Shrewsbury defender, Tom Flanagan has taken a swipe at Wrexham ahead of the FA Cup clash between the sides this weekend.
It is the turn of the FA Cup third round this week as Wrexham travel to face Shrewsbury Town in a local derby. The last time the two sides met was 17 years ago so there is anticipation building.
The FA Cup has been a happy hunting ground for Phil Parkinson since he became manager of the Reds three years ago.
Last season a victory over Coventry City and replay defeat to Sheffield United have been immortalised forever in ‘Welcome to Wrexham‘. Not that they would have been forgotten anyway.
Now wins over Yeovil Town and Mansfield Town have seen them reach the third round in the competition once again. Now a local rivalry is on the horizon.
Tom Flanagan has his take on Wrexham
It was a big moment in Wrexham’s season last year when Billy Sharp took issue with the Reds. It was unclear what had happened but it is safe to say he didn’t like it.
Now it appears that another opposition player has taken issue with Parkinson’s side ahead of another FA Cup clash.
Speaking with the Shropshire Star, Shrewsbury defender, Tom Flanagan has been speaking ahead of the game. He doesn’t appear to be a fan of Wrexham…
Discussing the game, ahead of the weekend, he said: “I am big on the respect thing between football clubs, but let’s make sure it is known that with everyone talking, that they are a League Two team, they are coming here as a League Two team.
“Other League Two teams have been here and we have beaten them, and the expectation is that we beat them.”
It is fair to say that considering Town are sitting in midtable in the division above, they should hope for a conclusive win. But there’s a way of going about that. There is plenty of confidence coming from Flanagan considering his side has only won one in their last five games.
Continuing on, he added: “Whether it is a local derby or not, they are a League Two team, who owns them, what they wear, who they are, has no bearing on the game whatsoever.”
Why the ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney has any bearing on this game is anybody’s guess. It is clear that these factors do get under opposition players’ skin when building up to these sorts of games.
Who knows whether this passion from Flanagan will rub off on the pitch but Wrexham will still be confident in their own abilities.