Star names can help attract new faces - but Swans will go their own way

“NO, WE'RE Swansea. We're not the new anything” Swansea City head coach Alan Sheehan clearly doesn’t care much for any comparisons with his side’s north Wales counterparts that might be swirling around.

- TOM COLEMAN Sport reporter [e-mail]

But it’s something he may have to get used to.

After relentlessly chugging their way through the EFL, Wrexham now have the Championship, and Swansea, in their sights. Additionally, their shared status as the division’s flagbearers for Welsh football means relations between the pair are likely to be heavily scrutinised over the coming season.

The recent events behind the scenes at the Swansea.com Stadium also mean comparisons to the Hollywood-backed blueprint behind Wrexham’s success are just as inevitable. The involvement of Snoop Dogg as a minority investor still feels surreal to many. But in the context of the footballing landscape it probably shouldn't. Fantasy has steadily morphed into reality, and now anything feels possible, if not initially plausible.

Ed Sheeran, Tom Brady, and of course Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, are all among the stars to have thrown themselves into the comparatively quaint world of EFL football - and you wouldn't bet against more following their lead.

After all, this hasn’t happened by accident. The decision to bring celebrity investors like Snoop Dogg and Luka Modric on board has been part of a concerted effort raise Swansea's profile.

As Swans CEO Tom Gorringe explains, the business side of things has quickly dissipated any stardust floating around the boardroom.

“It becomes normal quite quickly,” he said in a sit down with the media this week. “When I was coming into the club and speaking to the owners about their vision and the strategy, this was always a part of it, and we wanted to build something here that's special that the city can be proud of.