Swansea criticise TV coverage of Wrexham defeat

Swansea City chief executive Tom Gorringe has criticised the television coverage of their Championship defeat at Wrexham, when the north Wales club’s Hollywood owners were guest commentators.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac – formerly McElhenney – commentated on the game on Sky Sports alongside regular presenter David Prutton, while they also featured heavily in the build-up to the game on Friday, 13 March.

The Reynolds-Mac commentary was offered as an alternative to Sky Sports’ regular commentary, but that has not stopped Gorringe hitting out at the coverage and pledging to raise his concerns with the EFL.

Writing in his programme notes for Swansea’s game against Coventry City on Saturday, Gorringe said: “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.

“While I don’t think anyone would dispute that we want to continue to grow the profile of the EFL 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.”

When contacted by BBC Sport Wales, Sky Sports declined to comment, though it is understood the broadcaster believes its match coverage was fair and balanced.

Sky Sports pointed to the fact that former Swansea player Ashley Williams was one of their pundits, while Swans boss Vitor Matos – like opposite number Phil Parkinson – was interviewed before the game.

Reynolds and Mac celebrated five years in charge of Wrexham last month.

During their spell as owners, the Red Dragons have risen from the National League to Championship play-off contention thanks to three successive promotions.

American actor Mac, 48, described commentating on Wrexham’s game against Swansea as the “most rewarding professional experience of my entire life”.

Wrexham won the game 2-0 to boost their hopes of reaching the Championship play-offs while dealing a blow to Swansea’s slim top-six chances.

“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,” added Gorringe, who was named Swansea chief executive just over a year ago.

“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.”

Sky Sports insisted that contrary to Gorringe’s statement, it was responsible for the production of the Wrexham-Swansea coverage.

Sky Sports also revealed 40% of the in-home viewers of the game opted to watch the alternative stream featuring Reynolds and Mac.