Wrexham keeper Arthur loves pre-match engagement with fans

Leader Live

12-06-2025

Okonkwo has become a real fans' favourite during his two seasons at The Racecourse and he is now preparing to make the step-up with the Reds to the Championship.
The goalkeeper originally joined Wrexham on loan from Premier League giants Arsenal during the opening stages of the 2023-24 League Two campaign and he has fully embraced the pre-match interactions he has with supporters.
Okonkwo told Amanpour and Company: 'I've seen both sides to it. I was at Arsenal and the season I had with the first team, you were literally escorted everywhere you're going.
'You don't see the fans. We have security everywhere and I think that's a special thing that's at Wrexham at the moment.
'You know, you come in before every game, we sign everyone's stuff and, you know, you feel good about it.
'It's really special to be able to engage with the fans before the game and that's something you don't really get, obviously, higher up the levels and... I hope it stays like that.
'Being able to engage with fans as much as we can, it's always a special feeling.'
Two other fan favourites - Steven Fletcher and Mark Howard - have departed the club following the League One promotion-winning campaign and executive director Humphrey Ker says bidding farewell to players is tough to do.
He said: 'Really, the cruellest irony of this whole thing is that the success that these players deliver for the club creates a huge challenge for them, in terms of their ability to continue with the club as it goes up through the levels.
'With Arthur, he's a young player, he's got unbelievable potential. He's already a fantastic player.
'So, he's someone that, I think has a very long future with the club if he so chooses and if we can hold on to him, you know, if he doesn't go and get signed by Real Madrid!
'This summer, we said goodbye to, in particular, Steven Fletcher and Mark Howard.
'Chomp, as he's known, Mark Howard is someone whose been with us from the National League all the way up. He's had three promotions in a row.
'Fletch has had two promotions with us and they're not only fantastic players, but they're great people.
'I mean, a huge basis of the success that we've enjoyed as a club has been the quality of not only the player, but the person that the manager's been able to bring in and it's brutal.
'It's really, really tough. I mean, it's such a tight-knit group. It's such an incredible dressing room.
'That character is really the most valuable thing that we've been able to unearth. The individual players, great players, great value in terms of transfer fees and wages, and all that sort of stuff.
'But, actually, the thing that has delivered three successive promotions, that starts with the people, the characters, the personalities.
'So, yes, saying goodbye to those people is very hard. It's very hard.'