Wrexham fans entered a tech millionaire’s AI lair where a supercomputer insulted Conor Coady and a chilling prediction was made that football managers will soon be obsolete
Wrexham’s Hollywood story has taken a bizarre, sci-fi twist after three loyal fans were dragged into a high-tech lair to glimpse a terrifying future where managers are made obsolete by a supercomputer. The North Wales club’s pre-season trip to Poland was supposed to be about fitness, a respectable 0-0 draw with Wisła Kraków, and maybe a few pints.
Instead, the trio of Red Dragons supporters ended up in a sci-fi fever dream. Andy Gilpin, Simon Cooke and Tim Edwards of the Fearless in Devotion podcast were invited into the inner sanctum of Wisła’s majority shareholder, Jarosław Królewski – a man described as “an Elon Musk who isn’t a p****.”
What followed was a mind-melting showcase of the future of football, featuring brutal player roasts, staggering transfer valuations and a warning that Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson might want to update his CV. Here is what went down inside the football matrix.
Meeting a football club president usually involves wood-panelled boardrooms and lukewarm tea. Not with Królewski. Dressed like a cross between a Bond villain and a spiritual retreat leader, the tech tycoon welcomed the fans wearing the lightest 3D-printed shoes on earth.
He then led them into an office that boasted a computer monitor the size of a small family car, a life-sized Darth Vader and Chewbacca and a hand-drawn self-portrait.
Królewski is the mastermind behind Synerise, a multi-million-pound AI firm. His pride and joy is StarIQ – an AI-powered football intelligence system.
While traditional scouts can watch maybe three or four games a day, Królewski’s digital beast can analyse 100 games in a single hour. Naturally, the Wrexham boys wanted to see what the machine thought of their own.
When asked to name a player they weren’t fond of, the fans unanimously spat out one name: Conor Coady.
Królewski cracked a grin, tapped his mouse, and let the algorithm do the talking. The verdict from the AI overlord? “Ah yes, s***.”
The data didn’t lie. While Coady bagged an elite 96/100 for ground duels, the rest of his digital report card was a horror show. But while the machine was utterly savage to Coady, it had nothing but love for Wrexham’s rising star.
The Wrexham faithful asked the system to run the numbers on young defender Max Cleworth. The machine practically started purring.
According to StarIQ, Cleworth is an absolute steal with an estimated valuation of €10million (£8.4m).
The software even compared Wrexham’s goalkeeping options, putting Arthur Okonkwo head-and-shoulders above Danny Ward, particularly when it came to shot-stopping.
Perhaps the most chilling prediction of the afternoon wasn’t about player ratings – it was about the men in the dugouts.
Królewski dropped a bombshell that will have managers everywhere sweating: “You won’t need head coaches in two years. I don’t think the traditional head coach will exist.”
The tech mogul believes that everything, from recruitment and tactical preparation to mid-game substitutions, will soon be decided by AI models capable of processing millions of data points far beyond human capability.
Does Parky need a computer to tell him how to win a football match? Absolutely not. The veteran boss shipped Coady off on loan to Charlton Athletic last season and is expected to try and offload him this summer.
But if Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds want to build a truly progressive, sustainable Premier League club, they might want to slide into Królewski’s DMs. The future is coming – and it’s wearing 3D-printed shoes.