Swansea City investor Snoop Dogg has been cautioned over trying to replicate Wrexham’s blueprint

Snoop Dogg has been warned that replicating the Hollywood fairytale of Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac at Wrexham might not be as easy as it looks.

The US rap legend, who snapped up a minority stake in Swansea City last July, is finally set to visit south Wales for his first home match against Preston North End later this month. The 54-year-old has arrived with big dreams, pledging to fire the Championship side back to the Premier League and transform the Swans into a “global name.”

But his investment is already being measured against the standard set in the north. Wrexham’s celebrity-fuelled rise has seen them make a meteoric leap from the National League to the Championship via three straight promotions, setting a high bar that some believe will be harder to clear at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Former Premier League midfielder Jeff Hendrick knows exactly what it takes to survive in the upper echelons of the British game. The 79-cap Republic of Ireland international, who recently hung up his boots after a career spanning the top flight and the Championship, believes the superstar arrival is a massive win for the league’s profile, but warns the rapper is in for a shock.

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Speaking to Fruity King, he said: “Publicity-wise, you see clubs and consortiums, including ex-NFL players, artists, and different people, getting involved and trying to buy clubs or be part-owners.

“This is great for English football, as it brings media coverage and hype to certain clubs like Snoop Dogg has. It also attracts players because they will join clubs backed by big-name stars, knowing there will be financial backing. It can only be a positive thing.

“When you look at English football with its relegation and promotion, especially for American people who don’t have that in their country, the highs and lows are a real pull. The financial benefits of reaching the play-offs or the Premier League are massive.

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“However, it’s also a wake-up call for those who might have thought they could just put their name to a club, attract players, and move up the leagues, like Wrexham. He’s probably gone in at higher stakes and is getting to see what English football is all about.”

Meanwhile, anticipation is rising for Snoop Dogg’s first visit to Swansea next Tuesday, February 24. As part of the star’s visit, he will appear pitchside before the game to greet supporters.

The four-time Emmy winner also plans to head into the community to meet fans and experience the city first-hand.

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Announcing his visit, he said: “I know it has been a long time coming, but I cannot wait to finally make my first visit to Swansea City and be among all the YJBs for our game against Preston.

“From the moment we talked about me becoming an owner, I have been looking forward to the chance to be with you all at the Swansea.com Stadium. I have heard so many great things about the atmosphere, especially when we play under the lights.

“When I watched the Wrexham game, where we showed we are the capital of Welsh football, the noise in the stadium sounded incredible even from over 5,000 miles away. I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

Brentford beat Macclesfield to end their magical FA Cup run that saw them knock out the holders Crystal Palace in the biggest upset in the competition’s history

The Macclesfield heroes stood together, soaking up the adulation from the Moss Rose supporters after being edged out by Premier League side Brentford.

Despondent and dejected, but undoubtedly immensely proud of the gargantuan effort that they put in over the course of the 90 minutes against a Brentford side, who came from behind to draw with Arsenal six days earlier, while some would argue it was a game that they could have won.

The stadium announcer expressed how everyone associated with the Silkmen felt. He said: “You did us so proud,” while factions of the supporters showed their affection to one of the key men behind the run, John Rooney. The chants soon shifted to Robert Smethurst, the businessman who brought the club back from the ashes.

The millionaire resonated with many for the emotional scenes during the FA Cup third-round win over Crystal Palace and for the incredible story of a drinking session that led to the purchase of Macclesfield, some months after the club was wound up by the High Court.

Commemorative half-and-half scarves, tin-foil FA Cup trophies and even tributes to Palace-slayer Paul Dawson after he displayed a Terry Butcher-esque bloodied head bandage in the previous round.

After the relentless media train and 90 minutes of nail-biting and pulse-raising moments, an exasperated Smethurst emerged into the boardroom.

“Jesus, hello,” he said. “I’m absolutely b*********.”

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To the surprise of no one, the Macclesfield players were too. Not just for the 96 minutes against the Bees, or the 100-plus against Crystal Palace, but this FA Cup journey began in August, when three second-half goals from Sean Etaluku, Ethan McLeod and D’Mani Mellor saw off the challenge of Atherton Laburnum Rovers, who ply their trade in the North West Counties Premier Division and the 10th tier of English football.

Marine and Tamworth are the recent success stories, teams that have broken the status quo and progressed into the proper rounds of the competition, both staging glamour ties against Tottenham Hotspur.

Macclesfield went one better, and if they’d taken advantage of first-half pressure, it could have been two.

Never in manager John Rooney’s wildest dreams did he think this would happen. It’s easy to forget that he only took the reins days before pre-season when Robbie Savage joined Forest Green Rovers, accelerating from new-campaign preparations to retirement overnight.

He said: “Something we spoke about early on the season was to try, make the playoffs and have a good FA Cup run.

“Did we think we’d get to the fourth round? I didn’t, I certainly didn’t.

“But for what the lads, myself and the coaching staff have achieved, the people behind the scenes in the office, everyone comes together, it’s a real community club, so for us to go on this journey and do it all together has been something I’m so proud of.”

The memories, infinite. The money, reportedly £400,000 for Monday night alone, is period-defining. But with the cash influx for the Silkmen and its endless benefits, there is an underlying issue in non-league football that is putting future incredible stories, like Macclesfield’s, into serious jeopardy.

For non-leaguers, managers and board members up and down the country, their pre-season objective is either “Survival and a good FA Cup run,” or “playoffs and a good FA Cup run.”

The common goal? The financial reward that only the FA Cup brings. Clubs are being forced to withdraw from leagues midway through the season, while gestures of goodwill from supporters and local communities are needed to keep the lights on, and even GoFundMe campaigns are being established to help clubs survive until the end of the season.

Silverware and cash windfalls are commodities; sustainability is the prize that non-league clubs desperately crave.

The FA Cup brings its own magic. While some of the joy has been sucked out of it, it is non-league clubs and part-time outfits that add the sparkle to the competition everyone loves and craves.

An exhibit about nine people enslaved by George Washington must be restored at his former home in Philadelphia after President Donald Trump’s administration took it down last month, a federal judge ruled on Presidents Day, the federal holiday honoring Washington’s legacy.

The city of Philadelphia sued in January after the National Park Service removed the explanatory panels from Independence National Historical Park, the site where George and Martha Washington lived with nine of their slaves in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation’s capital.

The removal came in response to a Trump executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks. It directed the Interior Department to ensure those sites do not display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled Monday that all materials must be restored in their original condition while a lawsuit challenging the removal’s legality plays out. She prohibited Trump officials from installing replacements that explain the history differently.

Rufe, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, began her written order with a quote from George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” and compared the Trump administration to the book’s totalitarian regime called the Ministry of Truth, which revised historical records to align with its own narrative.

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims — to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts,” Rufe wrote. “It does not.”

She had warned Justice Department lawyers during a January hearing that they were making “dangerous” and “horrifying” statements when they said Trump officials can choose which parts of U.S. history to display at National Park Service sites.

The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling, which came while government offices were closed for the federal holiday.

The judge did not provide a timeline for when the exhibit must be restored. Federal officials can appeal the ruling.

The historical site is among several where the administration has quietly removed content about the history of enslaved people, LGBTQ+ people and Native Americans.

Signage that has disappeared from Grand Canyon National Park said settlers pushed Native American tribes “off their land” for the park to be established and “exploited” the landscape for mining and grazing.

Last week, a rainbow flag was taken down at the Stonewall National Monument, where bar patrons rebelled against a police raid and catalyzed the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The administration has also removed references to transgender people from its webpage about the monument, despite several trans women of color being key figures in the uprising.

The Philadelphia exhibit, created two decades ago in a partnership between the city and federal officials, included biographical details about each of the nine people enslaved by the Washingtons at the home, including two who escaped.

Among them was Oney Judge, who was born into slavery at the family’s plantation in Mount Vernon, Virginia, and later escaped from their Philadelphia house in 1796. Judge fled north to New Hampshire, a free state, while Washington had her declared a fugitive and published advertisements seeking her return.

Because Judge had escaped from the Philadelphia house, the National Park Service in 2022 added it to a national network of Underground Railroad sites where the agency pledged to “honor, preserve and promote the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.”

Rufe said the removal of materials about Judge “conceals crucial information linking the site” to the network.

Only the names of Judge and the other eight enslaved people — Austin, Paris, Hercules, Richmond, Giles, Moll and Joe, who each had a single name, and Christopher Sheels — remained engraved in a cement wall after federal employees took a crowbar to the plaques on Jan. 22.

Hercules also escaped in 1797 after he was brought to Mount Vernon, where the Washingtons had many other slaves. He reached New York City despite being declared a fugitive slave and lived under the name Hercules Posey.

Several local politicians and Black community leaders celebrated the ruling, which came while many were out rallying at the site for its restoration.

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Philadelphia Democrat, said the community prevailed against an attempt by the Trump administration to “whitewash our history.”

“Philadelphians fought back, and I could not be more proud of how we stood together,” he said.

Ever ordered a box of 100 cheap sex toys from America to hand out to paying audience members at your live shows? Perhaps that’s only a story Desiree Burch can tell.

The comedian and actress, 47, is famously candid when it comes to such matters – you probably only need to know she’s the voice of hit Netflix series Too Hot To Handle to realise that.

So, when asked what her ‘most ridiculous purchase’ has ever been, it’s unsurprising that she had a colourful answer.

Appearing on the Spent podcast, the British-American star dived right in, responding to Matt Edmondson with: ‘The one that leapt to mind was a box of cheap sex toys.’

Checking if she is allowed to ‘say dildo’ (she’d already said it), she continued: ‘They were technically dildos. They were not vibrators. That would have been a price that I could not afford.’

Admitting that she’s ‘definitely expensed’ the NSFW items, she, thankfully, was able to provide context, having ordered the silicone toys for a show she was doing.

‘This was the time that I was coming over to do the Camden Fringe Festival. I’d already done Edinburgh one year, and then I wanted to perform in London.

‘I was bringing the show that I was touring at the time before I moved here, called 52 Man Pickup.’

The comedy show involved plenty of audience participation (it wasn’t a gig for anyone remotely prudish), as Desiree opened up with a deck of cards and went through discussing sexual encounters from her past, sharing what she learned from each.

Desiree said that the show was always random, and it was ‘interactive with the audience’, as she’d encourage fans to also speak frankly about their bedroom antics.

‘It was great, because people were like, “How do you get people to participate?” And it’s like, all you have to do is show vulnerability. And then people were like, “I want to do that”.’

She described it as an ‘immensely fun’ routine, particularly while performing it in the US and UK, where there seemed to be an element of ‘sexual repression that wants to be released’.

As for the relevance of the sex toys, one of her games involved asking male audience members to be the ‘physical embodiment’ of descriptions of her past partners, while women had to guess ‘who the high card should be’.

‘I had two different women do it, and whoever won got the dildo.’

She needed them for every show to make the segment work, though, obviously, which meant taking the wholesale route to stock up ahead of the run.

‘I had to order a box and get them shipped from the States over here,’ she recalled, explaining how it became 17 or 24 dildos during her Fringe stints, but before that, she was going into three figures.

‘I think I got in a box of 100 or whatever. Because obviously, you buy in bulk, so I went direct. I bought them wholesale. Which, if you don’t have a business…’

‘Also, like, these were not dildos that I would ever sell. Do you know what I mean? They weren’t great,’ she laughed. ‘They were just there and pink and penis-shaped, because that’s all they needed to be, and kind of jiggly in order for the gag to work… because I feel like you either get one good sex toy or 100 subpar ones? And, I chose the second, of course.’

Podcast host Matt was somewhat lost for words following her tale, stating that it was, indeed, quite the unusual purchase.

‘The fact that they came from America, through customs… that poor X-ray person,’ he remarked.

‘You say that,’ Desiree retorted, ‘but this is a kinky country.

‘This cannot be their first or last… I imagine they’re seen daily.’

Desiree Burch’s episode of the Spent podcast is now available.

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