While providing commentary during the Wrexham versus Swansea game, Ryan Reynolds humorously remarked that the event might feel like it lasted 20 hours. As it turned out, his jest wasn’t far from reality.

Welcome to Wrexham, the unique football club given the liberty to present an uninterrupted promotional piece on Sky Sports during an entire match, seemingly without any critical oversight.

Reynolds, along with his co-owner Rob McElhenney, are endearing individuals who have infused new life into Wrexham, taking the club to heights it could only dream of. They come across as genuine and approachable, proving that wealth alone doesn’t achieve success. Together with manager Phil Parkinson, the team, and the staff, they are crafting a remarkable chapter for both the club and the local community, deserving praise for their efforts.

Throughout the broadcast, we heard about the ‘brilliance’ of Reynolds and McElhenney, the allure of striker Kieffer Moore, and an overly optimistic retelling of Wrexham’s past, where it seemed as though happiness was scarce in the city until a few years ago. When Swansea’s forward Zan Vipotnik nearly found the net, Reynolds exclaimed, “That’s not what we want!”

Objectivity was clearly absent from this broadcast, although it was never intended to present itself as neutral. Viewers had the option to watch the conventional match coverage on Sky Sports’ main channel, which was promoted during the special stream.

Those who stayed tuned in experienced unabashed enthusiasm. To their credit, Reynolds and McElhenney, with guidance from the talented David Prutton, offered insights into their club that an outside commentator could never provide.

Sky Sports let Wrexham carry out a party political broadcast on Friday Night

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were allowed to commentate on their 2-0 win over Swansea on Sky Sports Football

Reynolds painted us a picture of Wrexham’s dressing room after their recent FA Cup defeat by Chelsea – a genuinely interesting nugget of information. ‘If you went in the locker room after the match, it looked like they’d come out of a war,’ he said. 

McElhenney, meanwhile, took us on the journey of acquiring Wrexham. ‘I Googled how to buy a football club,’ he revealed. Oh, and he only learned what promotion and relegation are during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s all insight.

But in short, it felt like a glorified version of what you’d see on a club’s internal TV channel. Former players in Ben Foster, Ben Tozer, and Steven Fletcher were wheeled out to reminisce about their experiences. Reynolds and McElhenney celebrated the goals with enthusiasm. Swansea, in whom Snoop Dogg recently took a stake, hardly got a mention in their 2-0 defeat. 

You might ask why any of this matters. They’re hardly the worst owners – better these than some despotic regime or a foreign businessman who doesn’t care. 

And if enough people enjoy it, so what? Some reviewers on social media liked it. Others seethed. ‘Think they’re renaming the channel to Sky Sports Wrexham,’ one viewer wrote. 

It matters because this was another example of football being the sideshow to the entertainment industry in the modern era. It’s why we’re getting KSI buying Dagenham & Redbridge and streaming himself at their games. Why we’re getting half-time interviews in the Premier League. Why the World Cup final will have a half-time show. 

It might sound harmless, but this shift is hurting fans. Take Manchester United, for example. To satisfy Sky Sports and the Premier League’s TV schedule, by the end of the campaign, they will have had just three Saturday 3pm home games in the space of two seasons. Fixtures are constantly rescheduled at late notice. Season ticket holders groan.

The football industry finds itself facing an existential question: who, really, do we want to serve? Who do we exist for? 

Clubs such as Port Vale received less attention for greater achievements in the FA Cup 

Is it the people with the deepest pockets? The people who beat their chest the loudest? The people who court the cameras?

Maybe this is the endgame for a broadcaster which leans ever more into partiality. Pundits such as Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, and Micah Richards, while fair and critical, leave us in no doubt about their allegiances. Detached observers are like golddust in this era. 

Even the FA Cup’s official account on X gave cosied up to Wrexham over the weekend. Their fixture against Chelsea received no fewer than 19 posts, four of them featuring Reynolds. One picture of him, McElhenney, and actress Blake Lively purred with the caption: ‘Name a more iconic trio.’ We can all probably think of a few. 

Mansfield’s excellent run before defeat by Arsenal, Southampton’s win at Fulham, and Port Vale’s victory against Sunderland received less attention, despite being better sporting stories. 

It’s time other clubs were given the same privileges. If Wrexham can have their own commentary on Sky Sports, who are supposed to be stewards of our beautiful game, then why not Swansea? Why not Lincoln and Wimbledon and Bromley?

Or here’s a better idea for the bosses at Osterley: leave the one-sided broadcasting to fan channels, who depend on that audience a lot more, and give your subscribers the informed, balanced broadcasting that they’re paying to see.