In Saturday's game against Millwall Cleworth became the leading appearance-maker of Phil Parkinson's reign, surpassing Paul Mullin's 172 games under the English boss. Cleworth, still only 23, is Wrexham's final on-field survivor of the National League days, though Davis Keillor-Dunn and Ryan Barnett, who has played 12 times in the league this season, have recently returned. Since his debut while a 17-year-old academy player in the Scottish Challenge Cup in 2019, the Chester-born defender has made 175 appearances in red.
Goals from Sam Smith and Oliver Rathbone before the break were enough to secure all three points on the road for Phil Parkinson's side, seeing them extend their winning run in the competition to three games. Wrexham were ahead after just 11 minutes against a struggling Blackburn side, with Matty James' long ball over the top of the Rovers defence taken down and slotted in at the near post by Smith.
Wrexham County borough council had previously said that the club would receive a substantial amount of a 25m Welsh government grant to redevelop the area around the Wrexham General train station next door to its stadium, the Racecourse Ground. However, the council has not previously revealed that the football club would directly receive most of that cash. Wrexham is owned by Reynolds and McElhenney, who has changed his name to Rob Mac, according to UK and US company filings.
Reynolds and McElhenney, who have overseen a historic triple-promotion at the Racecourse alongside resounding commercial success thanks in part, to their 'Welcome to Wrexham' documentary on Disney+, are involved in a group of investors who took over at the Colombian side this year. The group is led by real estate investor Al Tylis and includes actress Eva Longoria. Other high-profile names involved in the new direction of the Bogota-based club are MLB pitcher Justin Verlander, Kate Upton and former NBA player Shawn Marion.
We showed a gritty and determined nature to us today, and I think that was important. You have to do that here at Millwall because they're a good side and it's a really difficult place to come -- I've managed here many times and I've played here, and you've got to be stand up and be counted. Every single player, everybody who's on the coach, has got to do their bit to make sure you give yourself the best chance of getting a result.
