Hot air balloon

Up, up, and away...

Something in the water, something in the skies

Big Arthur’s Big Moment / Image: Wrexham AFC

“F*** off you Welsh t***!” shrieked the Blackburn fans at their fellow Englishman Sam Smith as he scored the first goal of the Championship in 2026, before piling the same treatment onto Ollie Rathbone, who was probably born in the same hospital as themselves.

Three days earlier, Preston North End supporters had been similarly bad-tempered, hurling vapes at Josh Windass who’d trotted over to their side of the pitch to chat to the linesman.

Is there something in the water in Lancashire? Lots of Rovers and PNE fans were choleric across our festive fixtures - both during and after the games. Only their residents who avoided the mains supply and stuck to bottled beer during betwixtmas seemed in much better spirits: With tipsy PNE fans shrugging off their 2-1 loss to join Reds on the dancefloor in Chequers rather than punching expletive-laden, error-riddled posts onto fan forums on the trains home.

In reality, United Utilities probably aren’t to blame for the sour taste on tongues across the Red Rose County. This bitterness has more than likely been bred by inertia: With both Rovers and PNE trapped in the same league for a decade, save for Blackburn’s brief dalliance with L1.

It might seem nuts to us, throwing your toys out the pram at the prospect of another season of Championship(!) football. But it’s horses for courses, isn’t it? When you’ve won the most coveted trophy in the country - as both these clubs have done - reaching for anything less can appear unambitious, even if PNE’s last title win was around the same time a midwife was wrapping up a baby Charlie Chaplin.

What’s more, when you’re stuck in a rut, it is particularly easy to resent a team in perpetual ascent like Wrexham - who are defying all definitions of what a good team actually is by winning most of our matches without playing like Brazil.

We are the hot air balloon of the EFL, quietly floating up, up, and away into high altitudes past the burly Boeings and swanky drones that roam the Championship skies. The fact we’ve risen this far is incredible, but you can’t always appreciate or respect something - no matter how unique it might be - when it’s simply getting in the way.

Lancashire is sick to the back teeth of Wrexham getting in its eye line, but they’re not alone. The East Midlands will also spend all January cursing North Wales’ ascent.

Derby were dispatched comfortably on their home turf, whilst their neighbours came to Y Cae Ras in the cup hoping to do what their bitter rivals and fellow Brian Clough acolytes could not. Alas, not even the mighty (albeit down on their luck) Nottingham Forest could pop the Big Red Balloon.

Our FA Cup scrapbook is heavier than The Yellow Pages now, but that Forest game must go in there somewhere: A tie that morphed from certain victory, to certain defeat, then something in between, culminating in a Big Moment for Big Arthur whose quiet fist-pump at the winning penalty save was the most animated we’ve seen him since pulling on a Reds shirt.

With such momentum and delirium dancing around Wrexham right now, Saturday seems like a long time to wait until a fresh fixture. But from the looks of those tired legs during extra-time, it is needed.

Norwich City (H) is next, a game which would have been a frightening proposition just a few weeks back. Now, it looks like a golden opportunity to win six in a row.

Iesu Mawr, we’re in serious danger of joining the hive mind of several other clubs in this division: Regarding another season in the Championship as something that’s actually slightly disappointing.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The climb is long and there is much more to go. For now, let’s just enjoy the view.

COYR.