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arryarryarry
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mariner83
August 25, 2022, 7:35am

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Even a Hollywood superhero couldn't rescue Wrexham: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS gives his verdict on the documentary that follows A-list owners of a lowly football club

Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney face a daunting job. They've bought Wrexham FC, vowing to see it promoted back into the football league.

The goal of the multi-millionaire actors is to propel their club into League Two – the old Fourth Division. Welcome To Wrexham, an eight-part docuseries on Disney+, charts their progress.

Late news from the Racecourse Ground: it's Hollywood 0, Harsh Reality 2. The club is currently on the cusp of the play-off places, after failing to get promoted last year.

But if they have an uphill struggle, spare a thought for Disney's subtitles writer. Most of the more challenging dialects have to be captioned for a US audience – and confronted by the rich variety of British accents, the subtitler has the thankless task of translating them into... well, American.

North Walian is tricky enough. But he's expected to cope with Brummie, with Manc, with Scouse. Inevitably, there's a lot of paraphrasing. When goalie Rob Lainton pats his biceps and declares, 'I think I'm in good nick,' it's subtitled as, 'I think I look good.'

Elsewhere, the captioner has to rely on guesswork. 'Doesn't matter,' said in a Wrexham accent, sounds a lot like 'at the moment' to an American ear, apparently.

But when beer is involved, the task becomes impossible. A bit of exuberant and inventive ranting by a fan was simply subtitled, '???'.

One character who doesn't need captioning is McElhenney's friend Humphrey Ker, a 6ft 7in Old Etonian comedy writer who acts as the go-between for club and new owners.

'I'm going to be a conduit,' he told the players. It's a pity they didn't have the benefit of subtitles, because you could easily mishear that word 'conduit'.

Ryan Reynolds is best known as the star of Deadpool, a superhero movie franchise. You might not recognise him with his mask off.

You probably won't recognise Rob McElhenney either, because he's chiefly known for a long-running US sitcom rarely seen in Britain, called It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Both men have the doppelganger face of Hollywood leading men – long jaws, self-deprecating grins, interchangeable beards. If you made a movie of their lives, Ioan Gruffudd could play either of them.

The pair didn't know each other, except through social media, before going into business together. Rob was frank about why he approached Ryan, a much bigger star: 'I had TV money, but I needed superhero movie money.'

How much they paid for the club in 2020 wasn't revealed. We're told that 98 per cent of the supporters' club backed the takeover, but the financial details are never mentioned.

This is a show about the emotion of football, not the accounts. Despite its efforts to paint Wrexham as the British equivalent of an industrial city in America's 'rust belt', it does evoke the passion of the game.

Most of the first two half-hour episodes consist of Ryan and Rob insisting that this isn't a vanity project.

That's difficult to swallow, coming from men with teeth like aircraft landing lights, but I believe them. Thousands wouldn't.

Asked why they chose Wrexham, the world's third oldest club, Rob went into a long explanation of how much the Philadelphia Eagles, an American football club, meant to him. He's undoubtedly sincere, but it still doesn't explain, 'Why Wrexham?' Ryan flashed his goofy smile and confessed he was trying to live up to the dreams his late father had for him.

They are shaky on the rules of the game, and even the documentary makers were flummoxed by the rules governing promotion and relegation.

One graphic was littered with errors – citing the wrong number of teams in a league, the wrong number of clubs demoted each year, that kind of thing.

Basic terminology, such as the meaning of 'nil', baffled them. Watching one match, Rob attempts to explain what is happening on the pitch: 'He got the red card which means he is immediately ejected from the game.' In a Zoom call, Ryan tries to look suitably impressed as Humphrey extols the talents of a striker. 'Thirty-four goals in all competitions? Wow!' he gasps – clearly clueless about what that actually means.

But the duo are serious in their desire for success. On the final day of the season last year, Rob woke at 4am to watch the game live from his home in Los Angeles. Wrexham could manage only a draw and failed to make the play-offs.

That brought out the Californian serial killer instinct.

Wrexham's manager, his backroom team and ten of the players were axed.

This was dressed up in LA therapy jargon, of course. 'Not everyone can come on the journey with us,' Humphrey regretted. As the series progresses, we see less of Rob and Ryan. It's not that the lack of instant success means their interest is waning, heaven forbid.

Instead, the film-makers are mirroring other streaming video shows about football, such as Netflix's Sunderland 'Til I Die, and Amazon Prime's All Or Nothing: Arsenal.

This shifts the emphasis on to fans, players and volunteers at the club.

We meet the local band who have recorded a Wrexham anthem, and a disgruntled painter and decorator whose love for the club keeps him going in a job he hates.

And we eavesdrop on two middle-aged ladies who sit outside a coffee shop to dissect the manager's tactics each Saturday. We all know that middle-aged ladies and their cappuccinos are the backbone of every British football club's fanbase... at least, in the Hollywood version.
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aldi_01
August 25, 2022, 8:01am

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fornicators released in batches too so we’ve still got to wait for weeks until we can watch us ruin it…


'the poor and the needy are selfish and greedy'...well done Mozza
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DB
August 25, 2022, 9:22am
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Quoted from mariner83
Even a Hollywood superhero couldn't rescue Wrexham: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS gives his verdict on the documentary that follows A-list owners of a lowly football club

Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney face a daunting job. They've bought Wrexham FC, vowing to see it promoted back into the football league.

The goal of the multi-millionaire actors is to propel their club into League Two – the old Fourth Division. Welcome To Wrexham, an eight-part docuseries on Disney+, charts their progress.

Late news from the Racecourse Ground: it's Hollywood 0, Harsh Reality 2. The club is currently on the cusp of the play-off places, after failing to get promoted last year.

But if they have an uphill struggle, spare a thought for Disney's subtitles writer. Most of the more challenging dialects have to be captioned for a US audience – and confronted by the rich variety of British accents, the subtitler has the thankless task of translating them into... well, American.

North Walian is tricky enough. But he's expected to cope with Brummie, with Manc, with Scouse. Inevitably, there's a lot of paraphrasing. When goalie Rob Lainton pats his biceps and declares, 'I think I'm in good nick,' it's subtitled as, 'I think I look good.'

Elsewhere, the captioner has to rely on guesswork. 'Doesn't matter,' said in a Wrexham accent, sounds a lot like 'at the moment' to an American ear, apparently.

But when beer is involved, the task becomes impossible. A bit of exuberant and inventive ranting by a fan was simply subtitled, '???'.

One character who doesn't need captioning is McElhenney's friend Humphrey Ker, a 6ft 7in Old Etonian comedy writer who acts as the go-between for club and new owners.

'I'm going to be a conduit,' he told the players. It's a pity they didn't have the benefit of subtitles, because you could easily mishear that word 'conduit'.

Ryan Reynolds is best known as the star of Deadpool, a superhero movie franchise. You might not recognise him with his mask off.

You probably won't recognise Rob McElhenney either, because he's chiefly known for a long-running US sitcom rarely seen in Britain, called It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Both men have the doppelganger face of Hollywood leading men – long jaws, self-deprecating grins, interchangeable beards. If you made a movie of their lives, Ioan Gruffudd could play either of them.

The pair didn't know each other, except through social media, before going into business together. Rob was frank about why he approached Ryan, a much bigger star: 'I had TV money, but I needed superhero movie money.'

How much they paid for the club in 2020 wasn't revealed. We're told that 98 per cent of the supporters' club backed the takeover, but the financial details are never mentioned.

This is a show about the emotion of football, not the accounts. Despite its efforts to paint Wrexham as the British equivalent of an industrial city in America's 'rust belt', it does evoke the passion of the game.

Most of the first two half-hour episodes consist of Ryan and Rob insisting that this isn't a vanity project.

That's difficult to swallow, coming from men with teeth like aircraft landing lights, but I believe them. Thousands wouldn't.

Asked why they chose Wrexham, the world's third oldest club, Rob went into a long explanation of how much the Philadelphia Eagles, an American football club, meant to him. He's undoubtedly sincere, but it still doesn't explain, 'Why Wrexham?' Ryan flashed his goofy smile and confessed he was trying to live up to the dreams his late father had for him.

They are shaky on the rules of the game, and even the documentary makers were flummoxed by the rules governing promotion and relegation.

One graphic was littered with errors – citing the wrong number of teams in a league, the wrong number of clubs demoted each year, that kind of thing.

asic terminology, such as the meaning of 'nil', baffled them. Watching one match, Rob attempts to explain what is happening on the pitch: 'He got the red card which means he is immediately ejected from the game.' In a Zoom call, Ryan tries to look suitably impressed as Humphrey extols the talents of a striker. 'Thirty-four goals in all competitions? Wow!' he gasps – clearly clueless about what that actually means.

But the duo are serious in their desire for success. On the final day of the season last year, Rob woke at 4am to watch the game live from his home in Los Angeles. Wrexham could manage only a draw and failed to make the play-offs.

That brought out the Californian serial killer instinct.

Wrexham's manager, his backroom team and ten of the players were axed.

This was dressed up in LA therapy jargon, of course. 'Not everyone can come on the journey with us,' Humphrey regretted. As the series progresses, we see less of Rob and Ryan. It's not that the lack of instant success means their interest is waning, heaven forbid.

Instead, the film-makers are mirroring other streaming video shows about football, such as Netflix's Sunderland 'Til I Die, and Amazon Prime's All Or Nothing: Arsenal.

This shifts the emphasis on to fans, players and volunteers at the club.

We meet the local band who have recorded a Wrexham anthem, and a disgruntled painter and decorator whose love for the club keeps him going in a job he hates.

And we eavesdrop on two middle-aged ladies who sit outside a coffee shop to dissect the manager's tactics each Saturday. We all know that middle-aged ladies and their cappuccinos are the backbone of every British football club's fanbase... at least, in the Hollywood version.


This is the reason I can't be bothered to watch it.



You can please some of the forumites some of the time but not all the forumites all of the time
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crusty ole pie
August 26, 2022, 7:17am

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Just let me know when anything of interest happens
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promotion plaice
August 26, 2022, 7:25am

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Quoted from crusty ole pie
Just let me know when anything of interest happens

Last episode  



When Leeds trainer Les Cocker was once told Norman Hunter had broken a leg, he asked: “Whose is it?”
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MarinerBen
August 26, 2022, 10:24am

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Just watched the two episodes on offer, and it comes as no surprise that people on here are bemoaning it already.

Disney are putting non-league English football on a global platform. This isn't Arsenal or Sunderland, it's Wrexham. On Disney...and Grimsby will feature at some point (albeit as the villains!).

Reynolds and McElhenney come across as subdued versions of their usual public identities, but in the end somehow get you rooting for the Dragons as they try to overcome the struggles of the National League.

Pearson also features as he was there during the takeover. Plot twist!


"Take what you can, give nothing back"
                                                                 - Capt. J. Sparrow
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Kris2
August 26, 2022, 4:39pm
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First episode was a bit boring as not much to do with football as it was mostly background on Ryan and Rob but second episode is a look inside a club in the middle of a takeover with coaches and players feeling the sting of jobs on the line as the season finishes. You feel for Dean Keates who returned to a club he almost got to the playoffs in his first spell as they were fighting relegation from the National League and got them back to playoff contenders, they missed out on the playoffs on the last day of the season and then the offloading begins. With the backing his successor got and his experience in the league maybe they wouldn't have had to settle for the playoffs and lose to us had they kept him on. Hindsight and all that.

Amusing point in episode 2 was seeing comedy writer and actor Humphrey Ker appointed an executive director because Ryan and Rob "trust him", he knows nothing about football and it shows with him pottering around the club not knowing what he's looking for or talking about. During a players meeting he introduces himself to the players who look suitably confused why he's even there as in a voice over he describes meeting the team as meeting "the cool kids at school while I'm the nerd in the class again". As Humphrey has a crisis during his voice over he meekly introduces himself and wonders why he's even there.
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GollyGTFC
August 26, 2022, 6:28pm

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Quoted from MarinerBen
Just watched the two episodes on offer, and it comes as no surprise that people on here are bemoaning it already.

Disney are putting non-league English football on a global platform. This isn't Arsenal or Sunderland, it's Wrexham. On Disney...and Grimsby will feature at some point (albeit as the villains!).


Disney+ is only the host platform in the UK. It’s an FX series and is on their platform in North America.
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Lost in Lincoln
August 26, 2022, 6:31pm
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Might watch the last one, the fairy tale ending


First game: 7/5/88 Aldershot (h) 1-1 (R)
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