Council keep head down amid criticism of secret Freedom ceremony

Wrexham Council appear to be downplaying a visit to the Guildhall by Ryan and Rob this time last week, with no official video from the event, no speeches made public and zero mention of the visit on social media.

Re-lining work on Mold Road has had more social media prominence from the council than the visit, amid criticism of how the visit and ceremony was handled.

Wrexham.com understands there is wide spread unhappiness across all political groups over various elements of the event held on the Bank Holiday Monday.

One councillor explained how they had been to a “better run U11 presentation at my local football club”, others described it as a ‘bloody shambles’, ‘car crash’, ‘very awkward’, with others questioning why the event was kept secret, and some questioning if the gravitas of the presentation was missed by those involved.

Other gripes surround the invite list and process, with ‘plus ones’ allowed for some councillors but not others, where the budgets came from, lack of leverage of promotion – be it for the City or even the City of Culture bid.

Another issue that has caused resentment from some councillors is the ‘inexplicable’ attempts to ‘censor’ councillors from publishing pictures and videos from the event, with a lack of censure after some did just that, with councillors querying if there are dual standards or if the request itself from the council was misjudged and unworkable.

After radio silence for three days after the event Wrexham Council issued a press release with several still images, and as with many such releases it appears to be prewritten ahead of the event and contains zero ‘live’ quotes from the Mayor nor Rob or Ryan.

One theory we have heard from several councillors is there was a desire from Wrexham Council to coordinate the announcement of significant funding for the Kop stand section of the Gateway project alongside the Freedom images, however as one said, “the visit was never going to be kept under wraps”.

We have asked for copies of the speech given by the Mayor, and were supplied with the following, copied below in full, which came with an explainer note ‘speech notes that the Mayor used to cover the key points in his speech (they’re not a verbatim record of what was said – they were just guidance notes)’:

Rob

– inspiration behind the original idea

– Wrexhams links in terms of being similar to Philadelphia

– Passion and enthusiasm for the game and the welsh language

Ryan

– following in the footsteps of his father who would I am sure have been proud of the role he has played in sport and in Wrexham

– wonderful Canadian link between American and British sporting perspectives

– great listener, sense of irony, and understanding of people and place

Wrexham AFC

– one of the oldest football clubs in the World

– oldest International Football Ground in the world

– the club binds everyone together in Wrexham

The mayor also spoke off the cuff / from the heart as a lifelong Wrexham fan at various points, and included the following points in his speech as well (again not word for word, but they provide the flavour):

The Racecourse Ground is the oldest International Football Ground in the World with the first game being Wales v Scotland in 1877 which Scotland winning 2-0.

Have been a life long Wrexham Fc fan probably the biggest International game that I can remember was in 1980 when after 25 years not beating England Wales won this one 4-1.

My most memorable match watching Wrexham was in the 1991-92 FA Cup with Micky Thomas and Steve Watkins scoring both goals to give Wrexham there famous win.

Many of the names I have remembered over the past years who have played for Wrexham over the years to name a few Dia Davies Micky Thomas Ian Rush Gareth Davies Brian Lloyd

Dixie McNeil Albert Kinsey Sammy MacMillan Paul Mullin Ollie Palmer . And the most famous player to wear the Wrexham shirt was probably George Best at the Gareth Davies’ testimonial.

Since Rob and Ryan have taken over we are at a special place and with being a life long supporter I am just enjoying the ride of these good times.

A third party film crew had been hired by Wrexham Council and published a short video edit from the visit. The video has been shared by council Chief Executive Ian Bancroft however not by Wrexham Council.

There appears to be no version with Welsh language subtitles, or similar.

Now we’ve all caught our breathe, checked our blood pressure & *almost* finished watching highlights of Mondays match, we thought we’d share more of the moment @VancityReynolds @RMcElhenney & @Wrexham_AFC were honoured with Freedom of Wrexham! 🔥🔴 #COYR #WxmAFC @brynawelon1 pic.twitter.com/2LIw5HmfIe

— filmcafe 🎥 (@filmcafe) April 12, 2023

Wrexham.com asked when the video will be released by Wrexham Council, and if all speeches will be released.

Wrexham.com has asked if there is any official reason for a delay on release.

We had no reply.

Wrexham.com has placed an FOI to get a copy of the Mayor’s full speech, an usual step a the Council themselves state the Mayor “is a symbol of open society”, however as we explained in the request itself “…the Mayor’s words appear to be a low priority however it is a key civic role, representing the people not just the council…” .

Top pic: A picture from the day, where Deputy Council Leader Cllr David A Bithell’s lack of tie appears to have upset some of his fellow councillors.