As the season progresses,Welcome to Wrexhamsees Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney give their club perhaps their greatest gift yet, one which goes a long way towards ensuring the club’s history remains intact.
However, the two episodes delivered this week are not just aboutsports, nor how the two men managed to use their influence toget the club inFIFA 23, instead, the docuseries turns its focus again on the people that inhabit this small town, as well as one very special player. “Fearless” is the title for the fifth episode, which perfectly handles the juxtaposed images of the on-field battles with a fan’s plight to defeat cancer.
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The man of the hour is none other than Rob Lainton, Wrexham’s goalkeeper since 2018, so anyone paying attention to the series will know that is quite the rare feat at these lower levels of football, even for a goalie. Lainton’s profile is also used so that viewers can become familiar with the intricacies of his position, one where just a single mistake can be the difference between wins or losses, promotion or salvation, and a player’s stellar performance being completely forgotten by fans.
Goalkeeper is also one of the most dangerouspositions in football, given the number of aerial challenges they have to engage in, a topic that doesn’t slide past Laiton who’s shown to have suffered health-threatening concussions recently. Fearlessness is something every keeper needs to command his area, and the same goes for Michael Hett, the frontman for the Declan Swans, the local band that penned the club’s new anthem “Always Sunny in Wrexham.”
In case anyone’s wondering Hett is alive and well, and the cancer survivor is still an active content creator with the band getting tons of attention after this episode’s premiere. It’s impossible to know at which point during the seasons these interviews are filmed, but the creative and editing staff behindWelcome to Wrexhamhas done a great job at tying them together with the team’s pivotal moments.
More than anything, by putting Wrexham’s youngest fans, volunteers and community in the spotlight, this episode acts as the perfect preamble to “Hamilton” (no, not thatHamilton). The latter takes a small detour from today’s affairs to look back at the club’s tougher times, when Alex Hamilton’s ownership almost destroyed the historied football team.
At the heart of it all is the club’s stadium, the Racecourse Ground, the oldest international football arena in the world and part ofwhat makes Wrexham AFC special, because let’s not forget Reynolds and McElhenney purchased one of the sport’s oldest professional teams. British stadiums are different to most football pitches in the world, because they are exclusively used for football, a trait that allowed architects to bring crowds right next to the players and that is often used in some ofWelcome to Wrexham’sshots to capture the excitement that brings.
Attending an English football match is a unique experience due to this, meaning a team’s stadium is a crucial component of its entertainment and business model. The Reynolds and McElhenney duo clearly understood that from the get-go, which is why they made Wrexham gaining back ownership of its stadium one of the core policies before the takeover.
Even some die-hard football fans might not know that some of the world’s richest and most fancied clubs in the world do not own the stadiums where they’ve playing for decades, as is the case for Inter Milan,AC Milan, Chelsea, and even the uber-rich Manchester City. Home game ticket sales become an even bigger share of the pie in lower-level football, where there is little income from TV rights, so transferring the Race Course back into the hands of Wrexham and the subsequent renovation plan are perhaps Reynolds and McElhenney’s most outstanding accomplishments to date.
Even thoughWelcome to Wrexham’slast episodecould have hinted at locker room issues over the arrival of goalscoring star Paul Mullin, the striker’s intervention here nails down the point of why people will be willing to come to work at a less prestigious club, Wrexham is something special. Reynolds and McElhenney have given this no-name football team hope, attention, and the possibility to capture the gaze of would-be supporters all over the world,especiallyDeadpoolfans.
Whether that’s allowing for a young Wrexham boy touse his team onFIFA, or simply granting the team financial stability, that’s the spirit “Always Sunny in Wrexham” captures in its lyrics. The episode ends with images of Wrexham’s planned new 5,500 people stand, the kop, and while bureaucracy may slow down its construction, that shiny black structure falls perfectly in place in the Racecourse and the rest of the club’s history.
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