The Hollywood fairytale of Wrexham football club
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 7 February 2023
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When two actors decided to buy non-league football club Wrexham AFC, they brought the cameras with them to document every moment. With the Hollywood lights came a large injection of cash and mass media interest, but what has it meant for the club, the community - and for football more widely?
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Guest: Gregor Robertson, former professional footballer and columnist, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips: Welcome to Wrexham/FX, Sky News, Wrexham AFC, Beanyman Sports2, The Emirates FA Cup, BBC Sport, Times Radio, Deadpool/20th Century Fox/Marvel Entertainment, CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, ABC Good Morning America, talkSPORT, ESPN.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I don't really follow football, but even I remember the moment the news broke. |
| 0:08.2 | Back in the autumn of 2020, it spread like wildfire across social media and it was so unlikely |
| 0:17.9 | that everyone seemed to be talking about it. |
| 0:21.7 | Two huge screen stars were buying a small town football club in Wales. |
| 0:29.2 | This was either in a cute form of lockdown madness or the start of a Hollywood film. |
| 0:37.2 | I've got with me Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny, the new owners of Rexham AFC. |
| 0:46.6 | What was the connection between you and Rexham football club? |
| 0:49.2 | We had no direct connection, it was just a feeling. |
| 0:53.0 | What made my dad thought was because Rexham's red and Deadpool's red, though. |
| 0:57.4 | That's the real reason, I'm sorry. |
| 1:05.2 | In the two years that have followed, the new owners have begun to turn around the fortunes |
| 1:11.1 | of their football team, but also of the rest of Rexham. |
| 1:15.5 | Who would have thought Ryan Reynolds would be wanting to come to a little old Rexham? |
| 1:20.2 | It makes people proud to be from Rexham again and it puts us back on the map. |
| 1:24.9 | It's not just the locals who flock to matches now to see a sprinkling of stardust in the stands. |
| 1:32.0 | Suddenly America is tuning in thanks to a rousing docuseries. |
| 1:38.4 | Our new show on FX is called Welcome to Rexham, a docuseries centered in Rexham, |
| 1:43.6 | a working class town in North Wales in the United Kingdom. |
| 1:50.0 | And tonight will be no different, as the cameras turn to the action on the pitch |
| 1:55.6 | to see if Rexham can pull off a major upset in the FA Cup. |
| 2:00.6 | We're not going into the game to sit back and soak up pressure. |
| 2:04.4 | You know, we're going to have a real go at them and that's what Cup football is all about. |
... |
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