Original subtitles

[insects trilling]

[Declan Swans' "Always Sunny in Wrexham"]

- [coughs]

[drum beats]

SCOOT: Yeah, whatever.

I met up with Scoot there.

I think we went into a pub.

Not underground, no, nobody has ever.

[twangy guitar music]

[singing] He ordered a medium donner kebab

DECLAN SWANS [singing] Crumbling down

No one's invested so much

DECLAN SWANS: [singing] And Rob McElhenney

Less than a mile from the center of town

Our famous old stadium's crumbling down

[Buddy Holly's "Everyday"]

BUDDY: [singing] Every day, it's a-getting closer

Going faster than a roller coaster

Love like yours will surely come my way

A-hey, a-hey-hey

Every day, it's a-getting faster

Everyone said, "Go ahead and ask her"

Love like yours will surely come my way

A-hey, a-hey-hey

Love like yours will surely come my way

McELHENNEY: Our first full season

as Wrexham owners has begun,

yet many people still don't know where Wales is.

- That's right, Rob.

So we're here

with a little geography lesson.

[buzzer blares]

[bell dings]

- If you're planning on visiting Rest of World...

- Right? What the fuck...

CREW MEMBER: Nailed it. - Yeah, it was good.

- [giggles] CREW MEMBER: Okay.

[soft melancholic music]

- I think us being successful this year is critical.

Now, does that mean

that we have to win the league by Christmas?

No, of course not.

This game against Chesterfield

is a big test for us.

They're a top team.

It's really hard to win in this league.

It's really hard to get out of this league.

But I think we have to be up there in the top, you know,

two or three teams.

I think anything below that would be a massive failure.

[indistinct chatter]

FAN: Miss lady. ANNETTE: Hello!

Hello! FAN: Good morning.

ANNETTE: Good morning.

How can I help? FAN: How are you?

ANNETTE: I'm fine, thank you.

FAN: Oh, right. Well, I've got my--

ANNETTE: Sorry to keep you waiting.

[indistinct chatter]

I went to my first game at 15

purely because I was taken by a lad from school.

Nobody in my family liked football at all,

and I think I went first time for spite, if I'm honest.

[laughs]

From that day, I was hooked.

[sentimental music]

So this is my seat, J131.

I sit with my friend Jen and Janet and Sheila.

We're known as the Dragons.

We're always here with our pie chips and gravy

before the game,

having somewhere to put them down

when expecting a goal.

[cheers and applause]

And I've spilt my tea

quite a number of times

down onto Clive, who sits down here.

My husband died ten years this year.

He just had a heart attack at his desk at work

and didn't come home.

My children were 14 and 12.

When my husband died, friends through the football

actually came to find out if I was okay.

[indistinct chatter]

When you are on your own,

I think knowing that there's other people

who've got your back--

they are like football family.

[announcer speaking indistinctly]

SAM: I'm a Wrexham superfan.

Every bit of my spare time, I'm playing FIFA

with a full Wrexham squad.

Massive fan of their club.

Every match that I can get to, I go to.

If it's at home, after the matches,

I normally go to meet the players at the back

where they come out.

I got Reckord's signing, Dibble's signing.

I also writ this sign saying,

"Paul Mullin, can I have your shirt?"

Didn't succeed, but oh, well.

[soft music]

I went to a Wrexham game when I was about eight.

That was my first ever game. That's perfect.

And I saw how the goalies were--

the feeling that I felt when they made a good save,

I wanted to be in that feeling.

When you score a goal, it was a good feeling,

but not as good as saving a ball.

Oi, do you reckon we'll get promoted?

- Mm...if we keep on trying, yeah.

- [Sam kisses]

[soft music]

LEE: How many? [players shouting indistinctly]

PLAYER: Stop lying! PLAYER: No, I promise you.

[player laughs] PLAYER: I promise ya.

I swear it down.

PLAYER: It's all about hands, mate.

PLAYER: Oh.

PLAYER: Are we not doing that? PLAYER: What was that?

PLAYER: Are we not doing a warm-up, warm-up?

LEE: Just warm up, bruv.

Goalkeepers are a definite breed apart

from, uh--from the rest of footballers, yeah.

We like to be on his own.

Left! Got ya.

[players shouting indistinctly] Yeah, that was brilliant, son!

Left! PLAYER: Oh. [laughs]

LEE: That's dibs.

He's got--he knows Polish, but not English.

Right! PLAYERS: Dawid!

PLAYER: What you doing now, Rob?

PLAYER: [laughs] I'm so confused.

You're right?

PLAYER: Can we do it in English, then?

So I'm right. I'm right.

LEE: You got two left. - What? Who's right?

What the fuck?

PLAYER: I'm right.

- You're left. - [Lee laughs]

- Am I not ground? LEE: These are the three

thickest goalkeepers you've ever seen.

PLAYER: I'm right.

PHIL: Rob Lainton, he's a consistent performer.

He's got a strong character as well, Rob.

I like his voice.

You know, on the pitch and training,

he gets demands out of players around him,

which is a great asset to have.

LEE: Yes, Rob. Just drop in that goal

for us, please.

PHIL: As much as strikers will produce big moments,

it's important goalkeepers have got that ability.

Your goalkeeper's gotta be one you feel

can produce a match-winning save.

PLAYER: Yes, Lainton. Oh. LEE: Nice one, Rob.

- It--it's tough. It can be tough, you know?

It--you know, I've had it before,

I've made a mistake and I don't sleep at night.

LEE: I know what they're going through.

I know what it's like to make a mistake

in the first two or three minutes of a game,

and then you've gotta play the next 83, 85 minutes,

you know, and-and put that mistake out of your head,

which is easier said than done.

[soft music]

[mallet clinking]

But I'll just put my body anywhere,

do you know what I mean, to do what I need to do.

That's my job.

[dramatic music]

ANNOUNCER: Horrible collision.

ANNOUNCER: That doesn't look too good.

ANNOUNCER: No. ANNOUNCER: Lainton stays down.

And this could be bad news for Wrexham.

Rob Lainton is down and not moving.

[high-pitched ringing]

[staggered breathing]

[muffled chatter]

DECLAN SWANS: [singing] Invested so much as a penny

Bring on the Deadpool and Rob McElhenney

MARK: So, uh, how did you get on Wednesday?

What did you--you get a higher dose or something?

So I was lying on me back and I was having these sweats

for about two minutes, so obviously I had to tell them

about it, and they just seemed concerned,

so he said, "Right,"

I'll have to go and see the oncologist,

so then they come back saying, "Awfully sorry,

"you can't-- you can't have the chemo.

"Erm...instead, you gotta come next Thursday,

meet the oncologist," so I went to meet him.

And he said, "Well, what we'll do,

"we'll keep you on your drip.

We'll put you on another drip as well."

So I went through two lots of chemo yesterday, but--

BEN: Two--you had a double batch yesterday?

- Yeah, but I don't have the tablets anymore.

Yeah, so I'm gonna have to do two--

I'm gonna have to do a gig on-on steroids.

MARK: You all right?

SCOOT: But next-next three after that,

I'm gonna have a jubilant, erm, November and December.

I had, erm, ball cancer.

Like, uh, they found a tumor on my, uh, colon.

Erm...so I had two ops to get rid of it.

WENDY: Right.

What's the next dates of the gigs?

SCOOT: Erm, I've got a gig on Sunday.

WENDY: You got Parish. - Swan's Gate, I think.

WENDY: Parish, Golden Lion.

SCOOT: Saith Seren. We're doing Clwyd Welfare

in between Christmas and New Year.

WENDY: A lot of things going on, isn't there?

- Yeah. I've got two treatments to go.

I got tomorrow, and then hopefully I finish

on November the 3rd.

Erm, and fingers crossed that'll be it.

WENDY: What's your--what's your biggest bucket list?

- Well, there's a lot I wanna do really, you know?

WENDY: One on your top of your list.

- Wrexham get back in the football league.

[both laugh]

- Of course it is.

- [Scoot clears throat] - [laughs]

And you to get better.

- Yeah, better now. That might be all right.

[upbeat percussive music]

[players talking indistinctly]

- Yeah. PERSON: Is it?

- No.

Sore if I'm overly aggressive with it.

PERSON: But if you...

- Yeah, sort of squeeze it. PERSON: Press it.

It's sore if you squeeze it.

Rhino-- is that what it's called?

Women go and get it and, like-- - Rhinoplasty.

- Rhinoplasty. What did I call it?

Rhino-ostrophy? PERSON: [laughing] Rhino...

[lively music]

TICKET PERSON: Hello. Charlie, get your tickets.

- Oh, yeah, here I come.

[cheers and applause]

[chanting]

REPORTER: Phil, uh, Chesterfield,

under the front lights too.

Expected promotion rivals this season.

Doesn't get much better than that.

- Yeah, another great opportunity

for us to play in front of our home supporters.

When you play at home, you gotta make it

a difficult place for the opposition to play.

And Chesterfield, like ourselves,

have got ambitions to be

at the-the very top of the league.

- If his touch is gonna be that they come across...

LAINTON: Yeah. - Get him fuckin' in.

Come on, son, ay.

LAINTON: I'm nervous before every game.

For me, it's like adrenaline.

If you didn't have any nerves, you just wouldn't be bothered,

so it'd be hard to get yourself switched on.

[tense music]

PHIL: Make sure we win that battle tonight.

We're aggressive, we're front-foot,

we're positive, but we're in control.

Enjoy the night. Go and get these fans

out of their seats, fuckin' behind ya.

PLAYER: Come on! PLAYER: Come on, let's go!

PLAYER: Come on, let's fucking go.

CROWD: Wrexham, Wrexham, Wrexham, Wrexham!

LAINTON: You wanna play in front of fans.

That's what attracts you to football,

is-is the passion and the stadiums

and the noise that it creates.

[whistle blows]

ANNOUNCER: Lainton launches it long, Mullin chasing.

He's beaten to it, though, and it's flicked back.

[cheers and applause]

- You're early!

ANNOUNCER: Tozer does well in the end.

The ball hits Rowe's hand.

- He's offsides! ANNOUNCER: Tshimanga

looks well offsides!

But the flanks is down. He's cutting in!

Tight angle, and Lainton saves well.

- Ball's through the eight.

PERSON: Is he not offsides? PERSON: No.

- All right, keep us going, son!

ANNOUNCER: I think Chesterfield are probably

winning the physical battle.

ANNOUNCER: Free kick.

ANNOUNCER: Chesterfield ready to make a run.

ANNOUNCER: Watch the two round the back.

Watch the two round the back in the block.

ANNOUNCER: Swept to the far post,

free header, and across to face a goal!

Chesterfield take the lead.

And there you go.

That's why you have to be alert.

MARK: Wrexham have not defended well.

Shock for Wrexham.

Chesterfield are playing well.

And as the game's progressing, increasingly so, we're not.

ANNOUNCER: Ooh, Oldaker makes a great tackle.

FAN: Hey!

BOTH: Fuck off!

FAN: It's our free kick! Ay!

It's our free kick!

[suspenseful music]

ANNOUNCER: He's lost it and he's turned by Kellermann

Who puts another nice-looking ball towards Tshimanga.

It's a penalty. It's gotta be, isn't it?

ANNOUNCER: Yeah. [whistle blows]

- He was going out to the corner there.

- Go a long way.

ANNOUNCER: And Wrexham are in trouble.

[tense music]

I think he's gonna give Tshimanga the go-ahead.

The Wrexham fans threaten to put him off.

[cheers and applause]

ANNOUNCER: Saved.

Big save by Lainton.

FAN: Fucking come on!

[dramatic music]

- We played the whole of the 38 minutes in that half.

Our own half, that's where we played.

We're not gonna win the game, are we?

We're not gonna win the game.

We've had a fucking lifeline-- it was the penalty save.

We've been given a lifeline. Grasp it with both hands.

PHIL: As far as I'm concerned, we've been outworked there,

outfought, outworked.

We are fucking miles better than that.

Not one ball has gone down the side!

Not one midfield player's made a run!

We look like a team of fucking fanny fucking footballers!

[dramatic music]

[indistinct chatter]

SCOOT: Before cancer, I've never been in hospital.

I'd never given blood.

On the day of chemotherapy,

you get weighed,

they give you what's called a "flush" first

and then they--they actually give you the chemo,

so you're sitting there with your arm up.

Then you've got this, erm, big bag next to you

of the stuff that you're pumping into you.

You basically keep watching the bag and just waiting

for it to just go down and down and down and down,

and you're looking at your clock all the time.

I had this, like, painkiller into me--

going into me back to keep me--

so I was spaced out a lot of the time as well.

And yeah, once them lights had gone out,

I-I'd do a lot of thinking.

[emotional music]

Schoolboy memories.

You know, I was thinking about me dad,

me mum who passed away a few years back.

Can only imagine how boring it was, like, for Wendy.

I haven't been married that long, only six years.

We do a lot together.

I mean, she watches Wrexham as well.

Football was a big part of me thoughts, but...

[cheers and applause]

[soulful instrumental music]

CROWD: Wrexham!

ANNOUNCER: Tozer slings towards--and Lee head balls.

And it's in! [cheers and applause]

- Come on! Come on!

ANNOUNCER: Out of nowhere, Wrexham gets the equalizer!

Free header, Mullin!

Last thing at home.

DOCTOR: Wow. [cheers and applause]

DOCTOR: Well done. NURSE: Yay!

SCOOT: Thank you very much, uh...

I just think I'm normal now.

But before, I was on me deathbed.

Hopefully them songs will--

people will--well, people will always remember them.

I hope so.

REPORTER: Well, we're now nine games into the season

and still miles away in 12th place,

but after a poor first half, you have to be encouraged

by how Wrexham responded in that second half

against a true rival for promotion.

Promising signs, and it's the first trial

we seem to have emerged from looking stronger.

Hopefully Phil can keep this side going like this

and we can see continued improvement now.

PHIL: You're a good set of lads.

We're gonna have games with teams that are gonna come

and they're gonna make it horrible,

they're gonna slow the game down,

they're gonna stick it behind us.

When the game opens up,

that's when you show your fucking quality.

Okay? But credit to your second half, boys.

It's never easy, one-nil down at home,

going out and play.

But we did loads better.

I thought you showed courage in the second half.

[sentimental music]

- Eh? - Lainton.

- I'm not too sure 'cause I've been

in the physio room, so he--

he won't be too long.

Hop in.

PHIL: Closing off that first half,

obviously, Rob Lainton conceding the penalty,

but the hero a few moments later with the save.

Yeah, disappointed when they awarded the penalty.

Uh, but Rob's a good goalkeeper

and, um, you know, it was a big moment for us.

Let's enjoy the day.

Not just make the most of it, you know.

What can we achieve today for the team?

Because people remember being at games with their kids

and watching, you know, great moments,

and they live-- live in their memories as much

as the people that are actually involved in them,

out on the pitch or on the touchline.

- Let's try and string a couple of wins together

and we'll be back up there.

ALL: Iechyd da.

ANNETTE: Football for me is far more

than the actual game of football.

It's being here with your football family.

It's--it's the whole match day experience.

- Go, baby, go.

BOTH: Ooh.

McELHENNEY: I don't remember any specific game.

I just remember the bonding experience

between you and the people who have been following

this adventure.

BOTH: Goal! - Goal, goal, goal, goal.

Goal, goal, goal, goal, goal, goal,

SAM: Yeah. LAINTON: Well done, lad.

SAM: Cheers. LAINTON: See you later.

CODY: Thank you. SAM: Good game. See ya.

See ya next week.

[child giggles, seagull cries]