any hedge fund or bank or whatever company these owners made their millions from.

Their lifeblood isn't just cash. It's people, loyal people. People who are there every week. Rain or sun, train or car, winning or losing; they are present. But they can't be present, or they'll at least struggle to be, if you take their home games thousands of miles away from them.

The market that the City owners are looking to appeal to in the US will not sustain teams like Birmingham long-term. They weren't there at St. Andrew's when the Blues were relegated last season, or at Wembley when they beat Arsenal in the Carling Cup final.

Those people who were there for those games are the ones that give these venture capitalists a chance to make the money that they want to make, and they need to remember that without them there's not much hope for these clubs or their financial interests.