Wrexham

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Dom Hyam and Nathan Broadhead are back in the Wrexham squad for Saturday's friendly against Manchester United, but Phil Parkinson is again without a handful of senior players for the trip to Helsinki.

Centre-back Hyam is involved after missing last weekend's draw against Wisla Krakow having been given extra time off as a result of his World Cup involvement with Scotland.

Wales international forward Broadhead is included by the Championship side after sitting out the Wisla Krakow trip to get another week of training under his belt.

Liberato Cacace will not face United despite returning to Wrexham after going to the World Cup with New Zealand, while Max Cleworth, Ben Sheaf and Josh Windass are again absent following injury issues.

Elliot Lee and Ryan Longman, who both featured in Poland last Saturday, are not involved in this squad.

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Fleetwood Town have signed former Wrexham midfielder Andy Cannon on a three-year deal.

Cannon, 30, who was released by the Welsh club at the end of last season, has clocked up 330 senior appearances for clubs including Rochdale, Portsmouth, Hull City and Stockport County.

He spent the second half of last season on loan at Burton Albion.

Cannon told the Fleetwood website what attracted him to the League Two club and he said: "The gaffer wants to be successful, so do I. He's got ambitions, I've got ambitions. I feel we can work together and hopefully have a successful season."

A product of Rochdale's academy, Cannon made his first-team debut in 2014 before going on to establish himself as a key figure at Spotland.

He moved to Portsmouth in January 2019, where he spent two years before joining Championship side Hull.

In December 2022, Cannon completed a move to Wrexham and played an important role during one of the club's most successful periods, helping them achieve three consecutive promotions, from the National League to the Championship.

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Arthur Okonkwo saved a second-half penalty as Wrexham began their pre-season campaign with a goalless draw against Wisla Krakow in Poland.

The Wrexham goalkeeper pushed away Jordi Sanchez's spot-kick shortly after the hour mark after Ryan Longman tripped Frederico Duarte in the box.

Wrexham's best chances fell to striker Kieffer Moore who had two efforts on goal saved, while Lewis Brunt headed over twice from corners as the Championship side were unable to force a breakthrough.

The match was held to help celebrate the Polish side's 120th anniversary and the two clubs' "shared culture and community focus".

Wrexham face Manchester United in Helsinki next Saturday before heading to the United States to face Leeds, Liverpool and Sunderland.

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Wrexham will be without a number of senior players when they begin their pre-season campaign with a friendly against Wisla Krakow on Saturday (14:00 BST).

Forward Josh Windass and midfielder Ben Sheaf will not play having missed training this week, though boss Phil Parkinson says neither player has a serious issue.

Max Cleworth is another player who will be absent as a result of an Achilles injury the defender has been managing throughout the close season.

Nathan Broadhead (pictured above) is another who will not be involved at Krakow's Henryk Reyman Municipal Stadium, with Parkinson explaining that Wrexham want the Wales forward "to have another week's training" before he gets game-time.

Left-back Sebastian Revan remains unfit after his loan spell at Burton Albion last season was curtailed by injury, while centre-back Dom Hyam and left-back Liberato Cacace are not yet back training with Wrexham having gone to the World Cup with Scotland and New Zealand respectively.

Conor Coady, Elliot Lee, Ryan Hardie and Harry Ashfield are all back at Wrexham and in the squad travelling to Poland having finished last season out on loan.

The Wisla Krakow fixture was arranged to help celebrate the Polish side's 120th anniversary.

Wrexham face Manchester United in Helsinki next Saturday before heading on tour to the United States to face Premier League Leeds United, Liverpool and Sunderland before the new Championship campaign.

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Wrexham director Humphrey Ker reckons the TV series charting the club's fortunes has helped increase the popularity of football in the USA.

The Welcome to Wrexham show has told the story of the north Wales team's rise through the divisions under Hollywood owners Rob Mac – formerly McElhenney – and Ryan Reynolds.

The series – the fifth season of which premiered early this year – has been a hit in America, something Ker (pictured above) says is "really important" to the Championship club.

"The success of what we are doing is very much based on getting American people to be interested in what's going on at Wrexham," Ker said.

Ker says another television series, Ted Lasso, has also played a part in raising the profile of football on the other side of the Atlantic, with this summer's World Cup allowing the sport to ride the "crest of a wave" in the States.

He believes the two shows have combined to show US audiences "some of the distinct qualities of football that don't exist in American sport".

According to Ker, Mac was "fascinated" when he got involved at Wrexham by the idea of promotion and relegation because they do not exist in American sports.

"They are closed shops. What is great about the closed-shop system is you'll see the way they do things with their drafts, every year pretty much it's different teams who make the final," Ker told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast.

"But the minus side of it is that you have huge swathes of the seasons that are just dead rubbers - it doesn't matter.

"So a big thing for Rob was 'wait a second, you're saying the last few games of the season, if it's 17 versus 18 [in the table], that's a massive game? If it's eight versus 20 that's a massive game?'

"There are almost no unimportant games in a regular league season. I think that's a thing Americans have really taken to when they follow domestic leagues in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain."

Sheffield Wednesday have put their interest in Wrexham midfielderGeorge Dobson, 28, on hold. They could rekindle a potential deal for the Englishman later in the transfer window. (The Star), external

You can find more of Friday's EFL gossip here.

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson talks to Dylan Griffiths about five years as boss, pre-season and the 2026-27 season.

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Four more Wrexham fixtures have been moved after being selected for live television coverage.

Wrexham will start the 2026-27 season on Friday, 7 August (20:00 BST) with their Carabao Cup opener at Middlesbrough being shown on Sky Sports and ITV.

The home Championship fixture against Birmingham has been brought forward to Friday, 28 August (20:00 BST) while the trip to Swansea City on Saturday, 5 September 5 will now kick off at 20:00 BST as both games are being shown on Sky Sports.

Wrexham's trip to West Ham United, meanwhile, has been brought forward to Friday, September 11 (20:00 BST), meaning the home game against Burnley will come forward 24 hours to Tuesday, 8 September.

However, the West Ham and Burnley games could move again depending on the Carabao Cup third-round draw, should any of the sides be involved.

Wrexham's trip to Cardiff City on the opening weekend of the Championship season had already been selected for live TV coverage, with that game being played on Monday, 17 August.

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The TV schedule for the opening two months of the English Football League's 2026-27 season have been announced and with that, there are a few games getting a headline slot.

Here are the new dates to jot into your calendars across the EFL in August and September:

• Thursday, 20 August - Sheffield Wednesday v Bradford City (20:00 BST)

• Sunday, 23 August - West Bromwich Albion v Burnley (12:00 BST)

• Friday, 28 August - Wrexham v Birmingham City (20:00 BST)

• Sunday, 6 September - Birmingham City v Wolves (12:00 BST)

• Monday, 7 September - Bromley v AFC Wimbledon (20:00 BST)

• Thursday, 10 September - Stevenage v Luton Town (20:00 BST)

• Friday, 11 September - West Ham United v Wrexham (20:00 BST)

• Sunday, 13 September - Sheffield United v Wolves (12:00 BST)

• Thursday, 17 September - AFC Wimbledon v MK Dons (20:00 BST)

• Friday, 18 September - Bristol City v Watford (20:00 BST)

• Sunday, 20 September - Wolves v West Bromwich Albion (12:00 BST)

The above matches are the single-game choices whose dates have been moved for TV coverage - there are also a number of Saturday lunchtime, evening and multi-game midweek matches also being televised. The full list is available here., external

The BBC Sport website will have live text commentaries of all the above fixtures and you can also tune in to games via your local BBC Radio station.