Yeah, whatever.
I met up with Scoot there.
I think we went into a pub.
Not underground,
no, nobody has ever.
He ordered
a medium donner kebab
DECLAN SWANS
Crumbling down
No one's invested so much
And Rob McElhenney
Less than a mile
from the center of town
Our famous old stadium's
crumbling down
Every day,
it's a-getting closer
Going faster
than a roller coaster
Love like yours will
surely come my way
A-hey, a-hey-hey
Every day, it's a-getting faster
Everyone said,
"Go ahead and ask her"
Love like yours will
surely come my way
A-hey, a-hey-hey
Love like yours will
surely come my way
Our first full season
as Wrexham owners has begun,
yet many people still
don't know where Wales is.
That's right, Rob.
So we're here
with a little geography lesson.
If you're planning
on visiting Rest of World...
Right? What the f*ck...
- Nailed it.
- Yeah, it was good.
Okay.
I think us being successful
this year is critical.
Now, does that mean
that we have to win the league
by Christmas?
No, of course not.
This game against Chesterfield
is a big test for us.
They're a top team.
It's really hard to win
in this league.
It's really hard to get out
of this league.
But I think we have to be
up there in the top, you know,
two or three teams.
I think anything below that
would be a massive failure.
- Miss lady.
- Hello!
- Hello!
- Good morning.
Good morning.
- How can I help?
- How are you?
I'm fine, thank you.
Oh, right.
Well, I've got my...
Sorry to keep you waiting.
I went to my first game at 15
purely because I was taken
by a lad from school.
Nobody in my family
liked football at all,
and I think I went first time
for spite, if I'm honest.
From that day, I was hooked.
So this is my seat, J131.
I sit with my friend Jen
and Janet and Sheila.
We're known as the Dragons.
We're always here
with our pie chips and gravy
before the game,
having somewhere
to put them down
when expecting a goal.
And I've spilt my tea
quite a number of times
down onto Clive,
who sits down here.
My husband d*ed
ten years this year.
He just had a heart att*ck
at his desk at work
and didn't come home.
My children were 14 and 12.
When my husband d*ed,
friends through the football
actually came to find out
if I was okay.
When you are on your own,
I think knowing
that there's other people
who've got your back...
They are like football family.
I'm a Wrexham superfan.
Every bit of my spare time,
I'm playing FIFA
with a full Wrexham squad.
Massive fan of their club.
Every match that I can get to,
I go to.
If it's at home,
after the matches,
I normally go to meet
the players at the back
where they come out.
I got Reckord's signing,
Dibble's signing.
I also writ this sign saying,
"Paul Mullin,
can I have your shirt?"
Didn't succeed, but oh, well.
I went to a Wrexham game
when I was about eight.
That was my first ever game.
That's perfect.
And I saw how the goalies were...
The feeling that I felt
when they made a good save,
I wanted to be in that feeling.
When you score a goal,
it was a good feeling,
but not as good
as saving a ball.
Oi, do you reckon
we'll get promoted?
Mm... if we keep on trying, yeah.
How many?
- Stop lying!
- No, I promise you.
I promise ya.
I swear it down.
It's all about hands, mate.
Oh.
- Are we not doing that?
- What was that?
Are we not doing
a warm-up, warm-up?
Just warm up, bruv.
Goalkeepers are
a definite breed apart
from, uh... from the rest
of footballers, yeah.
We like to be on his own.
Left! Got ya.
Yeah, that was brilliant, son!
- Left!
- Oh.
That's dibs.
He's got... he knows Polish,
but not English.
- Right!
- Dawid!
What you doing now, Rob?
I'm so confused.
You're right?
Can we do it
in English, then?
So I'm right. I'm right.
- You got two left.
- What? Who's right?
What the f*ck?
I'm right.
You're left.
- Am I not ground?
- These are the three
thickest goalkeepers
you've ever seen.
I'm right.
Rob Lainton,
he's a consistent performer.
He's got a strong character
as well, Rob.
I like his voice.
You know,
on the pitch and training,
he gets demands out of players
around him,
which is a great asset to have.
Yes, Rob.
Just drop in that goal
for us, please.
As much as strikers
will produce big moments,
it's important goalkeepers
have got that ability.
Your goalkeeper's
gotta be one you feel
can produce
a match-winning save.
- Yes, Lainton. Oh.
- Nice one, Rob.
It... it's tough.
It can be tough, you know?
It... you know,
I've had it before,
I've made a mistake
and I don't sleep at night.
I know
what they're going through.
I know what it's like
to make a mistake
in the first two or three
minutes of a game,
and then you've gotta play
the next 83, 85 minutes,
you know, and-and put
that mistake out of your head,
which is easier said than done.
But I'll just put
my body anywhere,
do you know what I mean,
to do what I need to do.
That's my job.
Horrible collision.
That doesn't look too good.
- No.
- Lainton stays down.
And this could be bad news
for Wrexham.
Rob Lainton is down
and not moving.
Invested so much as a penny
Bring on the Deadpool
and Rob McElhenney
So, uh, how did you
get on Wednesday?
What did you... you get
a higher dose or something?
So I was lying on me back
and I was having these sweats
for about two minutes,
so obviously I had to tell them
about it,
and they just seemed concerned,
so he said, "Right,"
I'll have to go
and see the oncologist,
so then they come back saying,
"Awfully sorry,
"you can't...
You can't have the chemo.
"Erm... instead,
you gotta come next Thursday,
meet the oncologist,"
so I went to meet him.
And he said,
"Well, what we'll do,
"we'll keep you on your drip.
We'll put you
on another drip as well."
So I went through two lots
of chemo yesterday, but...
Two... you had
a double batch yesterday?
Yeah, but I don't
have the tablets anymore.
Yeah, so I'm gonna have
to do two...
I'm gonna have to do a gig
on-on steroids.
You all right?
But next-next three
after that,
I'm gonna have a jubilant,
erm, November and December.
I had, erm, ball cancer.
Like, uh, they found a tumor
on my, uh, colon.
Erm... so I had two ops
to get rid of it.
Right.
What's the next dates
of the gigs?
Erm, I've got a gig on Sunday.
- You got Parish.
- Swan's Gate, I think.
Parish, Golden Lion.
Saith Seren.
We're doing Clwyd Welfare
in between Christmas
and New Year.
A lot of things
going on, isn't there?
Yeah.
I've got two treatments to go.
I got tomorrow,
and then hopefully I finish
on November the 3rd.
Erm, and fingers crossed
that'll be it.
What's your... what's
your biggest bucket list?
Well, there's a lot
I wanna do really, you know?
One on your top of your list.
Wrexham get back
in the football league.
Of course it is.
And you to get better.
Yeah, better now.
That might be all right.
- Yeah.
- Is it?
No.
Sore if I'm
overly aggressive with it.
But if you...
- Yeah, sort of squeeze it.
- Press it.
It's sore if you squeeze it.
Rhino...
Is that what it's called?
- Women go and get it and, like...
- Rhinoplasty.
Rhinoplasty. What did I call it?
- Rhino-ostrophy?
- Rhino...
Hello.
Charlie, get your tickets.
Oh, yeah, here I come.
Phil, uh, Chesterfield,
under the front lights too.
Expected promotion rivals
this season.
Doesn't get much better
than that.
Yeah, another great opportunity
for us to play in front
of our home supporters.
When you play at home,
you gotta make it
a difficult place
for the opposition to play.
And Chesterfield,
like ourselves,
have got ambitions to be
at the-the very top
of the league.
If his touch is gonna be
that they come across...
- Yeah.
- Get him f*ckin' in.
Come on, son, ay.
I'm nervous before every game.
For me, it's like adrenaline.
If you didn't have any nerves,
you just wouldn't be bothered,
so it'd be hard
to get yourself switched on.
Make sure we win
that battle tonight.
We're aggressive,
we're front-foot,
we're positive,
but we're in control.
Enjoy the night.
Go and get these fans
out of their seats,
f*ckin' behind ya.
- Come on!
- Come on, let's go!
Come on,
let's f*cking go.
Wrexham, Wrexham,
Wrexham, Wrexham!
You wanna play
in front of fans.
That's what attracts you
to football,
is-is the passion
and the stadiums
and the noise that it creates.
Lainton launches
it long, Mullin chasing.
He's beaten to it, though,
and it's flicked back.
You're early!
Tozer does well in the end.
The ball hits Rowe's hand.
- He's offsides!
- Tshimanga
looks well offsides!
But the flag is down.
He's cutting in!
Tight angle,
and Lainton saves well.
Ball's through the eight.
- Is he not offsides?
- No.
All right, keep us going, son!
I think
Chesterfield are probably
winning the physical battle.
Free kick.
Chesterfield ready
to make a run.
Watch the two round the back.
Watch the two round the back
in the block.
Swept to the far post,
free header, and across
to face a goal!
Chesterfield take the lead.
And there you go.
That's why you have to be alert.
Wrexham have not
defended well.
Shock for Wrexham.
Chesterfield are playing well.
And as the game's progressing,
increasingly so, we're not.
Ooh, Oldaker
makes a great tackle.
Hey!
f*ck off!
It's our free kick! Ay!
It's our free kick!
He's lost it
and he's turned by Kellermann
Who puts another nice-looking
ball towards Tshimanga.
It's a penalty.
It's gotta be, isn't it?
Yeah.
He was going out
to the corner there.
Go a long way.
And Wrexham are in trouble.
I think he's gonna give
Tshimanga the go-ahead.
The Wrexham fans trying
to put him off.
Saved.
Big save by Lainton.
f*cking come on!
We played the whole
of the 38 minutes in that half.
Our own half,
that's where we played.
We're not gonna win the game,
are we?
We're not gonna win the game.
We've had a f*cking lifeline...
It was the penalty save.
We've been given a lifeline.
Grasp it with both hands.
As far as I'm concerned,
we've been outworked there,
outfought, outworked.
We are f*cking miles better
than that.
Not one ball
has gone down the side!
Not one midfield player's
made a run!
We look like a team of f*cking
fanny f*cking footballers!
Before cancer,
I've never been in hospital.
I'd never given blood.
On the day of chemotherapy,
you get weighed,
they give you
what's called a "flush" first
and then they... they actually
give you the chemo,
so you're sitting there
with your arm up.
Then you've got this, erm,
big bag next to you
of the stuff
that you're pumping into you.
You basically keep watching
the bag and just waiting
for it to just go down
and down and down and down,
and you're looking
at your clock all the time.
I had this, like, painkiller
into me...
Going into me back to keep me...
So I was spaced out
a lot of the time as well.
And yeah, once them lights
had gone out,
I-I'd do a lot of thinking.
Schoolboy memories.
You know, I was thinking
about me dad,
me mum who passed away
a few years back.
Can only imagine how boring
it was, like, for Wendy.
I haven't been married
that long, only six years.
We do a lot together.
I mean, she watches Wrexham
as well.
Football was a big part
of me thoughts, but...
Wrexham!
Tozer slings
towards... and Lee head balls.
And it's in!
Come on! Come on!
Out of nowhere,
Wrexham gets the equalizer!
Free header, Mullin!
Last thing at home.
Wow.
- Well done.
- Yay!
Thank you very much, uh...
I just think I'm normal now.
But before,
I was on me deathbed.
Hopefully them songs will...
People will... well, people will
always remember them.
I hope so.
Well, we're now
nine games into the season
and still miles away
in 12th place,
but after a poor first half,
you have to be encouraged
by how Wrexham responded
in that second half
against a true rival
for promotion.
Promising signs,
and it's the first trial
we seem to have emerged from
looking stronger.
Hopefully Phil can keep
this side going like this
and we can see
continued improvement now.
You're a good set of lads.
We're gonna have games
with teams that are gonna come
and they're gonna
make it horrible,
they're gonna slow
the game down,
they're gonna stick it
behind us.
When the game opens up,
that's when you show
your f*cking quality.
Okay? But credit
to your second half, boys.
It's never easy,
one-nil down at home,
going out and play.
But we did loads better.
I thought you showed courage
in the second half.
- Eh?
- Lainton.
I'm not too sure
'cause I've been
in the physio room, so he...
He won't be too long.
Hop in.
Closing off that first half,
obviously, Rob Lainton
conceding the penalty,
but the hero a few moments
later with the save.
Yeah, disappointed
when they awarded the penalty.
Uh, but Rob's a good goalkeeper
and, um, you know,
it was a big moment for us.
Let's enjoy the day.
Not just make the most of it,
you know.
What can we achieve today
for the team?
Because people remember being
at games with their kids
and watching, you know,
great moments,
and they live...
Live in their memories as much
as the people that are
actually involved in them,
out on the pitch
or on the touchline.
Let's try and string
a couple of wins together
and we'll be back up there.
Iechyd da.
Football for me is far more
than the actual game
of football.
It's being here
with your football family.
It's... it's the whole
match day experience.
Go, baby, go.
Ooh.
I don't remember
any specific game.
I just remember
the bonding experience
between you and the people
who have been following
this adventure.
- Goal!
- Goal, goal, goal, goal.
Goal, goal, goal,
goal, goal, goal,
- Yeah.
- Well done, lad.
- Cheers.
- See you later.
- Thank you.
- Good game. See ya.
See ya next week.
01x05 - Fearless
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American documentary about the events of Welsh association football club Wrexham A.F.C., as told by the club’s owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.
American documentary about the events of Welsh association football club Wrexham A.F.C., as told by the club’s owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.