by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds are back for their second full season as owners of the Welsh football club, Wrexham A.F.C., in Welcome to Wrexham, as they look to earn promotion back to the football league after 15 years. Manager Phil Parkinson, Executive Director Humphrey Ker, star striker Paul Mullin, and pub owner Wayne Jones all return, along with a few new faces. Meanwhile, the Hollywood owners look to upgrade the ground, give back to the community of the Welsh town, and keep their fingers crossed that the season will have a happier ending than the last.
This second season picks up at the start of the 2022/23 football season, with McElhenney and Reynolds overlooking the club’s financial situation and concluding they are in a pretty bad position if they don’t earn promotion this time. Those aren’t their exact words, but that was the basic gist. The explanation of this situation was an excellent example of the core theme of this series that I enjoy: the idea that being the owner of a football team isn’t just a case of throwing money at them and waiting for it to turn into a success on the pitch; there’s much risk to it due to financial fair play rules, and it can result in heaps of debt if the team isn’t successful right away. I also love that, because McElhenney and Reynolds don’t have any business experience, they feel like real people. A few times, when finding out that they don’t have the funds to do certain things, don’t get angry. They joke, saying, “Oh well, I’ll just sell one of my children then.” I got the vibe that they weren’t just doing this to make money. They also cared about the club. Then again, this is their documentary, so maybe they were putting it on for the cameras.
One of the first big business decisions McElhenney and Reynolds must make this season is what to do about the Kop, which has been unused since 2008, and English Football League safety rules prohibit them from being used. Finding the money and working through red tape to one of the essential things a football ground needs is another great window into the problematic issues the football club owners have to deal with.
Unlike many documentary series, this one has a very episodic format, with every episode able to stand independently as a self-contained narrative focusing on a specific aspect of the club. A couple of episodes this season focus on the ladies team, who were also chasing promotion during the season. It’s fascinating to me how far away the women’s game is at this level from the full-time professionals of the men’s team. All the players have to work other full-time jobs, while also finding the time to train and play their matches when they aren’t working. The first game shown has maybe 50 people watching, but McElhenney arranges a game at The Racecourse with a far bigger crowd. I love that they’ve taken the time to promote the women’s game this season. While the top level of the Women’s Super League and the National side get much media attention now, the game’s lower levels, or the “grassroots” level, as they sometimes call it, are still largely unknown. I love how they explored some playing elements for a smaller women’s side. There’s a natural feeling of playing purely out of passion and fantastic camaraderie when the players talk about each other.
Another episode this season focuses on the community of Wrexham, and the fact that the team has a heritage in the mining industry. It has had recognition in the intro since season one, but not yet in the show itself, and it certainly wasn’t something I knew anything about. There isn’t much about the football team in the episode; it is mainly about a mining explosion in 1934, and its impact on the local community. The tone of the episode, telling the harrowing story of the miners who died and how the people in the town were affected, is quite different from the rest of the season. But there is also a genuine feel-good factor to the story of the disaster because it united people, similar to how the football team has. There is also an exciting window into McElhenney’s family history, who have mining connections, and the owners’ plans to acknowledge the town’s mining history at The Racecourse. Like they say in the intro, “Don’t forget where you came from.” The episode ends with a singing of the Welsh song, “Yma o Hyd”(“Still Here”), which I think is the first time in the series we’ve heard the Welsh language.
Speaking of the intro, it features an original song this season, “Don’t Forget,”sung by Jon Hume, replacing “Everyday,” by Buddy Holly. It’s a lovely song, and Hume sings it beautifully, but it has an oddly somber tone that doesn’t fit with the comedy feel of the series. I prefer the more upbeat and catchy beats of the Holly song. I also don’t get the line, “Don’t forget to sing when you win.” No football fan is going to forget that; it’s singing when you lose that isn’t easy.
Of course, the main focus is on the Welsh team’s pursuit of promotion back to the football league as they put together a record-breaking points total, coinciding with a similarly dominant season by Notts County. The team also succeeded in one of football’s oldest competitions, The F.A. Cup. There are many theatrical games in both the league and the cup with emotional reactions from the fans. I like the use of slow motion during many dramatic moments and the local radio commentary they play during many of these sequences. Manager Parkinson lets people know how he’s feeling in no uncertain terms, and the documentary does not attempt to censor it, so you feel the raw emotion of euphoria when things go well and frustration when things don’t exactly go to plan. They also do a great job showing this emotion in the fans’ reactions during and after games, reflecting on how the season is going.
Unlike the first season, there aren’t any skits or scripted comedic bits to the camera from McElhenney, but I enjoyed them the least anyway, so I was okay with their exclusion. This show is a documentary, after all. The closest thing to comedic skits this season are some stunts McElhenney attempts to pull, flying a blimp without a permit and streaming a 3 p.m. Saturday game in a public place, both of which, unbeknownst to him, are prohibited by specific British laws. Another controversy addressed this season is the idea that the club is simply buying promotion with the money McElhenney and Reynolds have put into the club. What I liked is that they don’t attempt to deny the truth there might be to this idea. Indeed, they acknowledge that they have become the team everyone loves to hate for this reason. They point out that none of the fans making this argument would mind if it had been their club they’d invested in. If I had one negative, it’s that maybe they try to play with your emotions a bit too much and make everything about the club’s history seem very tragic, when I know from following English football there are many clubs where things have been far worse financially — both on the pitch and off it. I firmly believe one primary reason many fans dislike that McElhenney and Reynolds chose Wrexham is because they feel their club was in greater need of financial stability. Not to suggest the two Americans should have chosen a different club — where they decide to invest their money, is frankly none of our business.
After a decent amount of focus on Mullin’s family last season, this one looks at the families of number nine, Ollie Palmer, and midfielder, Elliot Lee, son of former England international Rob Lee. Another episode focuses on a controversial message on Mullin’s boots, and a brief section in the finale about his autistic son. Still, for the most part, the star striker is downplayed a lot this season, maybe because he played a less dominant role in the team’s success during the season. There is also some interesting information about Palmer’s childhood and how McElhenney can relate to him as they both have homosexual parents. Later in the season, former international goalkeeper Ben Foster joined the team. Still, unlike Mullin, he is paid typical National League wages, as he is simply looking for the chance to play more football at 39. Meanwhile, defender Anthony Forde has to deal with his wife having an ongoing illness. It’s quite an overwhelming aspect of the season, and a friendly reminder that these players are all people.
The season finale captures the intense emotions sports fans feel at the business end of the football season, both the good and the bad. Even though I knew how things worked out, and I’ve never had any reason to root for the Welsh side, I felt the tension of raw emotion every moment as the season’s final games decided their ultimate fate. They also take the time to acknowledge Notts County’s role in the unprecedented drama of the two clubs’ battle for the solitary automatic promotion spot. They even give a respectful nod to Notts County striker, Macaulay Langstaff, who had a record-breaking season regarding goals scored. Although McElhenney politely suggests Langstaff can go away at one point during the season (I’m paraphrasing here), the documentary is very respectful toward the entire team right up until the final moments of the season.
Overall, the documentary’s second season takes a bit of a step down regarding the comedic elements. It is much more about the football club than McElhenney and Reynolds’ ownership of them. Only one episode entirely focuses on McElhenney, and even that doesn’t paint him well. It feels much more like a conventional sports documentary this season, with far less talking down to the American audience that may not understand British terms or how English football works. But that’s not a bad thing, and it’s still a compelling window into the running of a smaller football club and the community surrounding it. Even as a lifelong fan of the sport, I learned a few things about women’s football this season. In some parts of the season, Ker’s acting as the narrator adds a real human factor to some of the season’s twists and turns, as it doesn’t sound like he’s reading from a script like most documentary narrators would. If I had to pick one, I’d prefer the first season because of its extra comedic elements. Even though they were my least favourite aspect, they still gave the season a more original feel. But this second season comes within a whisker of matching it.
Rating: Loved It
Welcome to Wrexham is currently streaming on Hulu
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