Wrexham AFC co-owner Rob McElhenney lauded by Sheffield Wednesday supporters over protest gesture | OneFootball

The Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney has been praised over a decision to overrule a ban on protest flags for the clubs' meeting at the Racecourse.

Wrexham's co-owner Rob McElhenney has been praised by Sheffield Wednesday supporters for overturning a ban on protest flags for their match against the Owls this afternoon.

Sheffield Wednesday supporters are protesting against owner Dejphon Chansiri and his failure to sell the troubled Championship club, and protests have already been held at the start of their opening match of the season and before their first home match against Stoke City.

The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust have been coordinating the protests, which started with fans entering The King Power Stadium five minutes into the Leicester match, and continued with a mock funeral for the club being held before the Stoke match.

The Trust are now urging a boycott of their upcoming EFL Cup match against Leeds United.

Their match at Wrexham will see a continuation of that protest, but a spanner had been thrown in the works when their hosts banned protest flags on the grounds that they carried 'political connotations'.

But this decision has now been overturned following the intervention of one of the club's co-owners, after the unhappiness of Wrexham fans over the decision became evident.

Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney praised for Sheffield Wednesday protest U-turn and charitable Owls gesture

It has taken an intervention on the part of the Red Dragons' co-owner, actor Rob McElhenney, to head off what could potentially have been an embarrassing moment for those running Wrexham.

WIth unhappiness over the Wrexham decision evident among supporters of the club, McElhenney took to the social media platform X on Friday evening to back the protests, confirming that the club has 10,000 gold and black change shirts from last shirts were still available for sale, and that "The profits from any gold shirt purchased between now and Monday will go to Sheffield Wednesday ST".

The colour of these shirts is significant because Wednesday fans are protesting under the banner of "black and gold until we're sold", a reference to a boycott of club merchandise that has been going on all summer.

In response to McElhenney's gesture and Wrexham's decision to reverse their original stance on Wednesday supporters' planned protests, the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust sent a heartfelt statement of thanks to McElhenney and Wrexham via The Star.

It reads: "We are overwhelmed by the support we have had for our plight from the football family, most recently from Wrexham on Friday.

"Wrexham fans have recent memories of the pain we are experiencing with someone who is not a fit and proper person to own their historic club.

"We are truly grateful for their support.

"The gesture from Rob McElhenney is fantastic and comes from a club owner who clearly understands what football clubs mean to their communities.

"We thank him and look forward to seeing the SToK Cae Ras turned black and gold this afternoon."

Wrexham supporters have a history of protest, which Rob McElhenney recognised

There are very particular reasons why Wrexham supporters will have been so unhappy at the protest flags having been banned from The Racecourse Ground.

On one particular Saturday in 2011, Wrexham supporters had to protest against the ownership of their club in a very similar way to that in which Sheffield Wednesday supporters are now.

At that time, the club was in a desperate position, and fans severely disrupted a home National League match against Gateshead - which the team lost 7-2 - to make their point.

The following August, those same fans raised £100,000 in a single day to keep their club alive, with the Football Conference requiring a financial bond to be able to start the 2011-12 season.

The Wrexham Supporters Trust ended up taking ownership of the club in November 2011 and ran it for a decade, when they were sold - following a vote of trust members - to Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The club's ascent since then has been record-breakingly rapid, with three promotions in four years carrying them from the National League into the Championship.

As well as being a public relations triumph, McElhenney's decision is confirmation that the club's co-owner recognises where the Wrexham fanbase was coming from in terms of being unhappy at the club's original decision to not allow protest flags into the ground for this match.

Fans who remember those dark days were unhappy that their own club had acted as though they'd forgotten where they'd come from when it came to the Sheffield Wednesday protests, which are clearly not 'political' in nature.