Wrexham have become a team that everybody wants to beat thanks to the arrival of Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.
Wrexham fans are loving life at the moment.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds bought Wrexham for £2million in 2021 and the club’s rise has been meteoric.
Back-to-back promotions mean that Wrexham are now in League One and Phil Parkinson is now sat in second place in the table.
Reynolds wants another promotion this season and it’s a serious possibility after a strong start to the season.
Wrexham fans are on cloud nine but the added interest in the club’s fortunes only adds to rival fans wanting Wrexham to fail.
Championship goalkeeper on Wrexham v Chester rivalry
There is a sense of schadenfreude when it comes to Wrexham; other fans taking joy from any Wrexham suffering.
Nothing will quite match Wrexham’s rivalry with Chester though, which goes all the way back to the first meeting between the two sides on December 8, 1888.
There were 146 meetings between Wrexham and Chester City, then another 10 between Wrexham and Chester FC after Chester City were wound up.
The close proximity between the two sides means there is real needle, but there has been no game between the two sides since 2018.
Whilst Wrexham have been on the rise under McElhenney and Reynolds, Chester are yet to even get out of the National League North since their relegation in 2018.
Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann has now commented on his experience of the derby having joined Wrexham on loan in the 2014-15 season.
Speaking on Wrexham’s official YouTube channel, Bachmann admitted that Wrexham against Chester was the best atmosphere he had played in.
Bachmann started in Wrexham’s 2-1 defeat to Chester in September 2014 and remembers a ‘quite aggressive’ atmosphere both on and off the pitch.
The Austrian international felt that he learned a lot from that experience – especially having been ‘clattered’ by a Chester player at one point.
“From what I remember, it was at this point, the best atmosphere I’ve played in even though the stadium is not very big at all,” said Bachmann.
“It’s very compact, so the fans are very close to you. It was obviously packed out but it felt a lot more, obviously with it being a derby. I remember it feeling quite aggressive.
“I remember a couple of the actions from the game as well, I remember a cross I came for and I got absolutely clattered – I won’t forget that.
“It was certainly at this time the best or biggest game of my career atmosphere-wise and yeah, I really enjoyed it and they’re obviously the games that you learn the most from, when you’re exposed to that for the first time,” he added.
One Wrexham rivalry building amid Chester absence
Who knows when the next Wrexham v Chester clash will come.
Wrexham are going from strength to strength under McElhenney, Reynolds and Parkinson whereas Chester sit ninth in the National League North.
As much as Wrexham fans will love poking fun at Chester and highlighting the gulf between the two sides now, those derby days are the best in the calendar.
Wrexham do still have Shrewsbury Town as a rival in League One but the rivalry with Stockport County is ramping up a little.
Wrexham and Stockport have been rivals in the National League, League Two and now League One, almost following each other through the leagues.
That has brought an intensified rivalry with Stockport’s Callum Connolly admitting that Wrexham is now a ‘massive’ game.
It still won’t match the Chester rivalry, but it’s a game with increased importance given the absence of games against Chester.