Stephen Clemence hopes his players will relish the challenge of taking on Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground this Saturday.
It will be lights, camera, action on Saturday when Gillingham make the long journey to the Racecourse Ground to face Wrexham, a stadium sprinkled with Hollywood glamour, and Stephen Clemence says his men are going to have to be ‘bang up for it’.
Since Wrexham caught the world’s attention when they were surprisingly bought by Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator Rob McElhenney, they have become somewhat of a household name thanks to the brilliantly insightful documentary Welcome to Wrexham, which brought with it an avalanche of media coverage.
Gillingham, however, picked up a couple of American owners themselves in Brad and Shannon Galinson, whose influence has had a tremendous impact on the club. This match-up is certainly one that jumps off the fixture list.
“It’s a big game,” said Clemence ahead of the clash. “I am sure Wrexham will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. These are the games you should want to be involved in as a coach or as a player. I know as a player I would have relished this, and I am going to as a coach. We have to try and take them on. They are unbeaten in 10 and have a top-class manager with three promotions to his name.
“The documentary is not something I would normally watch but because I have been at home a little while, it was actually my daughter who told me about it. I have seen six or seven episodes and I found it quite entertaining. It gave you a good insight to what is going on at the club. There is a huge spotlight on them and who owns them which is good for football.
“Everyone in the stadium wants to know what’s going on in the dressing room at half time and now people are getting a real insight to what does go on.
“I know, having spoke to Brad, it has really elevated football in America because of it. It is an exciting game that I know my kids are excited to go and watch, they are hoping they might bump into one or two people there, but I will be concentrating on the games itself. There is no extra motivation, we want to win every game, that’s the attitude I want my players to have, we want to win football matches."