It sounded like a stupid joke from a bunch of rich teenage friends a few years ago. Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) announced their intention to buy a Welsh football club and have a camera crew follow this whole process for a ‘comedy documentary series’.
Oh no.
Alarm bell one: Americans and football, often a very unfortunate combination, because they want to play their own ‘soccer game’ on the other side of the ocean if necessary and soon come here like Tintins in a strange world to watch ‘our’ sport. Alarm bell two: wealthy Hollywood stars looking for a hobby. Also such a genre that usually causes a lot of cringe-inducing discomfort, because we watch extremely rich people who come to claim our hobbies. Alarm bell three: devoted club supporters being exploited by hungry Hollywood makers looking for inspiring or pathetic stories, while those poor supporters want nothing more than a simple success for their club.
But to my great surprise, the final result overturned all my initial preconceptions (sorry, America). The comedy documentary series is Welcome to Wrexham , a Disney+ series in which we see Reynolds and McElhenney set aside a few million dollars to purchase one of the oldest football clubs in the world: Wrexham AFC (founded in 1864!). Enough history, then, but the club has fallen into disrepair in recent years, leaving Wrexham somewhere in the icy cellar of British football.
Now McElhenney and Reynolds are not exactly modern reincarnations of the messiah, but at least they don’t make their takeover an easy prestige project, and they quickly become genuinely concerned about the fate of the club. Of course, there are a few moments when we can enjoy America’s inability to understand football (when the American Actors’ rep gives a small talk in the locker room, he’s just not getting rid of it), but otherwise it’s Welcome to Wrexham especially an extremely sympathetic portrayal of a club and the colorful community around it.
The makers have clearly looked closely at Ted Lassothe Apple TV+ hit series that, despite a similar skepticism about the combination “Americans and football,” stood out as a pleasant, warm-comedy drama. Welcome to Wrexham acts on that same playing field: it’s not revolutionary or inspiring – we keep watching rich Hollywood stars with an overseas hobby – but I soon caught myself becoming a budding Wrexham supporter.
Of course, the series regularly balances on the edge of pure kitsch, but that doesn’t always have to be a problem; on gray days it can sometimes just be a very nice feel-good. Still, be a little more careful with all those prejudices – even if they are about the combination ‘Americans and football.