The chief executive of Championship club Swansea City has criticised the television coverage of their derby defeat to Wrexham last week, claiming his club were “an afterthought” at the expense of their rivals’ Hollywood owners.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, Wrexham’s owners, commentated on Sky Sports’ alternative coverage of the game on March 13, alongside regular presenter David Prutton, while the pair also featured heavily in the build up.
The feature was offered to viewers alongside to Sky’s regular commentary, which aired on a different channel, but Swansea CEO Tom Gorringe believes the offering was misguided and lacking in balance.
“We have the Sky Sports cameras in attendance once again, although hopefully coverage of this fixture will be more balanced than what we witnessed around our game at Wrexham last weekend,” Gorringe wrote in his programme notes before Saturday’s visit of Championship leaders Coventry City.
“While I don’t think anyone would dispute that we want to continue to grow the profile of the EFL (English Football League) product, the means by which we do so should be balanced and impartial.
“In my view, the build-up to and coverage of the game itself left a lot to be desired on those particular scores.”
Sky Sports declined to comment when contacted by The Athletic. Sources briefed on the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, indicated the broadcaster believes its regular coverage of the game was fair and balanced — featuring former Swansea defender Ashley Williams as a pundit, and including a pre-match interview with Swansea coach Vitor Matos, as well as Wrexham’s Phil Parkinson.
Gorringe, who joined Swansea as CEO a little over a year ago, urged Sky to employ “greater critical thought” going forward, and said he would raise the matter with the English Football League (EFL) next week.
“With the production being done by Rob and Ryan’s own production company, all of the guests and focus was on their team, there were celebrations with David Prutton — the face of Sky’s EFL coverage — and the advert for the commentary of the game failed to mention that we were playing at all,” Gorringe added.
“It felt to myself and a number of members of our staff that we were very much an afterthought and that our hosts were given priority at every opportunity, and as a club we would strongly suggest that greater critical thought is given to how these situations are handled moving forward.
“This is a position that I will discuss with the EFL next week.”
Contrary to Gorringe’s claim, Sky said it produced ‘Live from Wrexham with Rob & Ryan’, with 40 per cent of all in-house viewers tuning in to the alternative offering – 168,000 of a total of 424,000.
Reynolds and Mac celebrated five years in charge of Wrexham in February, and have overseen a meteoric rise from the National League, the fifth tier of English football, to the upper echelons of the Championship.
Wrexham won the game 2-0 at the Racecourse Ground to boost their hopes of a play-off place, while leaving their Welsh rivals in mid-table.
