Welcome To Wrexham

[BetterButter]

[Welshman in Ca]

Looking forward to this for obvious reasons.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Welshman in Ca

[QQQQ]

Looking forward to watching this. I've only been to Wales once (vacation in Abergavenny), but I hope to go back someday.

[QQQQ]

Yay! Really enjoyed the premiere. I appreciate the onscreen explanations of how the football leagues are organized as well as the translation of various words (Welsh is an intimidating language 😅). Ironically, my ancestry results were just updated today (which seems to happen every year or so) and Wales increased to 20% 😁

[aghst]

Watching the pilot too.

Interesting that they never met each other before the purchase.

Purchase price was $2.5 million.  But how much will they spend to move to try to get the team promoted?

[Rickster]

Saw the first two episodes. Full disclosure: I am 50% Welsh and spent some vacations with family there in my youth, although they live about as far from Wrexham as you can get. 

I enjoyed this in general, especially everything set in Wrexham. Unfortunately, I did not care for Rob and Ryan that much and was glad their role was dialed back in the second episode. I might have missed it, but I don’t think they explained exactly how they settled on Wrexham as a club to buy, and ended up thinking this was purely a made for TV concept rather than any personal connection to the club. I certainly would have thought that if they had invested after the success of Ted Lasso, but I guess they did this earlier.

I was a bit surprised such a low level club was having its games broadcast on TV, and was puzzled Rob would be able to watch them in LA, but I suspect that might have been set up for the show, with sending him a tape of the game or something similar.

[aghst]

I googled and saw that they paid $2.5 million.

a fraction of what a club in a higher division would cost.

but How do they improve team at that level?  Can they buy better players as they do at higher division clubs?

that is when their dedication will be tested.

[QQQQ]

Can someone explain about uniform kit colors? It looks like they are red (home) and green (away) in this season. But when I went to their website, I found 3 different versions for this season: red (home), sky blue (away), and white ("third"). There's also black. Is it common to change colors each season? I'm not a sports person, so team colors are often all I have to go by in terms of knowing who's playing 😅

[Welshman in Ca]

4 minutes ago, QQQQ said:

Can someone explain about uniform kit colors? It looks like they are red (home) and green (away) in this season. But when I went to their website, I found 3 different versions for this season: red (home), sky blue (away), and white ("third"). There's also black. Is it common to change colors each season? I'm not a sports person, so team colors are often all I have to go by in terms of knowing who's playing 😅

With the exception of the home kit colour (red here) it is very common for a club to change their 2nd (away) & 3rd (alternate) kits, not sure why there's another kit colour in this case.

[Welshman in Ca]

10 hours ago, aghst said:

I googled and saw that they paid $2.5 million.

a fraction of what a club in a higher division would cost.

but How do they improve team at that level?  Can they buy better players as they do at higher division clubs?

that is when their dedication will be tested.

They can buy better players but the player has to want to go to the club as well. I think most of their income will come from the increased crowds that they're having due to the whole thing.

I have a lot more thoughts now having seen the first 2 episodes and will put them up later.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Welshman in Ca

[QQQQ]

Although not specifically about Wrexham, I thought this article was interesting: Why Would You Buy a Lower-League Club? (2016)

[Rickster]

3 hours ago, QQQQ said:

Can someone explain about uniform kit colors? It looks like they are red (home) and green (away) in this season. But when I went to their website, I found 3 different versions for this season: red (home), sky blue (away), and white ("third"). There's also black. Is it common to change colors each season? I'm not a sports person, so team colors are often all I have to go by in terms of knowing who's playing 😅

The other thing is that the away kit can’t be similar to the opponent’s home colors, so that can be a reason for several different colored away kits. The referee needs to be able to tell who’s fouling who.

[QQQQ]

1 hour ago, Rickster said:

The other thing is that the away kit can’t be similar to the opponent’s home colors, so that can be a reason for several different colored away kits. The referee needs to be able to tell who’s fouling who.

How do refs in other sports manage though? Do the Packers change away colors every season? Actually... if the away color is the same as the other team's home color, why couldn't Wrexham just wear their red kit?

[Welshman in Ca]

6 minutes ago, QQQQ said:

How do refs in other sports manage though? Do the Packers change away colors every season? Actually... if the away color is the same as the other team's home color, why couldn't Wrexham just wear their red kit?

Show me a game, any game, where 2 teams are playing each other wearing the same colours, I will wait for this one because I'm genuinely interested if there is such a thing.

It may be different in the NFL whereby they have to keep the same colours every season, I'm sure different leagues have different rules, but I wouldn't know the answer but what I do know is they are in different sports in different countries.

In theory Wrexham could & years ago probably would have so the short answer is money. When I saw Cardiff City play Wrexham at Cardiff in the FA cup in the 70s (great game btw) both teams wore their "home" kit, Cardiff in blue & Wrexham in red. I have no idea when teams started having home & away kits as well as 3rd & even 4th kits though. But as in a lot of things, money is the answer.

[Rickster]

NFL and NBA teams occasionally change their home and away uniform designs, but usually within the same color scheme. In recent seasons, NFL teams have used a third solid color uniform as well. I don’t watch enough NBA to track the number of uniforms they use.

And yes, in all these sports changing uniforms/kits colors and design is an opportunity to sell more merchandise to the fans.

[QQQQ]

Sorry, my last post was muddled (need to cut back on the day drinking). The part about "How do refs in other sports manage?" was me thinking why couldn't a ref call a game with both team wearing home colors, both teams wearing away colors or any combination as long as they weren't the same color. Otherwise, yes, it would be a cluster 🤣Thanks for the explanation, Welshman in Ca!

[aghst]

Jersey sales in soccer can generate a ton of money though it's usually tied to a specific player.

Maybe not a huge factor in the National League though.

[Rickster]

I’d guess most kids in Wrexham might follow Liverpool or Everton since they’re close by and spend their money on those jerseys.

I’ve always been curious, given how Premier League teams have large advertising logos on their jerseys and sometimes change sponsors, whether the old  jerseys become uncool and people have to replace them with ones with the new sponsor. Like Manchester United went from AIG to AON to Chevrolet.  Do fans toss the old ones?

[Welshman in Ca]

18 hours ago, Rickster said:

I’d guess most kids in Wrexham might follow Liverpool or Everton since they’re close by and spend their money on those jerseys.

I’ve always been curious, given how Premier League teams have large advertising logos on their jerseys and sometimes change sponsors, whether the old  jerseys become uncool and people have to replace them with ones with the new sponsor. Like Manchester United went from AIG to AON to Chevrolet.  Do fans toss the old ones?

You would be right about the kids following Liverpool & Everton as well as the Manchester teams. A lot of Welsh internationals over the years have played for both teams but mostly Liverpool.

People never replace their old Jerseys over sponsorship, they just buy new ones sometimes, I have a Cardiff City replica jersey from the 1976/77 season that my wife bought me for xmas a couple of years ago and is from the days before advertising logos were allowed & it's my pride & joy of the city jerseys in my cupboard.

I never understood why Chevy sponsored Man Utd, Chevy cars are rebadged as Vauxhalls in the UK or the other way around on rare occasions. I had a Vauxhall rental a few years ago (2019) that was just a rebadged Buick.

[Welshman in Ca]

My thoughts on the series so far.

I still have no idea why Wrexham but they may have been advised it was the easiest club to buy that were at least capable of promotion to the Football League.

It seems like they think they can make money but they are in for a rude awakening. Buying a football club in the UK is nothing like an NFL franchise. You may as well dig a big hole & throw money in it. 

The division they are in is probably one of the hardest to get out of, upwards.

We're going to see the next season which has already finished, I won't spoil it for everyone.

Not sure how or why you would buy a football club together with someone you had never met.

More to follow as the series progresses.

[aghst]

I wouldn't be surprised if the $2.5 million investment is more than offset by what FX is paying them to do the show.

But neither of them, especially RR, probably need the TV money.

They had to convince the Wrexham supporters to let them buy the team but they are actors after all.

Typical Hollywood move would be to buddy up to the owners of Liverpool or Man U. and try to go see some matches.  I think there are also celebrities who have some minor shares, like Lebron James knows the Boston group which owns Liverpool so he has some percentage of the club.

[Rickster]

3 hours ago, Welshman in Ca said:

I never understood why Chevy sponsored Man Utd, Chevy cars are rebadged as Vauxhalls in the UK or the other way around on rare occasions. I had a Vauxhall rental a few years ago (2019) that was just a rebadged Buick.

I wondered, given the increasing popularity of Premier League in the US, if the Chevy sponsorship was partly aimed at the US market. (I personally hate all ad logos except sportswear brands).

I am trying to avoid looking up too much about Wrexham to try to remain unspoiled.

[aghst]

Well the owners are Americans and they're probably only too happy to take Chevy money.

Who knows why Chevy sponsored a UK team.

[Guest]

On 8/26/2022 at 11:14 AM, QQQQ said:

Actually... if the away color is the same as the other team's home color, why couldn't Wrexham just wear their red kit?

They could. On their YouTube there are highlights from matches where they are the away team but they are wearing their home kit. They can choose to wear any of their kits at an away game as long as it is a contrasting color. One reason they have so many kits is that they also have to adjust based on the other team’s shorts and sock color. The shirts could be completely different colors but not work if the socks are close. 

On 8/26/2022 at 11:14 AM, QQQQ said:

Do the Packers change away colors every season?

The NFL still uses the same rules developed when games were broadcast in black and while. Teams have a light uniform, a dark uniform and an alternate they can only wear twice in a regular season. Most teams use the white one for away games so they are pretty limited in their ability to make changes.

[Humbugged]

On 8/26/2022 at 4:13 AM, Rickster said:

Saw the first two episodes. Full disclosure: I am 50% Welsh and spent some vacations with family there in my youth, although they live about as far from Wrexham as you can get. 

I enjoyed this in general, especially everything set in Wrexham. Unfortunately, I did not care for Rob and Ryan that much and was glad their role was dialed back in the second episode. I might have missed it, but I don’t think they explained exactly how they settled on Wrexham as a club to buy, and ended up thinking this was purely a made for TV concept rather than any personal connection to the club. I certainly would have thought that if they had invested after the success of Ted Lasso, but I guess they did this earlier.

I was a bit surprised such a low level club was having its games broadcast on TV, and was puzzled Rob would be able to watch them in LA, but I suspect that might have been set up for the show, with sending him a tape of the game or something similar.

Big supporter base as they only League team in North Wales - the other 3 are in the South along the M4  . So 750,00 they can draw in .

No debt as they were about to go bust ,the Trust took it over and within 3 years they were breaking even

Oldest International Ground in the world to still host games . And if planning permission goes thru will be all seated in a couple of years . They did a deal with the Uni for parking , the train line is being expanded and they are planning to build a hotel

Did the smart thing and had the guy from EFL helping them out until they hooked Fleur Robinson in as their CEO (her dad owns Burton Albion)

BT Sport covers the National League - I watched Wrexham's game live on Saturday night - and they do highglights - they have been doing at least 30 live games a year

[Humbugged]

On 8/26/2022 at 10:52 PM, Rickster said:

I’d guess most kids in Wrexham might follow Liverpool or Everton since they’re close by and spend their money on those jerseys.

I’ve always been curious, given how Premier League teams have large advertising logos on their jerseys and sometimes change sponsors, whether the old  jerseys become uncool and people have to replace them with ones with the new sponsor. Like Manchester United went from AIG to AON to Chevrolet.  Do fans toss the old ones?

They have new kit every year anyway and when the sponsor deal runs out they just change to sponsor and keep the old kit . I still have kits from the 1980's in the house

ETA

I support Rangers who were 2 years out from a UEFA cup final ,got relegated 3 divisions ,had to climb back up 3 divisions with really shady owners (sold 3 times and had the income hived off to Mike Ashley ), 10 years on we got to another UEFA final (lost on penalties)  and are now in the Champions Lg

Edited August 31, 2022 by Humbugged

[Humbugged]

On 8/30/2022 at 6:31 AM, Dani said:

They could. On their YouTube there are highlights from matches where they are the away team but they are wearing their home kit. They can choose to wear any of their kits at an away game as long as it is a contrasting color. One reason they have so many kits is that they also have to adjust based on the other team’s shorts and sock color. The shirts could be completely different colors but not work if the socks are close. 

The NFL still uses the same rules developed when games were broadcast in black and while. Teams have a light uniform, a dark uniform and an alternate they can only wear twice in a regular season. Most teams use the white one for away games so they are pretty limited in their ability to make changes.

My teams has 3 kits all throwback kits to the 1980's/90's

The home kit is based on one from the late 80's

the 2nd kit is also from about then

and the 3rd in from 1999 when half the squad/staff were Dutch

Which is now the same again

[Welshman in Ca]

2 hours ago, Humbugged said:

Big supporter base as they only League team in North Wales - the other 3 are in the South along the M4  . So 750,00 they can draw in .

No debt as they were about to go bust ,the Trust took it over and within 3 years they were breaking even

Oldest International Ground in the world to still host games . And if planning permission goes thru will be all seated in a couple of years . They did a deal with the Uni for parking , the train line is being expanded and they are planning to build a hotel

Did the smart thing and had the guy from EFL helping them out until they hooked Fleur Robinson in as their CEO (her dad owns Burton Albion)

BT Sport covers the National League - I watched Wrexham's game live on Saturday night - and they do highglights - they have been doing at least 30 live games a year

They’ve just been given 3 more internationals I think for next year. Women, U23 and 1 other I can’t remember but obviously not the mens as they play in Cardiff only at the moment. 

[Humbugged]

11 minutes ago, Welshman in Ca said:

They’ve just been given 3 more internationals I think for next year. Women, U23 and 1 other I can’t remember but obviously not the mens as they play in Cardiff only at the moment. 

There is talk of them getting the Wales/Scotland game for the 2026 for the 150 year of the FAW as it was set up in Wrexham at  The Wynnstay Arms

[aghst]

So episodes 3 and 4, they seem to get momentum with the signing of the manager and the scorer but apparently their defense isn't too good

Seems they've dropped too many points to have a chance to win the National League.

They have to be the only club in the NL with sponsorship from international brands like Expedia and TikTok.

I noticed there was a TikTok commercial too during one of the episodes.  I usually skip past commercials so I don't know if Expedia are also sponsoring the show in addition to the club.

[StaceyNotStacie]

It’s an interesting show. I’m surprised that it’s taking the Rob and Ryan so long to watch a game in person. You’d think they’d be there for the first game to wish them good luck. 

[Humbugged]

11 hours ago, StaceyNotStacie said:

It’s an interesting show. I’m surprised that it’s taking the Rob and Ryan so long to watch a game in person. You’d think they’d be there for the first game to wish them good luck. 

2 months into the season is when they turned up - there were still travelling restrictions and that point

[Welshman in Ca]

2 hours ago, Humbugged said:

2 months into the season is when they turned up - there were still travelling restrictions and that point

They came in toward the end of the 20/21 season & the show is now at the start of the 21/22 season. The 22/23 season has already started a little earlier than usual so we're quite a way behind real time and anyone who is interested is able to find out where they finished that season. Their crowds are still through the roof (for a non league team) so far this season so the hollywood & feel good effects are still there. Being Welsh I have kept an eye on their progress before this but a little more so lately.

[aghst]

Hmm, so they may be filming again right now?

I don't think a renewal has been announced but they've aired about half the episodes so they should know what the ratings are.  They promoted it a good deal too.

[Welshman in Ca]

They may well be filming this season hoping for a renewal but I would still like to know why Wrexham? but I don't think we'll ever get an answer to that question.

[aghst]

2 minutes ago, Welshman in Ca said:

They may well be filming this season hoping for a renewal but I would still like to know why Wrexham? but I don't think we'll ever get an answer to that question.

I thought I heard that they talked to some "experts" who helped identify the club for various reasons, probably things like affordability and having fans willing to go on camera, take part in the documentary.

The 3rd and 4th episodes showed some of the hardcore supporters, how much the club means to the town.  Of course there are tons of clubs in the UK and Europe with avid supporters, where soccer is everything to the community.

I wonder if economic decline of these towns made them cling even more to the club.

There was a documentary series on boys around 10-14 playing football, first Friday Night Tykes, based in small town Texas.

Then a spinoff called Friday Night Tykes Steel Country, based in Western PA.  This one was based in towns not dissimilar from Wrexham, in that these were steel mill towns or one built steel bridges and was called American Bridge or something like that, after the name of the company.

But steel mills closed down long time ago and there was literally rusting old mills and bridges in this area.  There was high unemployment and a lot of opioid use, which they really didn't touch on.  But there were dedicated coaches, usually ex-military, who tried to keep up these pee wee football leagues.  Some didn't have money for the uniforms or helmets.

I don't think boys football teams had the kind of dedication that is shown in Welcome to Wrexham, other than a few of the parents.  Wrexham, the whole community seems to be behind the club but maybe a lot of that is influenced by Hollywood stars intervening and all the cameras around.

So the cameras aren't just capturing the behavior of Wrexham supporters but is actually shaping or altering it, just by their very presence.

[Humbugged]

3 hours ago, Welshman in Ca said:

They came in toward the end of the 20/21 season & the show is now at the start of the 21/22 season. The 22/23 season has already started a little earlier than usual so we're quite a way behind real time and anyone who is interested is able to find out where they finished that season. Their crowds are still through the roof (for a non league team) so far this season so the hollywood & feel good effects are still there. Being Welsh I have kept an eye on their progress before this but a little more so lately.

`They did not get to Wales until 3 November 2021 because of filming schedules probably as Ryan did 2 films last year and Rob did not finish IASIP until Oct 21

[Humbugged]

24 minutes ago, aghst said:

I thought I heard that they talked to some "experts" who helped identify the club for various reasons, probably things like affordability and having fans willing to go on camera, take part in the documentary.

The 3rd and 4th episodes showed some of the hardcore supporters, how much the club means to the town.  Of course there are tons of clubs in the UK and Europe with avid supporters, where soccer is everything to the community.

I wonder if economic decline of these towns made them cling even more to the club.

There was a documentary series on boys around 10-14 playing football, first Friday Night Tykes, based in small town Texas.

Then a spinoff called Friday Night Tykes Steel Country, based in Western PA.  This one was based in towns not dissimilar from Wrexham, in that these were steel mill towns or one built steel bridges and was called American Bridge or something like that, after the name of the company.

But steel mills closed down long time ago and there was literally rusting old mills and bridges in this area.  There was high unemployment and a lot of opioid use, which they really didn't touch on.  But there were dedicated coaches, usually ex-military, who tried to keep up these pee wee football leagues.  Some didn't have money for the uniforms or helmets.

I don't think boys football teams had the kind of dedication that is shown in Welcome to Wrexham, other than a few of the parents.  Wrexham, the whole community seems to be behind the club but maybe a lot of that is influenced by Hollywood stars intervening and all the cameras around.

So the cameras aren't just capturing the behavior of Wrexham supporters but is actually shaping or altering it, just by their very presence.

The supporters bought the club 10 years ago so nothing to do with the cameras

[Welshman in Ca]

11 minutes ago, Humbugged said:

The supporters bought the club 10 years ago so nothing to do with the cameras

Correct but since the 2 guys bought the club there has been a huge upward swing with the crowds, what we are seeing on tv at the moment really are the hardcore supporters who have worked (for zero) tirelessly for the club in their spare time. The crowds have since shot up after the 2 of them bought the club with the average in the NL being a couple of thousand & Wrexham's around 9,000.

17 minutes ago, Humbugged said:

`They did not get to Wales until 3 November 2021 because of filming schedules probably as Ryan did 2 films last year and Rob did not finish IASIP until Oct 21

Which is about halfway through the season that we are now seeing in ep 3 & 4 which is the 21/22 season and we are now (IRL) at the start of the 22/23 season & only 6 games in.

[ilovethedark]

For anyone interested YouTube has Ryan and Rob’s address to the club trust  about buying the club. It’s about 50 minutes and a very interesting watch. They are very serious about where they want to take the club.

[seacliffsal]

IMO so much fell into place in episode 3 as I noticed Aviator is one of the club's sponsors and that is Ryan's liquor company (I forget for which type of alcohol).  So he is getting a lot of publicity for his other financial interests from investing in the club while having the show on FX.  He's pretty savvy!

[Humbugged]

On 9/2/2022 at 7:36 PM, Welshman in Ca said:

Correct but since the 2 guys bought the club there has been a huge upward swing with the crowds, what we are seeing on tv at the moment really are the hardcore supporters who have worked (for zero) tirelessly for the club in their spare time. The crowds have since shot up after the 2 of them bought the club with the average in the NL being a couple of thousand & Wrexham's around 9,000.

Which is about halfway through the season that we are now seeing in ep 3 & 4 which is the 21/22 season and we are now (IRL) at the start of the 22/23 season & only 6 games in.

Filming schedule as I said ,It's Always Sunny was filming up until the middle of Oct 2021 and before that there was travelling restrictions due to COVID

[seacliffsal]

So, I am really feeling for the teams that didn't get this infusion of "celebrity" and money.  

It's interesting how even with the hiring of a top manager and scorer they are having difficulty pulling everything together.  

[SoMuchTV]

On 9/3/2022 at 3:56 PM, seacliffsal said:

IMO so much fell into place in episode 3 as I noticed Aviator is one of the club's sponsors and that is Ryan's liquor company (I forget for which type of alcohol).  So he is getting a lot of publicity for his other financial interests from investing in the club while having the show on FX.  He's pretty savvy!

I will just say that I know that "Aviator Gin" is a thing (although I've never bought it or even seen it in a store), so somebody's marketing team is working, at least in my head.

[Rickster]

27 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I will just say that I know that "Aviator Gin" is a thing (although I've never bought it or even seen it in a store), so somebody's marketing team is working, at least in my head.

It’s Aviation Gin. Reynolds and the people who started the brand sold it a year or two ago to a big multinational liquor company, but apparently Reynolds “retains an ownership interest” in the brand, whatever that means. My guess is he gets some share in profits for help in promoting it.

[Humbugged]

30 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I will just say that I know that "Aviator Gin" is a thing (although I've never bought it or even seen it in a store), so somebody's marketing team is working, at least in my head.

Yea everybody had their eyes shut when he sold it for $600 million /s

[Humbugged]

On 9/2/2022 at 6:28 PM, Welshman in Ca said:

They may well be filming this season hoping for a renewal but I would still like to know why Wrexham? but I don't think we'll ever get an answer to that question.

Well we do know ? They got the club for a quid the same as the trust did and pumped £2 mill in straight away , it is the only pro club in the North with 750,00 people in the area .The UK Government/Sennad/ Wrexham Council are willing to pump loads of money it to help them - The Kop has prior planning applications of all 3 gvrmts under the Wrexham Gateway Project signed off 2 years ago , the college and the FAW now own the training ground and they are to get 22 acres to build another one and Glyndwr is giving them extra parking spaces , they get to build a 4 star hotel at the back of the Kop , the railway is being extended to near the ground .All this makes it UEFA Category 4 compliant

All this was announed 2 years ago before the takeover

And as they go on the Macron/Uni end will also be expanded

[Welshman in Ca]

1 minute ago, Humbugged said:

Well we do know ? They got the club for a quid the same as the trust did and pumped £2 mill in straight away , it is the only pro club in the North with 750,00 people in the area .The UK Government/Sennad/ Wrexham Council are willing to pump loads of money it to help them - The Kop has prior planning applications of all 3 gvrmts under the Wrexham Gateway Project signed off 2 years ago , the college and the FAW now own the training ground and they are to get 22 acres to build another one and Glyndwr is giving them extra parking spaces , they get to build a 4 star hotel at the back of the Kop , the railway is being extended to near the ground .All this makes it UEFA Category 4 compliant

All this was announed 2 years ago before the takeover

And as they go on the Macron/Uni end will also be expanded

All so simple & before you know they’ll be playing in the premier league. 🙄

Best of luck to them but it’s not going to be as simple as that. 

[Humbugged]

5 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

So, I am really feeling for the teams that didn't get this infusion of "celebrity" and money.  

It's interesting how even with the hiring of a top manager and scorer they are having difficulty pulling everything together.  

Watch the season

Spoiler

Got within 6 points of automatic promotion to Stockport and Grismby who are owned by a guy worth more than Reynolds/Mac  who are sponsored by Findus ,and lost in the Trophy final

[methodwriter85]

I really enjoyed this. I like Rob and Ryan, and I like that we get to know the people of the town/club as well.