Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior would not block his club if they decided to sign up to a fly-on-the-wall documentary – like their FA Cup fifth-round opponents Wrexham – as he considers it a way of giving fans the inside access they deserve.
The Premier League big boys are aiming to avoid an upset against the Championship play-off chasers with Rosenior aware that this tie is likely to feature heavily in the next season of Welcome To Wrexham. It is a clash which will carry Hollywood links, with Golden Globes owner Todd Boehly taking on Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at the Racecourse Ground.
Daily Mail Sport understands the producers of Wrexham’s documentary have not submitted a request with Chelsea to allow a camera crew inside the away changing room. Instead, they will be focusing on the home side, capturing Phil Parkinson’s players both before and after the tie in their private space.
However, if Chelsea ever signed up to their own documentary, Rosenior says he would welcome the cameras so long as it is collectively agreed, and captured and edited correctly.
‘I think they’re really good things,’ Rosenior said. ‘I’ve watched them all. I’m learning. I’ve watched the Manchester City one, the Arsenal one. There are many documentaries out there.
‘They’re really good for the public to see, actually, what it’s really like. I’m not making an advertisement. If it was done in the right way I wouldn’t be against it.
Liam Rosenior admitted that, as a fan of football documentaries, he would be open to allowing the cameras into Cobham under certain circumstances
The Hollywood-ification of Wrexham has come hand-in-hand with unprecedented success on the pitch
‘But it has to be done in the correct way. I think being open to the public (is good). The public spends so much money following us. Giving them access at the right time in the right way is a positive thing.’
Rosenior declined to answer when asked directly which goalkeeper out of Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen would start at Wrexham. Sanchez was surprisingly dropped for Wednesday’s 4-1 Premier League win away at Aston Villa.
Rosenior has spoken with Sanchez, who was disappointed to be axed from the starting line-up. ‘If you are a player or a coach or a manager of a club the size of Chelsea, if you’re worried about the noise from the outside, it’s not going to work,’ Rosenior said on Sanchez and Jorgensen and the reaction from fans. ‘I don’t make decisions based on noise. Rob shouldn’t be affected by any noise other than what’s important, which is our performances.’
Rosenior said at his pre-match press conference that he ‘would not swap Joao Pedro for anyone’ right now with the forward in fine form, though he may be rested in readiness for Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Chelsea will be taking youngsters, such as Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, 17, and Jesse Derry, the 18-year-old son of Shaun, to Wrexham with Rosenior leaning on the expertise of his assistant Calum McFarlane, who previously managed the Under 21s.
Meanwhile, Estevao is back on the grass after his hamstring issue, and Daily Mail Sport understands he was doing individual work with a coach after the team’s training session at Cobham on Friday afternoon. The Brazilian, 18, will not be fit enough to travel to Wrexham.
