Original subtitles

[crowd cheering]

? Don't forget where you came from ?

? Don't forget what you're made of ?

? The ones who were there ?

? When no one else would care ?

? Don't be afraid to cry now ?

? Even when the world comes crashing in ?

? Don't forget to sing when you win ?

? Don't forget to sing when you win ?

[whistle blows]

[Griffiths] And there is the final whistle.

The fans are on the pitch.

Wrexham Football Club, wow.

[commentator] Drink it in. Enjoy yourselves tonight, Wrexham fans,

because you don't see back-to-back promotions very often.

[Gilpin] Yes. That was the moment we clinched promotion.

The second pitch invasion on the Racecourse in just 12 months.

[Edwards] I almost feel like I don't deserve two promotions in two years.

-[commentator] Unbelievable for Wrexham. -Oh, my fucking God.

[chuckling]

We're so fortunate that we keep getting really, really lucky.

-Yeah. -Yes.

We have an incredible foundation of people that keep putting us into positions

where we can get lucky.

But we're getting lucky.

The one thing we did do that I think we planned for and hoped for

was that sort of symbiotic relationship with the community.

The feeling in Wrexham and the club,

the high tide raising all boats.

It just feels, like over the last four years,

it's been this roller coaster of magic.

[Hett] What's the chances then, boys, this season?

We're back in League One.

We need to be thankful that we've just been treated to two promotions.

-We know with our brains... -Uh-huh.

"...Mid-table. Come on, let's be sensible."

But in our hearts, there's that sneaking feeling of, "Go on, let's do it again."

Why can't we do it? Let's be honest.

Has anybody ever done, uh, back-to-back-to-back promotions?

I don't think they have. I don't think so. But why can't we do it?

-[Blackwell] Yeah. -[supporter] Yeah.

And Rob and Ryan, they like chasing those records, don't they?

[Blackwell] Getting to League One,

is back to maybe our spiritual home where lots of us feel we do belong,

but we've got plans to upsize once again.

-Mark my words. -Yeah.

I think we'll win the league. Mark my words.

Back-to-back-to-back.

Back-to-back-to-back, what do you reckon? Are they gonna do it?

-Yes. -There's confidence.

Back-to-back-to-back, isn't it?

That's last year. So I want one next year, back-to-back-to-back.

-[fan] More clean sheets. -We're gonna win the league.

We're gonna win the League.

We've won it twice. We can win it again.

[young fan] How am I going to be celebrating?

Probably by cheering

and basically destroying the downstairs drawing room by shouting and screaming.

-[both] Up the town. -[fan 2] We're gonna fight to the end.

No, realistically, we will lose. But--

-Don't put that in. -Why would you say that?

-Fucking Al. Shut up. -Al, come on.

-It's not gonna happen. -We're gonna win every game.

Every game this season, we're gonna win.

-[Parkinson] All right, Shaun? -All right, Phil. You all right?

Yeah, good. Yeah, give me two minutes.

[staff member] Hello.

[Harvey] Once the euphoria of last season's tremendous performance

sort of subsided and the reality of what ahead of us strikes,

you know, we're in a league this season where we're no longer the biggest fish.

You know, in the National League,

we were able to spend more than anybody else to get promotion.

In League Two, we were able to spend as much as anybody else to get promotion.

But we're now in the mainstream,

and that mainstream starts to get really expensive.

If we are to get that third promotion on a row,

this will certainly be the biggest and most successful of them all.

Because, you know, we are coming from behind now, rather than being in front.

[fan] But you look at this league now,

this has got to be one of the strongest League Ones for the last few years.

-[fan 2] Definitely. -See, we're not the favorites.

We're not the big fish anymore.

We're not the big fish anymore, no.

[fan 2] When you look through the teams, we're up against Wycombe.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, you look two years, three years ago, they were in the Championship.

We're going to Birmingham City. I've got a ticket to Bolton.

Like, these are stadiums that I was hoping

that we'd get an FA Cup draw to go to those games.

League One this year is strong.

There's three teams relegated from the Championship

who have got ambitions of going straight back up

to probably where they believe is their rightful place.

One of those is Birmingham, a massive club.

[supporters chanting] Birmingham!

Big funding behind it, and their wage bill will be probably 50% more than ours.

Yes!

Birmingham are absolute favorites for promotion.

[commentator] Birmingham on the rise!

Now, if Wrexham wanna get promoted to Championship or eventually to Prem,

they're miles off it.

You've got eight ex-Premier League teams in this league.

Wrexham are coming to a league and a playing field

where teams have got more money than Wrexham

without all the added bonuses that Wrexham have got

through documentary and all these sponsorship of TV deals.

Other teams have just got that anyway.

[commentator 2] And it's in!

More importantly, these teams know how to win.

[commentator 2] Unbelievable.

And we all know you can't buy that part.

What does the club need to do as a whole to make itself a Premier League entity

in however long that takes?

Sometimes you don't want to go back-to-back-to-back. That sounds weird.

You need to settle in for a while, figure out what you need to do

to get to the next level,

because relegation is always looming, let me tell you.

You always have to worry about the negative financial elements of that

before you lick your lips with the prospect of promotion.

Before you get to the Premier League,

you go through the Championship, one of the toughest leagues in the world.

So, you know, you've got to build infrastructure.

The stadium is gonna have to be bigger.

There's no way that the match day revenues

will fund anything that will get you out of the Championship

as it currently stands.

You've got to build the right people at the top.

Building out an academy is absolutely crucial.

From "under six" all the way up to "under 21s," "under 23s,"

the system-bringing conveyor belt of talent

that can get you through tough seasons as all of the great clubs do.

I think we are all dreaming of another promotion, you know, back-to-back-to-back.

But you could be, you know, there

without a proper training ground, without the Kop stand renovated.

So, sometimes things can come too quickly,

and I think infrastructure should be top priority over another promotion.

[anchor] Welcome back to Lunchtime Live.

We've got some big news concerning League One Burton.

The club have appointed Fleur Robinson as their new chief executive.

That follows three years in the same role at Wrexham.

[anchor 2] Chief Executive Fleur Robinson is set to leave the club.

You ask how successful she's been.

Well, we've been promoted twice.

So overall, her legacy will be,

"Thank you for bringing us the club to this point." She did the hard yards.

[Harvey] Understand that the area of biggest growth for the club

is going to be in North America.

The teams around Rob and Ryan began the search to bring a new CEO in

who understood the American market, understood football,

and eventually identified the American candidate.

News away from the pitch.

New CEO, Mike Williamson, on board is very exciting, isn't it?

[crowd cheering]

You've got someone who was chief financial officer at Inter Milan.

Now that is not a job for the faint-hearted.

Miami as well. D.C. United. This is one of the big guys.

You know, you've worked at soccer at every level,

worked over in Italy for a while at Inter Milan.

-They're drawing enormous crowds. -[anchor 2] Wow.

The philosophy, you talk about some of these global brands, European football...

Sure, they've been around for 100, 110 years,

but they started as community organizations.

That skill set, relevant experience both in the US and in Europe.

He's been involved in stadium development,

which is obviously a big part of what the club needs to do going forward.

You know, so they felt he was the best person for the job.

Michael's very innovative and understands

how to, you know, create the infrastructure

to match the feeling in the town,

but more so in the global scene.

We knew that the competition was going to increase

as it always does as you go up a league.

And we knew we had to expand and bring in the right team that can help us grow.

I want to start by giving, you know, some compliments

for what you guys have accomplished.

[podcaster] I would say that he comes with a word of warning.

There have been some grumbles on it. He's from America.

[podcaster 2] I get what you mean. Some guy who, living half the world away,

is giving me instructions, tell me how to do my job.

And I will never use the word "soccer," just so you guys know.

For me, it's football.

And the thing that shocked me most about him is that, you know, 6'2" face.

But I don't know. What, 5'7"? 5'7".

'Cause I only saw him on Zoom

until, you know, weeks into his tenure, and it's just...

I like to collect people who are shorter than me...

Yeah.

...just because there's not that many in the club.

[Williamson] So what's the name of the club that Daddy works for now?

A dragon.

[Williamson] A dragon. That's right. And the name of him?

Remember? Wrexham.

[child] Wrexham.

My name is Michael Williamson. I am the CEO of Wrexham AFC.

I'm actually an accountant by trade,

but ultimately have been in football for over 20-some years now.

I went from US Soccer Foundation

to become the CFO of DC United, a team in MLS,

and then eventually ended up somehow in Inter Milan.

[crowd chanting]

[Williamson] I was there for six or seven years

and ended up finding my wife there, having my daughter born in Milan.

Goal!

-Yay, Benny! -[Williamson] High five.

My next role I was looking for was something where I was building something.

That it wasn't just about a quick flip of an asset,

but actually trying to build something for the club,

for the communities and for my family.

[Williamson's wife] Hey, I see you.

I visited Wrexham during the final game of last season

just to get a sense of what it's like.

No one knew me. I walked around in the club shop.

I went around. I just watched everyone and the excitement and the buzz.

And you can see their passion.

But the best part... The best part was after the match,

everyone kind of went, you know, to different things

to celebrate the promotion.

I just walked down into the town center, and I saw how alive that town center was.

I've been at all levels of football. That doesn't exist.

That just helped me understand and appreciate

that this is for them and for the community.

Yeah!

[Williamson] Moving the entire family here, having a five-year-old,

you know, having a wife who, English is her second language.

It has really been difficult.

It was not easy, but on the other hand, I think it was the right decision.

-Definitely, yep, we're in. -Yes.

There's a lot of expectations.

There's a lot of pressure and just a lot to do here.

We've had some amazing momentum

We've gone from being a non-league club to now being in League One.

What we also have to do is support the growth that we've had

due to the success on the pitch.

So for that reason, we need to invest in different areas.

Our performance on the pitch is remarkable,

but off the pitch, we need to grow as an organization.

We can arrive in Championship. We deserve to be there.

But it takes just as much work off the pitch to be able to reach Championship

as it does the 11 players on the pitch.

We need a training facility for the first team and the women's first team.

Players come to the stadium, get changed, get in their cars, drive to Colliers,

train, get back in their cars to come back here to shower and change.

You know, we need employees, staff.

People who were with us when we were in National League

are now having to try to take on five, six different jobs.

That's just in League One.

Imagine as we go to Championship.

Imagine as we go to Premier League.

I think Man U, Arsenal, I think they're around 1,000 employees.

If we're getting up in Premier League in three years,

that's probably my worst nightmare in some ways.

Because I think we have a lot to do before we're ready for that.

When we're in Premier League,

we're gonna have football players

looking to drive their Lamborghinis

and their Ferraris down Crispin Lane.

And that is a departure from what Wrexham community is about.

How do we address that?

Are we going to say, "Okay, yes, we want the best footballers,"

or do we try to create a philosophy consistent with the community around us?

And that's gonna be a balance that's gonna be challenging

because the community's expecting us, once we get to Premier League,

to be competitive.

The football club part's easy.

Building a city is the challenging part.

How do we continue to develop and help grow this community?

That is the biggest pressure

because I know that's what Rob and Ryan expect.

This is a difficult industry because,

you know, it is a lot based on results,

and it's not gonna be easy, and it's going to take some time.

Candidly, with my daughter about to turn five,

you know, I don't wanna be moving around.

So I'm hoping for my family side of things,

for my professional side of things,

I will be able to stay with the club,

but, at the same time,

anything can happen.

[Gilpin] I want to talk about transfers.

[Edwards] There's been nothing. No activity whatsoever.

If there is, you know, the possibility of doing three promotions in a row,

you're gonna need a statement signing.

We're going into a really tough division.

We've got players who've never played at this level consistently.

We've got other players who've played at this level a few years ago.

We wanna maintain the core of what we've created,

but the challenge is, can we add to that?

[staff member] Come on, then. Get it going. Punch it in. Good. Good.

[Parkinson] We've got a lot of decisions to make in terms of

continuing to bring the right people into the club.

I can't see us being able to get near the likes of Birmingham, Rotherham,

who've spent millions of pounds on players.

Our previous transfer record was 300,000.

They're spending that on a backup goalkeeper.

[Gilpin] If we look at the goalkeeper, that is a pertinent issue.

You know, Arthur Okonkwo's loan has ended,

and it doesn't sound like he will be coming back.

I said to Rob and Ryan that the one player

who would be a huge investment for the club going forward

is Arthur.

Of course, you know, there's gonna be a number of clubs vying for his signature.

[podcaster] Is Big Arthur gonna stay, do you think?

[Edwards] I hope he signs. At the moment, I just don't know.

Phil Parkinson said Wrexham would, quote,

"Give everything that we've got to get you back."

James McClean, under one of your Instagrams, wrote,

"Sign the contract, big boy."

[crowd laughing]

Ordinarily, for a player

of that potential and that age, you'd probably have to pay

one, maybe two million pounds.

[Edwards] I feel like we've seen the last of him, you know,

just 'cause he's got that amount of interest

from Premier League and Championship.

[Gilpin] It goes back to what does Arthur want as a 22-year-old keeper?

Does he want to play, or is he happy to be on the bench for a little bit?

He'll walk into our team, but he won't walk into a Championship team.

Maybe. Maybe.

Anyway, that's just me being a dreamer.

Hi, Wrexham fans, I'm back.

Can't wait to see you all in League One next season. Up the town.

[fans] Okonkwo!

? Arthur, Arthur Okonkwo ?

? Arthur, Arthur Okonkwo ?

It was a long negotiation process.

I did have other clubs higher up.

I wanted to come back to Wrexham,

and I think the fans are a huge part in that.

[crowd chanting] Okonkwo!

The confidence they gave me, that can bring out the most out of a player.

That was a huge factor for me.

-[Williamson] Hold on. - [McElhenney] Well, isn't this fortuitous?

I swear my next call was to Arthur.

You right, Rob?

I'm just so glad that you're as invested in Wrexham as we are in you.

Been invested since I joined,

so hopefully bring some success this season.

I swear to God this happened to me.

I was in Los Angeles, and I was walking down the street,

and someone turned to me and said, "Up the town."

I said, "Hey, up the town." He goes, "You better sign Arthur."

[all chuckling]

This a guy in Los Angeles.

I was like, "I'm trying, man. Like, I'm trying."

So congratulations. Welcome to Wrexham.

[doctor] All right, Mulls, so just an annual catch-up,

if that's all right with you.

Just to go through background. You're not asthmatic?

-No. -No. Any other chest problems?

-[Mullin] Any... -You had the injury last year, didn't you?

Chest. Yeah, my ribs, last year.

[Edgerly] But there's no ongoing issues with that?

Nothing before that, no.

We know about the back problem at the moment. Any previous back issues?

-Before the last three years? No. No. -Yeah.

[Mullin] The last three years, I've always had this issue with my back.

Herniated disc, slipped disc, whatever.

And the cartilage was basically pressing on the nerve every time,

so it was constant shooting pains down my legs and stuff, and...

I couldn't really...

Well, I could sprint, but it always hurt.

So I had to find a way to get on with it and just play with the pain.

Basically coping with it fine,

and then going into summer, it was hurting more than usual.

[winces]

[Edgerly] Take some deep breaths in there if you can.

[Mullin] I got it scanned at the end of May.

The surgeon, he told me it had obviously doubled in size

and I was at risk of losing all feeling in my left leg

if I carried on.

[Harvey] You know, a big decision needed to be made.

And, obviously, the medical professionals

decided that he needed an operation on his back.

Obviously, the downside of that was gonna be that

he's gonna miss the whole preseason and the start of the season as well.

Wanna lie back on it and I'll move it back slowly?

Getting there easier... a lot easier if I just do it myself.

There is no time frame on Paul Mullin's return.

It means, Nate, that for the second season in a row,

Wrexham will most likely go into the League campaign

without Paul Mullin starting up front.

[Edwards] Wrexham are heading over to North America again.

This time for the Wrex Coast preseason tour.

California is up first, Andy.

[Gilpin] Yeah, excited about this.

Women's side will be joining the men for the first time.

I don't think they've ever played a match on US soil.

[Edwards] Yeah, they deserve it.

The women's side have been building steadily,

and it'll be great to build their profile too.

-What's up, Wrex? -[Polka] Of course the team

being here in the United States, we just wanted to

show you the love that this country has for you all.

We're here at Andy Cannon's housewarming party...

Very soon into us arriving to LA, we had a red carpet event.

We all were suited and booted.

It's getting real now we're out here.

The excitement is starting to kick in now.

We have really, really high ambitions.

We need to take advantage of what we have built.

Build on that success,

And that means building our large, global fanbase.

Going from non-league to League One is much less of a gap

than it is going from League One

to the Championship to the Premier League.

[commentator 1] And there's the final whistle

and exactly what we hoped that this match would be.

[commentator 2] Sixty-three places separating Chelsea and Wrexham.

[commentator 1] There's players on Chelsea

that make more than the value of the Wrexham club.

[commentator 2] Oh! It's a great finish!

[Parkinson] Playing against the Premiership teams,

felt we acquitted ourselves really well.

[commentator 2] A 2-2 draw against Premier League opposition.

We are going to compete. Well, we're hoping to.

The Whitecaps have a friendly match scheduled this weekend with Wrexham AFC,

the Welsh football club co-owned by Vancouver actor Ryan Reynolds.

Wrexham playing the Vancouver Whitecaps was one of those "pinch me" moments

that I will never, as long as I live, forget.

[crowd cheers]

BC Place is the stadium that I went to as a kid.

I've been to BC Place maybe a hundred times in my life,

and I've always sat way up in the nosebleeds with my dad.

And here I am, in BC Place with my daughter.

And I'm in the owner's box and then, you know, spanking 'em.

That felt pretty good too.

[commentator] Hits the far post, and what a header.

...foot towards goal, and it's a third.

Back in the middle. On the volley. What a goal!

-Jordan Davies. Nice. -[McElhenney] Jordan.

This team looks pretty good.

[announcer] Welcome to the first ever Wrexham AFC Women's Wrex Coast Tour.

Let's hear it!

[McElhenney] I just want to say thank you

for helping us kick off this amazing and historic tour.

Going out to the US is just an absolute dream.

We want to challenge ourselves.

We want to see where we fare in relation to teams in the US.

The profile of players out in the US, they're very athletic. That shows.

[commentator] Goal for SoCal FC.

They work on things technically so much,

because they have the opportunity and resources to do so.

More than what we do.

[commentator] Tigres Femenil, six. Wrexham AFC Women, one.

We struggled in the games, and we weren't where we wanted to be.

I remember Rob telling us

it was looking like it was gonna be a big attendance at Portland,

and I was like, "What do you see as big?"

And he said, "We're looking at 10,000."

I've got goose bumps walking out.

To be doing this for women's sport and to be giving little, young girls in Wrexham

something to look forward to is something that I'm so proud of and grateful of.

But then, yeah, we were quickly kind of humbled to the fact,

okay, these guys are here to show us what American football is about.

Just felt like we never really kind of got into the game.

[Davies] We would be lying

if we said we weren't disappointed with those results.

Nobody goes out to lose, but, you know,

the lessons and how much we've learnt from that is invaluable, really.

Visibility for Wrexham Women is important,

and it's important for women's football in general.

It's a rising game,

and the more supporters that the game can get, the better.

Okay, they're of much better quality, but we know where we need to be now.

You know, we're resilient as Wrexham Women.

We just... honestly, we can't wait to get going now.

We just don't want to get beat again.

[Ker] Our women's team faced some serious challenges on the US tour,

But something that was made very clear was the stark difference

both developmentally and economically in Welsh women's football

versus a lot of women's football worldwide.

We've got some catching up to do.

Nonetheless, the women learned a lot on this trip.

They even learned a little bit about how to deal with controversy,

with Rosie at the center of one.

I got asked the question of what do I think of LA?

I thought in my head, "Uh, well, I've only flew to LA, been in the hotel.

I've not really seen LA that much.

Right, just give them something."

I am now stood here in LA, like, come on.

Have you seen the amazing looking cars,

-the buildings, the people? -[interviewer] I know.

-It's beautiful. It is not like Wrexham. -[interviewer] Overwhelming.

You know, I was walking down the street and there was, like, these flowers

-and there's, like, a park of cactus. -[interviewer] Yeah.

You wouldn't see that at Wrexham 'cause unfortunately it gets destroyed,

but out here, there's so much respect,

and I've got a lot of respect for people that respect their country, you know?

[podcaster] Full disclaimer, no cactuses were harmed

in the making of today's episode.

Yeah, I get the joke, it's just...

You can tell by my face, it's stone, what I thought about it.

Can say from my experiences, I've never seen a beaten up flower bed.

[sighs] It's so hard for me as a Wrexham girl to kind of defend what she said,

and I can understand why people are angry at her, but we all make mistakes,

and I think she recognizes possibly she used the wrong words.

But again, none of us are prepared for that and the aftermath was tough.

We knew the media could be a rough place, but the scale of the reaction was scary.

I understand people wanting to be protective of their own cities.

However, I do slightly think that it was sort of an opportunity to bash somebody

A, who's associated with the football club, B, who's a woman

and C, who they feel should be taken down a peg or two

because Rosie's rarely short of confidence in her own abilities.

[Hughes] What hurt me the most, because I was hurt,

was I'd let myself down, but I felt like I'd let the people of Wrexham down.

Like, I live in Wrexham. I bought a house in Wrexham.

I love Wrexham and the community of people that made me feel so supported

and so secure and so safe that I felt like,

in 30 seconds, I had just thrown that all away.

It gets your hackles up a bit, you know, I won't lie,

but it's turned into a bit of a witch hunt.

You know, daft stuff like, "She should never wear this shirt again."

-You're talking about someone... -Yeah.

...who has contributed more than a hundred goals for the women's team.

All I wanna do now is be better at my football,

show people that you can be proud of me again, you know?

And I will go out and prove that I'll do Wrexham right again.

[Ker] Hello.

[Mulholland] Hello, Humphrey. How are you?

Uh, nervous.

-[Mulholland] Nervous? Why you nervous? -Full of trepidation,

-'cause you're gonna test me. -Tell us why we're here.

Thanks to the generosity of our co-owners,

I am running a marathon in April, to raise money for Wrexham Miners Project.

Yeah, so I'm patron of Wrexham Miners Project,

fantastic charity in Wrexham that is preserving Wrexham's mining heritage,

but also in the here and now is doing amazing things in the community.

And unfortunately, at their annual general meeting,

I said that I would make sure the club raised �250,000,

and if we were in danger of not doing that, I would run a marathon.

Unfortunately, the bosses got wind of this.

Actually, Humph, we have an agenda item that we'd like to kick off with.

Yeah, we'd really like to discuss this, um...

[Ker] The aim is �250,000.

I'm hoping we'll get there without me having to run a marathon,

which is the elements of it that I'm a bit nervous may have to come to pass,

but if that's what it takes, then you heard it here first.

-[Reynolds] We wanna help. -We're going to donate �26,200 each

and cheer you on every step of that marathon you pledged on camera to run.

-[Reynolds] Right. -Great.

I suppose you're gonna film the marathon too? Yeah, yeah.

I think we all know the answer to that.

You're in a documentary.

For them it's ideal. The Venn diagram is a circle.

They get to do something good and make me suffer.

-What marathon are you running? -[Ker] Manchester Marathon.

-Manchester Marathon. And when is it? -April 27th.

Have you got any goals in mind?

[Ker] Finishing.

-Finishing. -Yeah.

-Without falling down dead. -Okay.

What did you run it in last year?

I ran 4:34.

Yeah, you ran it hungover, I believe.

Slightly.

Okay, 4:33, that's what I'm aiming for.

Okay.

Listen, you can walk it.

And you still get a medal, and you still get a little pat on the back.

And then for your weight, we need you down into your boxers please.

-[Ker] No. -Please.

I... No. I'm not doing it. This is a very light T-shirt.

It would be good, right, because what we can do is,

we can have a look at you now,

and then we can see your transformation in a couple of months' time.

[groaning]

I hate this. Okay, fine. Fine.

If he goes under four hours,

I will, on camera, massage his feet for 15 straight minutes.

266.6. It's the mark of the double devil.

That is a devil, isn't it?

[Reynolds] Bare hands, no gloves. No washing his feet. Nothing.

I'll raw-dog his feet. With my hands.

Test his aerobic fitness.

[automated instructor] The test begins in five seconds.

From the first beep you can go.

-[speaker beeps] -Yeah.

[? triumphant music]

-[speaker beeps] -Drive, drive. Let's go.

-Come on, come on. come on. -[Ker pants]

[? music slows, distorts]

[Ker] Jesus Christ.

Much quicker this, Humphrey, come on. You're gonna have to go quicker.

[speaker beeps]

-A little bit quicker this one. - One.

It feels rubbish. I hate it. I hate them.

[chuckles]

[Ker] I hate Rob and Ryan.

That's not got much to do with running really. It's just getting to know them.

-I don't like it. -[crew member] What's the temperature?

-[Mulholland] You're going in. -Hey, Kevin! Get off me!

[Ker groans]

And after this I'm, like, ready for the marathon, right?

Jesus Christ.

[sighs]

[McHugh] Forward.

Hand brake off.

I'm Rebecca. I was able to start a small business this year

called Meet Me in the Morning.

I'm a mobile barista. Coffee shop on wheels.

Let's get a drink, and we'll be ready for anything.

[McHugh] I tow a horse box,

and I serve coffee, hot drinks, and a selection of baked goods.

-This is my mum at the back, Joy. -Hi.

-And then this is my sister, Caitlin. -Hello.

[McHugh] I grew up in Wrexham, went to school here.

And to be there is wonderful.

I always dreamed of having my own business.

I always wanted to do something of my own.

In university, I did hospitality business management.

I have such a passion for genuine hospitality.

That was my dream, to open a restaurant where people could have a good time

because then you don't feel like you're at work.

-We do work well together, don't we? -[McHugh] Yeah, we do.

We have to in a space like this.

Like everybody my age really, we all went to Manchester or Liverpool for university.

So many of us didn't come back.

Everyone's got jobs other places.

But that was never gonna be home.

Like, I didn't have my people there, and I knew I wanted to come home.

But it's always been a theme.

If people want opportunities, they need to be somewhere else rather than Wrexham.

But that just is not the case anymore.

To be able to do what she wants to do, very few people get that opportunity.

This is how, Mum. This. The support.

Well, of course we support you.

We are Wrexham fans. If we can stand by that team

in the pouring rain on a Tuesday night, we can support anybody.

[McHugh] I didn't have the money to go and buy a shop.

So I thought if I started mobile,

I could build up the funds to move into a space like that.

I never imagined that the horse box

would be going into one of the oldest football stadiums in the world.

Ever. To be invited in is beyond an honor.

There we go. Thank you.

Tourism in Wrexham had this huge boom, and it's been wonderful.

How long are you here for?

We leave tomorrow. We did Scotland...

[McHugh] Now you walk through town, so many more restaurants have opened.

People are so proud now to say, "I'm from Wrexham."

There's a hot chocolate for you there, madam.

It has been very scary.

And I think there was a lot of times I was thinking, "What am I doing?"

Like the day I left my job.

It's just the risk of those cynical people being proven right.

I didn't want to fail. But touch wood, so far, yeah, it's worked.

And I'm... I can't recommend it enough

that if you've got something, you just need to do it.

Definitely my heart is here, this is where I want to be.

The community have been behind me.

It would have never have been the success that it has without the people of Wrexham.

There we go, sir.

I've been so pleased to be stood in that horse box

when people come to me and be supportive.

Why am I crying?

It's so daft. It's really hard talking about yourself.

Oh, yes, definitely.

For a business like mine, perhaps I've prospered more so

because of the increased footfall in the town.

Obviously, for now, the town has taken off.

[children] Go on, Wrexham!

But there is a worry that what if it just stops?

What if people move on to the next thing and that isn't Wrexham?

-[fan 1] Up the town! -[fan 2] Got to go in.

[Gilpin] Okay, who's got opening day jitters? I do.

-Wrexham! -[Edwards] Same here.

We can't afford to stumble out the gates like we did last season.

Not with what we're up against in League One.

Hi. How are you doing, buddy?

[Reynolds] I'm good. How are you?

Oh, my God. The hardened muscle. Like, what is it?

I don't work out. I just fucking wake up and talk.

[McElhenney] This is natural?

One of our owners, and I can't remember which one it is, is Deadpool,

the popular comic book character.

[Reynolds] Ooh, what's this we have over here?

[Ker] In the most recent film,

a number of cameos were executed by Wrexham AFC players.

Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer were both in it.

Ollie played Bar Patron Number One,

-and Paul played Welshpool. -Fuck off, cunt.

[Ker] His costume's a bit more recognizable.

Big Welsh flag emblazoned across the Deadpool suit.

So Ryan arranged for it to be transferred into the keeping of the football club.

-[grunts, cheers] -[club members clapping]

-Ladies and gentlemen, Welshpool. -[McElhenney] Wow.

That's gonna have some fun, drunken nights in here, I think.

-Is this the actual costume? Wow. -That is the actual suit, yeah.

[Reynolds] Unwashed, of course, yeah.

Probably used it as a bathroom.

No, Paddy. No. I don't... [scoffs] I don't even care. Don't care.

Don't wanna be in a Marvel film.

Uh, of course I'm disappointed.

I imagine they just felt they couldn't get enough, like, red leather

to make a suit big enough for me.

[Griffiths] Hey, it's Wrexham time.

Wrexham against Wycombe Wanderers.

Rob and Ryan are here today, of course.

There's a sort of increased sense of jeopardy as we return to League One.

-League One! -League One!

[Griffiths] League One will be physically harder.

A lot of people say they'd be happy with consolidation this season

because we are going to be tested in League One.

Hi, everybody.

Thank you for gathering. It's always fun to get an email invite to a Zoom

that says "Urgent. Must make a decision."

That's not ominous.

-Yeah. -[McElhenney] What's up?

Where are we? What's going on?

Yeah, thank you guys.

I'm joined today with our finance director, Steve Phillips.

So, listen,

the reality is League One is really fucking difficult.

We kind of need to understand what our goals and our strategies are going to be.

There's a couple of things that we can do. Okay, we arrived to League One.

We could stay where we are, stabilize, build some foundation.

I can find a balanced budget for you as well.

But the risk is we end up being stuck in League One.

Now, the other thing we could do is, you know, we build on all this momentum

that you guys have already created here.

Invest in all the areas at the same time to give ourselves a competitive chance.

Get back-to-back-to-back promotions.

-I think it's time to just... -[Williamson] Let me, kind of

-Hey, Michael. -show you--

You can ripe off the Band-Aid. We are grown men.

Yeah, I'll just go ahead and rip off the Band-Aid

and hopefully have a job at the end of this.

Um, in the League One stabilize scenario,

yeah, you probably break even to lose a million or so over a couple of years.

But you probably never arrive to championship

for at least five, ten years down the road, if you're lucky.

So that's basically like a marathon approach. You're building the foundations

and then hopefully trying to arrive to championship, in a longer period.

Now, if you wanna go for the back-to-back-to-back promotions,

we have to sprint to get everything together.

It only works if you're also investing in the cup,

which is going to be a very large number.

It also only works if you're investing in the academy,

which is gonna be a couple million pounds to have the facilities for the academy.

We have to replace the pitch.

I know last time I think it was, like, �100,000 or �200,000.

Well, guess what? This time we're looking at �1.7 million.

�1.7 million for grass. Okay.

Is the grass like human hair or something? How is it that expensive? I don't...

[Williamson] It's what they call a stitch pitch.

It's a blend of natural grass and hybrid, so it lasts longer.

It's more durable, you can have more matches on it.

Underground heating system as well as improved drainage

so that you wouldn't have a situation where you have matches canceled.

Can... Michael, can you just break it up in the simplest terms for my actor brain?

Like, what would we be writing a check for in League One

versus making a push to go back-to-back-to-back?

It's at the 50 million level.

Oh.

[groans]

50 million.

[McElhenney] Bottom line, the big question is,

do we essentially want to do the most responsible thing,

which is build a team that's sustainable in League One?

Or do we wanna put all of our chips on the table,

and make a push to get promoted and get in the championship?

Yeah, and if you get it wrong, that becomes a very expensive wrong decision.

There's, like, two kind of modes of thinking here.

One is spend, you know, a few years trying to save some money.

The other one is just, like, eye-watering, financially crushing annihilation.

Um...

You know, one is to continue, you know, with your dream of back-to-back-to-back.

Or do you actually just slow up a little bit?

But remember, whichever you do, it all comes with risks.

[crowd chanting] Wrexham! Wrexham! Wrexham!

Wrexham! Wrexham! Wrexham! Wrexham!

[chanting continues]

[Griffiths] Here they are. Wrexham and Wycombe

to start off the League One season.

I will never forget when Rob said that our objective is

to get to the Premier League when we were in the National League.

We're gonna take Wrexham to the Premier League.

-That's what they're gonna lean on. -That's the goal, isn't it?

Why not dream big?

And now we're in League One, on our way to the championship.

And I just say let's... let's go for it. Let's fucking do it.

Oh, my God. That is music to my ears.

I... Honestly, I really had no idea which way you were gonna go.

Historically, you've always been the more practical one.

But I like it. I like this Ryan. Let's keep betting on the town.

Yeah, we wanna fucking push.

Let's go for it. What could go wrong?

Being this risky is a gambit,

and I think that in and of itself is the engine to success.

Yes, it's risky, but it's also strategic.

There is a, "Holy shit, we have to pull this off

if we're gonna make this kind of investment."

[McElhenney] We are all in. Everything is levered to the hilt.

And when you put all of your chips on the table,

you better come to win because we cannot afford to stumble.

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