- The England star is one of 10 players to withdraw from Lee Carsley’s squad
- He watched as Stockport County edged past Wrexham to win 1-0 at home
- Is Harry Kane right to blast England drop-outs? LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Available wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes every Monday and Thursday
An England star was spotted in the crowd at Edgeley Park during Stockport County’s 1-0 home victory over Hollywood-owned Wrexham.
The VIP hid behind a ski mask as the champions closed within one point of Wrexham, who were acquired by movie stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2020.
Although the duo were not seen at the game, Saturday afternoon’s affair was not short of star power, with England forward Cole Palmer in attendance.
Stockport’s ground is just a 10 minute drive from the 22-year-old’s home town Wythenshawe, and, after his withdrawal from Lee Carsley’s final England squad, the Chelsea star found time to watch his local side in action.
The surreal modern adventure for Wrexham still seems to know no limits. Striker Paul Mullin has a walk-on role in the new Deadpool & Wolverine movie. The club’s Hollywood owners have recently become co-owners of the town’s brewery.
But the rise of Stockport has been far more miraculous. No megastars with multi-million social media followers, and consequently no TikTok or United Airlines sponsorship deals.
Cole Palmer watched on as his local side Stockport County defeated Wrexham 1-0 at home
Louie Barry scored the only goal in the affair, moving Stockport within one point of Wrexham
Wrexham sit third in League One and are seeking promotion for the third consecutive season
They’ve travelled further than Wrexham — from the National League North to League One in six years — and done it the hard way, growing through bold investments in players, bold changes of manager and improving a stadium set among terraced backstreets. Their club shop makes Wrexham’s look like a store cupboard. They’re well ahead of them on outside catering stakes, too. They’ve also been a haunting point of football comparison for the North Wales team, who last won here in October 2012, when the clubs were in the Blue Square Premier.
Though Disney income has allowed Reynolds and McElhenney to strengthen the USA’s most watched soccer club, the really smart League One move this summer was Stockport extending the loan of Louie Barry, whom Aston Villa signed from Barcelona in 2020.
His 12th goal in 16 games — cutting in from the left and tracing an arced, right-foot shot from 20 yards — proved the difference. Stockport also had Lewis Bate, picking out team-mates from 20 yards, and Ethan Pye, a real aerial threat. Just the kind of aerial threat that has evaporated from Wrexham’s football.
Mullin, the Deadpool star, was on the bench. The outstanding strikers Jack Marriott and Steven Fletcher are injured. Icelander Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, one of the free agents recently recruited to solve the goalscoring crisis, couldn’t lay a glove on Stockport. The sole encouragement for Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson was goalkeeper Callum Burton, on debut with first-choice Arthur Okonkwo also injured.
His first-half double save from a Pye header and Fraser Horsfall shot, kept the margin narrow. Burton steered Kyle Wootton’s clipped second-half effort into the side-netting and made two more fine stops at the death.
Stockport manager Dave Challinor, whose team trail Wrexham by a point, said the winner had been Barry’s ‘go-to goal,’ reflecting: ‘He does it with pleasing regularity.’ Parkinson said Mullin was ‘one goal away from getting himself going’. That can’t happen soon enough. On this evidence, Wrexham sorely need a caped superhero.
