Highlights
- Welcome to Wrexham has had a significant impact on soccer's overall appeal, even for non-fans, by providing a mix of sports entertainment.
- The rivalry between Wrexham and Notts County in the National League reached new heights, with their matches becoming the most important in the league's history.
- The episode featuring Wrexham's game against Notts County showcases the thrilling and Hollywood-worthy story of the team's rise, with a climactic moment that captures viewers' attention.
For non-soccer fans, it’s easy to understand the effect Welcome to Wrexham has had in the sport’s overall appeal, it’s probably the reason they even sort of know what an offside play is now. Yet for the hardcore football lover, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s venture made the National League something they’re actually curious about.
This is proven by episode 12, “Hand of Foz”, which unlike most of Wrexham’s exploits throughout the season contains a moment that went completely viral in a footballing world that continues to watch the Red Dragons rise in utter fascination. Not only that, it does in the Welcome to Wrexham style that has worked wonders with more casual audiences to provide a great mix of sports entertainment as the team gets closer to its goal.
During the course of the 2022-2023 season, Wrexham had one big rival in mind, Notts County. The show has made it quite clear that was the case, yet here viewers are reminded that both teams are not only top of the league, they have gone on to raise the level of this fifth tier competition to completely new heights, as both Wrexham and Notts County are in the middle of a record-setting campaign by National League or even Career Mode standards.
Wrexham lost their first clash to Notts County 0-1, but since then both teams went on runs that made the media label this match as the most important game in the National League’s entire history. Surely, this isn’t the first tight race for the title, but it’s that combined with the Hollywood shine Reynolds and McElhenney bring to the table that elevates the whole affair.
Nevertheless, before Notts County must come Halifax Town, a team sitting just a few spots below Wrexham with nothing more to fight for until the playoffs. The Wrexham fans are brimming with confidence of an easy win over Halifax before the real title decider, which is exactly what makes the outcome all the more special.
The 3-1 defeat sums up what sports are all about, it’s surprising, inspiring, fun and painful, all at the same time. For a team that had racked up win after win, it’s possibly exactly what they needed, especially for their new signing, Ben Foster, who put on a terrible performance at Halifax as it’s him that makes Welcome to Wrexham come full circle.
Two weeks ago, Welcome to Wrexham chose Foster as the focal point of an entire episode, and it’s not been the first time the series has fixed on the goalkeeping position as both long-time starter Rob Lainton and his old deputy Christian Dibble got the same treatment. What makes Foster’s case different is the role he played in one of the most important moments in the club’s history.
On April 10, 2023, Wrexham and Notts County faced off in an absolute thriller, a game that caught the eye of football fans way above the National League, as the Cinderella story enabled by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney reached its climax. With the title on the line, the coveted promotion spot up for grabs, plus a rivalry between the two teams, the stage was perfectly set at the Racecourse Ground.
Wrexham and Notts County’s second game had everything one could ask for in a football match: plenty of goals, controversial referee calls, star players, a story, and Ben Foster. This game makes it feel as if Wrexham’s story wasn’t real, as if it had been conjured up in a Hollywood writers’ room, and -fittingly- the end is almost too good to be true.
With everything on the line, Wrexham’s season comes down to only an injury time penalty separating the team from nearly clinching promotion. 40-year-old just came out of retirement Ben Foster 1v1 opposite Notts’ Cedwyn Scott. If everything before it wasn't enough, then that single moment will get more people start to take notice of Reynolds and McElhenney’s Wrexham.
Everything in this Welcome to Wrexham episode simply clicks, from the way that fans recall the many heartbreaks from the last three decades or so, to the celebrations after Wrexham secure their 3-2 win. Fans don’t have to take their word for it, but it truly seems like Reynolds and McElhenney are having the time of their lives as Wrexham owners.
Before Reynolds and McElhenney acquired Wrexham, the National League was nowhere near FIFA’s radar, and 2 years later the team is now part of it, not due to some marketing deal, but down to their accomplishments. The National League is now available on EA Sports FC 24. There are still three episodes left, but if this were the season finale for Welcome to Wrexham, it would be perfect.
Both Wrexham and Notts County now compete in Football League Two, England’s fourth division, and as fate would have it, the episode has aired only a few days after these rivals met again. No matter the result, this week more than ever shows Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney made a life-changing decision the day they bought Wrexham, one that could completely alter the sport forever if things continue to go their way and they end up in the Premier League.
Welcome to Wrexham
Welcome to Wrexham captures one of the best moments of the past soccer season in great fashion with all the heart viewers have come to expect from the series.
