the red superhero dead Pool flashes his matching football scarf, yelling “Come on, Wrexham! Let’s go, Red Dragons!”. The transvestite fan follows hundreds of fans of this Welsh club in a scene from the documentary series welcome to wrexham, launched by Star+ on January 18. In addition to the same shade of red, What do Deadpool and the Wrexham have in common?
Owner of the team since 2021 is Ryan Reynolds, the famous actor who embodies this acid character in Marvel films. Why would he buy a fifth division Welsh football club?
clarion interviewed Reynolds with three other Latino media outlets to learn more about this story he will tell welcome to wrexham. A mixture of a documentary series and a football reality show -exciting, funny and epic- about a Welsh team fighting for promotion and their way out of the financial crisis.
Something curious is that many of his fans are also shareholders in Wrexham: those same faithful who meet in the pub in front of the stadium (one of the oldest in the world) to share sporting joys and sorrows.
How did a Hollywood star like Ryan Reynolds get interested in the club? The Canadian is co-owner of Wrexham AFC (Association Football Club) along with Rob McElhenneyanother actor with good timing for comedy (creator of the sitcom It’s always sunny in Philadelphia).
He motivated the protagonist of dead Pool for what will buy Wrexham, one of Wales’ big three, for $2.5mbut which has been competing in the National League for decades. Far from the millionaire sponsorships of the English Premier League.
How is the series
welcome to wrexham catches and moves in his 18 short episodes, by Star+. It does so because it manages to go beyond the exotic question (how two North American fans of the other football, the American one, have become football businessmen) to they reflect the dreams and hopes of an entire community in north east Wales.
“One of the most emotional moments of my life was when I felt Wrexham stadium vibrate,” says Reynolds clarionvia Zoom-. This club makes the heart of the community beat faster. And the team makes you feel like they’re playing life-and-death games.”
In this interview, Reynolds and McElhenney smile together in their director’s chairs. As a virtual background they have the red stadium with the giant ‘Wrexham’ lettering painted white in the stands. Reynolds, 6-foot-1, wears a reddish floral shirt and wears black-rimmed glasses.
McElhenney, 5’7, wears a white sweater that shows off his hard-working biceps. “We both love sports, but we didn’t know anything about football,” says the former. Since we run all kinds of businesses, we know what we don’t know, so we’ve found the right people to take care of it,” acknowledges McElhenney.
For this reason, they say, the link with the team has been fluid. “We’ve managed to have a friendly relationship with the players because we don’t make sporting decisions,” continues McElhenney. Obviously there is a contractual relationship and we get involved when the manager or the managing director of the club asks us for an opinion. But we never get into game problems”.
Ryan Reynolds recalls his memories at the stadium in Wales. “There’s a palpable tension and emotion generated in every Wrexham game,” he says. This shows that the happiness of the community is linked to the destiny of the club. It was a challenge for us to be there. Not just for showing up in their town like two Hollywood kids who said to them: “We will help them grow their club””.
McElhenney nods and thinks, “I think the best audience out there welcome to wrexham It is she who does not think in advance that she may be interested in sports in general. We’re telling a story of people and communities who love something beyond what they could ever imagine. And that they have to be successful because it’s part of their identity.”
Reynolds looks at it and completes: “I think so by seeing welcome to wrexham people will delve into the passion, love and characters of this city. Above all, it is about telling a story in a specific context. Sport is also loved for all that background. You love sport for the personalities who get involved on the field every day. For everything they went through to have the privilege of being on the pitch.”
-Ryan, what was your strongest moment with the team and the people?
Reynolds thinks about it for a few seconds and replies: “The day famous striker Paul Mullin scored a decisive goal in one of the matches. That was the first time I saw Wrexham stadium vibrate so violently that I thought it was about to collapse. I had never experienced a moment of collective joy in my entire life. It’s something I will cherish forever.”
-What interesting anecdote do you remember about buying the team?
Reynolds: “We had to present our business plan to the Wrexham community. The club is the city’s most cherished treasure, so we had to show them that we would look after the club with respect and reverence.”
McElhenney: “We needed 65 per cent of the shareholder vote – a very high number – to take over the administration of the club. But when they told us we finally got 98.6 percent, it was overwhelming.”
-The series speaks to the North American audience who know little about soccer. Are you trying to help make the sport more popular there?
Reynolds laughs and says: “Now I hate to say “football”. Now we both call it football. The public and the passion for football in the United States is growing. Certainly not on the same level as football or basketball or baseball, but it’s picking up a lot.”
“In that sense, we would be delighted if you could contribute with welcome to wrexham. I insist, it’s about telling stories. This is the key to the game. If you tell a good story, football captures everyone.”
McElhenney adds a detail: “In the series we compare football terminology in English, North American English and Welsh. It’s funny, but it also goes to show that everyone in their own country has their own version of the same things. What we want to reflect is that we are all exactly the same. It’s about uniting anyone, anywhere, who loves something greater than themselves. The theme is football, but the message is the unification of communities”.
Source: Clarin
