Wrexham’s tour of the USA is coming to an end and, like most things over the last year, appears to have exceeded expectations.

I suppose I was always going to be easily impressed: after all, I’m just excited to be able to type the phrase “Wrexham’s tour of the USA”!

However, we are competing in the hard-nosed world of modern football, where the tough tackling doesn’t just happen on the pitch, so let’s put sentiment to one side and consider how the tour has actually influenced matters.

After the TST Tournament I suggested that our presence in the USA alone fulfilled an important function. The new audience we’re looking to appeal to is constantly being told to pay attention to us, with an occasionally exaggerated version of our history thrown into the mix!

The tour looks to have been accompanied by well-conceived publicity and match day activities, so our matches are an attractive occasion, not just a football match.

We all know the cliche about American fans making a day of a sports event, holding tailgate barbecues in the car park and turning it into a social occasion.

I’ve had first hand experience of this in New York, where the spectacular Yankee Stadium is designed to offer you a view of the action as you wander from your seat to get some food from the concession stalls.

It was bemusing to then see the fans at an MLS game do the same thing, and wander off during the game for a hot dog, even though the concourse at the stadium didn’t afford a view of the pitch.

That led to the unorthodox decision to advertise a kick-off time for the Chelsea game which was deliberately inaccurate, to ensure fans left the festivities and entered the stadium in time for kick-off!

We’ve given the fans the rounded experience they’d expect, which is a real feather in our cap. We’ve also normalised the idea that Chelsea and Manchester United’s name go naturally alongside ours, and that’s a genuine achievement which can yield concrete results in terms of attracting revenue.

The photo opportunities the squad has fulfilled have been judiciously chosen too. We’ve been humble guests, and that’s part of the deal too.

Call me old fashioned, but a pre-season tour has to work on the pitch too! Fortunately, things have been going swimmingly for Phil Parkinson too. 

Losing 5-0 isn’t exactly ideal, of course, but while the Chelsea match looked like a bad outcome to anyone who didn’t actually see the game, I’d be very surprised if anyone who actually watched it felt too negatively about it.

Chelsea’s side might have been young, but their starting eleven includes Marc Cucurella, who has been very impressive in the EPL over the past two seasons, after standing out for Getafe in La Liga, Nicolas Jackson, who just cost them £30m, Trevoh Chalabah, who played regularly in the EPL last season, Brazilian wonderkid Andrew Santos,  and two players who were named in the Championship team of the season last May.

They opened us up for an early goal, but in general our defensive shape looked very good, and we certainly didn’t park the bus. 

Mullin’s running in the channels troubled Chelsea’s defence and Anthony Forde got the better of his duel with Cucurella.

For the second half Chelsea threw on England internationals Raheem Sterling (above) and Ben Chilwell,  and new £50m striker Christopher Nkunku, but the pattern remained the same: indeed, with 15 minutes left we carved out a couple of good chances to make it 2-1.

Ryan Barnett’s ability to regularly beat Chilwell was a delightful extra treat!

Chelsea’s quality made good by the end, naturally, but conceding three late goals was no disgrace.

The game against a youthful LA Galaxy side saw the show on the other foot, and we got a good attacking workout.

Once more, the quality of our attacking combination play was pleasing, and the midfield trio of Elliot Lee, Tom O’Connor and Andy Cannon looked impressive.

Of course, you can’t judge the success of a pre-season until the first match of the season. if we’re ready for Mk Dons, the tour will have been a success.

All the signs suggest we’’re shaping up well though, and there are likely to be a couple more improvements to the squad to come too, but there’s no need for hasty recruitment. 

Both on and off the pitch, we’ve been able to show our best side to the States; it might not be the obvious way to prepare for a trip to Grimsby, but it looks like it’s working!