I love HBO’s Hard Knocks. I think it’s one of HBO’s premier titles and the NFL partnership has created some amazing television. With that in mind, I wondered what I would find in Welcome to Wrexham. Ever since reading Bred of Heaven by Jasper Rees I have developed an affinity for Wales. With the World Cup just around the corner, that Wales qualified for by the way, decided it was time to dive into Welcome to Wrexham. I didn’t know what to expect. Would it try to be funny considering the involvement of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney? Would it be an all-access dive for existing football nerds like Hard Knocks? Would it be a propaganda and publicity piece by Reynolds and McElhenny to generate interest in their new investment? Is it a naked cash grab to ride the cresting wave of football interest in America led by the upcoming World Cup, the growth of the game, and Ted Lasso?
I am glad I watched episodes 1 and 2 back to back. I don’t think the first episode does a great job presenting the show. Too much of it revolves around the double R’s and their lack of knowledge about the beautiful game. The inexperienced fish out of water style humor can work in a scripted show like Ted Lasso. But Wrexham is a real team with real players and real employees. A pair of idiotic and bumbling novices running the operation is not so funny when people’s livelihoods are on the line. Episode 1 just didn’t do it for me. Meeting the people of Wrexham was the best part of the episode. Unfortunately that only highlighted the disconnect between passionate local fans and two rich jabronis in Hollywood.
Episode 2 on the other hand hits like a firecracker. It emulates the best parts of Hard Knocks. In the last season following the Detroit Lions, everyone knew Aidan Hutchinson would be fine. First-round draft picks always make it through training camp. The real drama surrounded guys like David Blough and everyone’s favorite Malcolm Rodriguez. Hard Knocks is best when it highlights the journeymen and young players, the working-class players of the league. With a team as low Wrexham, all the players are working-class players. There are no Ronaldo’s getting paid tens of millions and jetting around the world. Episode 2 explicitly lays it out. If something goes wrong, these players can’t simply retire at 35 and be set for their lives. They’re playing on real thin margins.
Much like a scripted television show, it is possible to spoil Welcome to Wrexham. I will spoil the end of episode 2 in a few moments, so there’s fair warning. As such, I have been trying to avoid reading much of anything about the show. And real-life Wrexham fans will almost always be ahead of the show because they’ll be watching the games live. This leads to an advantage Welcome to Wrexham as a television show has over Welcome to Manchester City. It is hard to avoid Man City scores even if you’re not a Man City fan. They show up front and center on any sports site that covers English football. Wrexham score are harder to find which helps the show stay fresh for more viewers.
As a television show, Welcome to Wrexham pulls an interesting move by starting the series near the end of the season. The climax of episode 2 is a match Wrexham needs to win in order to make the playoffs and be promoted to the next level of English football. Spoiler, they end up drawing and do not get promoted. The manager gets fired and a bunch of players are cut from the team. Hard Knocks does cuts near the end of the season after building up all the players. I think it was important for Welcome to Wrexham to establish early that this will be a serious show about football, not a goofball vanity project. As owners of the club, McElhenney and Reynolds will look like complete tools if they’re acting all jokey while cutting players and firing coaching staffs.
Going forward, I’m excited to continually compare Welcome to Wrexham to Hard Knocks. I’m looking forward to seeing some more high-level organizational decisions. Hard Knocks occasionally shows the general manager, but the show revolves around the players and coaching staff. I want to see what else is necessary to run a professional team. Will McElhenney and Reynolds be involved in making financial decisions about facility upgrades? What about season-ticket holder outreach programs? There are hundreds of off-field aspects to team success that do not fall under Hard Knock’s purview and I look forward to seeing them.
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