Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Welcome To Wrexham’ On FX, A Docuseries About Ryan Reynolds And Rob McElhenny’s Ownership Of A Soccer Team In Wales

Welcome To Wrexham documents Ryan Reynolds’ and Rob McElhenny’s first year as owners of Wrexham AFC, which was established in 1864 and currently plays in England’s National League. That is the lowest professional league in the British football system; levels below that are semi-pro. But after suffering a number of down years — they were relegated to the National League, which is just outside of the Football League system, in 2008 — Reynolds and McElhenny are ready to bring the club back to its previous glory.

WELCOME TO WREXHAM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The working-class town of Wrexham, Wales. A crowd gathers around Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny as they take pictures with fans and sign autographs. They are the new owners of Wrexham AFC.

The Gist: McElhenny talks about why he wanted to own a team like Wrexham; as a South Philly native and a die-hard Eagles fan, he thinks Wrexham has the same passion and working-class ethic as where he grew up. His dad takes him and his son to the house where Rob grew up, and the lower level actually had an outhouse, for instance. Wrexham has also fallen on hard times in the past 30 or so years as the industries that supported the town disappeared.

But, even a lower-level club like Wrexham needs a lot of money to run it. “I have TV money,” he says but acknowledged, “I needed movie money. I needed superhero movie star money,” which is why he got in touch with Reynolds. For his part, Reynolds has always had the desire to achieve and please, which he ties to his father, and he was always good in sports. He also invests in business ventures, so McElhenny’s proposal seemed to be up his alley.

Surprisingly, McElhenny and Reynolds only knew each other via social media before this proposal happened, but as the Zoom meetings between the two of them and the club’s board happen, the two of them get more excited about the prospect of owning this team.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Maybe this isn’t as weird as we think it is, but Welcome To Wrexham gives us real-life Ted Lasso vibes in a lot of ways. There’s also the inside-the-locker-room viewpoint of another Boardwalk Pictures production, Last Chance U.

Our Take: What we took from the first episode of Welcome To Wrexham is that McElhenny and Reynolds are not just going to be American A-listers parachuting into this Welsh town and treat the team as merely a part of their respective portfolios. In their meetings with the team’s board members, they both sincerely sound like they want to reverse the team’s fortunes and it get it promoted back into the Football League system. That’s no small feat, but promotion will also lead to more money, which leads to higher pay for the players and improved stadium conditions.

Even though the first episode was mostly about Reynolds and McElhenny, we do get to meet some of the players as well as team executives like Spencer Harris, who serves as the team’s director on top of a full-time career. We also get a glimpse of how the pandemic and the fact that matches were played in front of empty stadiums almost killed Wrexham for good; at their level, there is no TV money, so the main revenue source is people through the turnstiles.

What’s refreshing is that it seems the board, which is made up of everyday fans of the team, seems as excited about these American actors coming in as Reynolds and McElhenny are; they overwhelmingly approve their purchase of the team in November, 2020.

It’ll be interesting to see the inside glimpses of how a lower-level team like Wrexham runs, and if they can achieve some success under Reynolds and McElhenny (don’t look it up if you don’t want to know). But there’s likely to be a bit of a culture shift for the new owners, too, which is why we cited Ted Lasso above. It could be as simple as learning the more detailed ins and outs of the game or it could just be realizing that owning a team in the English football system isn’t easy at any level.

One detail we wish we got more of is just how Wrexham came to McElhenny’s attention. One of his writers on Mythic Quest, Humphrey Ker, introduced him to the game, and the whole promotion and relegation system is what got McElhenny interested. But how Wrexham itself became the acquistion target isn’t explained. There was some mention of previous chairmen owning the team “for the wrong reasons,” so it does seem like the city is ready for McElhenny and Reynolds. We just wish we saw more about that.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: After the approval of the new ownership, we see celebrations and news coverage, then the Secretary of State of Wales congratulates them in a parliament session, butchering McElhenny’s last name.

Sleeper Star: We liked Wayne Jones, owner of The Tube, a pub that sits right outside of the team’s stadium. At the time of filming, he’s making food in a food cart because the pub has been closed due to the pandemic. But he still has a positive feeling about how the new ownership will turn the team around, and hopefully, start turning around the town’s fortunes, as well.

Most Pilot-y Line: This is funny, but it also speaks to how people like Reynolds and McElhenny are always “on”: At the end of their pre-board-meeting FaceTime, Rob hangs up and then mutters to the camera “I didn’t get the last word in. Fuck.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. There are a lot of elements that make Welcome To Wrexham a fascinating watch, namely how two Hollywood superstars are going to come into a small Welsh town and try to turn around its football team without making like they’re saviors. Can they become part of Wrexham’s fabric, and will the town keep giving them a warm reception if the team starts to lose?

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.