[Music]
this video is brought to you by fx's
welcome to wrexham wednesdays on fx
stream on hulu
welcome to wrexham welcome to wales
welcome to watch mojo and today we're
counting down our picks for the top 10
things to know about fx's welcome to
wrexham am i in a promo for that show
right now
no okay
for this list we're looking at the most
important things you need to know about
ryan reynolds and rob mcelini's journey
into professional football or you know
soccer ready to cheer on the red dragons
let us know in the comments
number 10 it started with a dm
how do you go about buying a
professional sports team slide into a
prospective business partner's dms of
course one day i got a a direct message
from him he slid into your dmm look
while it may not be a conventional
approach that's how ryan reynolds and
rob mcelhenny first got to know each
other in fact the pair had never met
face to face prior to their purchase and
then you met him when
i met him for the first time
two weeks ago two weeks ago
that's not a joke no
no that's not a joke we just met when we
shot a promo uh for the for the club
after reynolds saw mcelini's dance scene
in the season 13 finale of it's always
sunny in philadelphia he reached out to
say he's a fan
[Music]
through their continued conversations
mcelenny felt that reynolds was the
right person to bring in on his idea to
buy a football club
number nine wrexham afc was in dire
straits
things haven't always been looking up
for the northern welsh club as the third
oldest professional football team in the
world they've had their fair share of
ups and downs is that the gym
it will be the gym wow
yes these will work perhaps one of the
toughest points in its history came
during the mid-2000s when the team was
in deep financial trouble in december
2004 wrexham was placed in financial
administration which is similar to
bankruptcy some people managed to get
their hands on the football club because
they wanted the ground to turn it into a
supermarket or some other sort of
property venture because of this they
were the first league one team to be
docked 10 points in the standings due to
a rule that penalized teams ending up in
that position it took wrexham 18 months
to exit but not before they had become
the first club to be hit with a 10-point
automatic penalty a sanction that saw
them relegated from ligue 1. they were
eventually removed from administration
when a new owner took over but the club
remained on shaky financial ground
number 8 the english football league
system
in north american professional sports if
a team finishes the season at the bottom
of the standings it generally means a
better chance at higher draft picks and
retooling for the next season english
football doesn't quite work the same way
you're dealing now in a sport with
promotion and relegation is that kind of
weird to you
it's absolutely terrifying it's
terrifying but it's also what makes it
so exciting it's broken up into tiers at
the top you have the premier league
followed by the efl championship league
one league two and so on wrexham is
currently in the fifth tier known as the
national league
a key difference in this system is teams
that place in the bottom can be
relegated to lower tiered leagues and
subsequently high placing teams can be
promoted to higher tiers no one has gone
from our league all the way up to the
premier league but we've gone from the
national league some clubs have gone to
the national league to the championship
so we're obviously going to try and go
go go for it number seven racecourse
ground
every team has a pitch they call home
manchester united has old trafford
liverpool has anfield and rexum has the
racecourse ground the stadium is the
oldest site that still hosts
international football matches it plays
at the oldest international football
ground anywhere in the world throughout
its history fans have witnessed
spectacular moments perhaps none more
exciting than their incredible upset of
arsenal in a come-from-behind win by a
score of 2-1 in the 91-92 fa cup it's
thomas who takes it
[Applause]
in august 2011 the stadium and training
ground were sold to wrexham glendor
university the university and the team
worked out an agreement where the team
would be in control of the stadium's
operations in june 2022 under reynolds
and mcelenny's leadership the team
acquired the grounds from the university
they arrived at wrexham they rang home
to their wives to show them and just
share the moment and ryan went into the
middle of the pitch and lay down number
six wrexham the town
wrexham is a small blue-collar town in
northern wales near the english-welsh
border about 40 minutes from liverpool i
think wrexham is an earthy place that's
well grounded
we are a very much a working-class town
very very proud town its founding dates
back to the middle ages but more
recently in the 20th century it was a
place for lead and coal mining as well
as iron steel and leather production
when those industries closed down it had
a great impact on the town and
surrounding area a lot of shops have
closed there's a lot of empty premises a
lot of charity shops
the high street doesn't look as anywhere
near as vibrant as it used to the red
dragons have been a rallying point for
the town and it's been reinvigorated
since reynolds and mcelenny's
involvement with the team has brought
wrexham to the world stage it's
fantastic for the club the town
north wales is a hall it's brilliant
plus north wales on the map worldwide
number five community support
a football team is nothing without a
community standing behind it and wrexham
is no different my family watched
wrexham
and my family before that i've watched
forex and that's how it's always been
the red dragons are in a bit of a unique
situation there are only four welsh
teams that play professionally in the
english football league system three of
them are located in the south of wales
leaving wrexham as the only team in the
north this gives the club a large and
devoted fan base we're the club that
represents half a nation
there are 750 000 people in north wales
and they want something that makes them
feel proud of where they're from that
strong devotion quite likely saved the
team in 2011 when it came under control
of the wrexham supporters trust meaning
the club was owned by its supporters a
decade ago when the club had been
mismanaged to the brink of collapse it
was the fans who stepped up pooling
their money and buying the club number
four the pitch
even though the team was owned by its
supporters there were still problems to
be found it was very special that the
fans owned the club but there was only
so much that could be done i feel under
fan ownership wrexham had been
struggling on the field given that
they've been relegated to the national
league since 2008 and have not been able
to manage their way back to the football
league when a takeover bid had come in
for the team the supporters trust was
skeptical the first i heard was that it
was very very famous people who were
coming in for the club and it was wow
you know that at that point i didn't
know names after it was revealed that
the bid was backed by reynolds and
mcelenny interest in the proposal grew
in a zoom call to 2000 trust members the
duo made their pitch and when it was all
said and done 98
of the supporters trust approved the
deal and they wowed the crowd for a
couple of hours answering questions and
really shining through the authenticity
of what they were trying to achieve
number three renewed hope
following the announcement that reynolds
and mcelenny would acquire wrexham there
was a flurry of excitement for the team
and the town demand for jerseys
skyrocketed more were sold in a week
than half as many had in the previous
year many complete with custom reynolds
and michelani on the back team sponsor
ivor williams trailers received a huge
boost when reynolds and mcelenny did a
promo for them try
evil williams
trailers
e4 williams trailers has been britain's
leading trailer manufacturer for over 60
years they've been able to attract new
sponsors as well such as tick tock
expedia and aviation gin it's the kind
of thing that many in wrexham would have
never imagined
already the small town club has scored a
new major sponsor the social media giant
tick tock number two the journey don't
let the glitz and glamour of big
hollywood names fool you there are no
quick fixes and reynolds and mcelenny do
not have the first idea of what it takes
to run a professional football club if
anything we're sort of students if at
all and we you know we're in the
incredibly fortunate position we're in
to help grow it and that's you know
that's sort of the name of the game
they're the first ones to say it in fact
it's that humble approach that led many
in the supporters trust to give their
overwhelming support to the pair we you
know we're with big sports fans we know
how to to run businesses
what we don't know is football and that
gives
gives you a lot of confidence when
you're talking to people who are humble
enough to say i don't know though
they're both known for their comedic
prowess they're earnestly committed to
growing the team and the community
behind it even though things have
improved since their takeover success
won't happen overnight and reynolds and
mcelenny are prepared to go the distance
but it was the journey that they were
really interested in and where the fun
will be in seeing how far we can go
number one a true underdog
why wrexham why not a bigger team when
looking for a team to purchase reynolds
and mcelini had a specific set of
criteria they were looking for part of
that included a team with a strong
connection to its surrounding community
you know everything we do is in you know
in lockstep with the community of
wrexham announce that's a huge part of
the attraction for us it also had to be
somewhere with a compelling story and
one of the most compelling stories is
that of an underdog fans swear there's
something special about this club and
they want the whole world to find out
reynolds described wrexham as a sleeping
giant and a team with huge potential
whether you're a fan of football or not
an underdog story is one you can get
behind and you can see it unfold in fx's
welcome to wrexham it's a successful it
will be the biggest day
in the history of the town
this video is brought to you by fx's
welcome to wrexham wednesdays on fx
stream on hulu
[Music]
you