The oldest competition in the world offers the latest stories. The English Cup is looking for its last 16 protagonists this weekend and among them there is the possibility of injecting a single team that does not live in the ranks of professionals, Wrexham, a Welsh team that plays in the English fifth division and Sheffield hosts United , from the second category. The epic is mostly repeated in a competition where the draw is pure (Manchester City and Arsenal met yesterday and the former won 1-0) and is open to humble contenders. The extraordinary lies in the fur of Wrexham, a club controlled by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, two North American actors who immediately document all their adventures in a television series, Welcome to Wrexham, broadcast worldwide on multiple platforms (in Spain). will Disney+ make it). “They are busy putting Wrexham on the map like never before,” said King Carlos III, who, along with his wife Camilla, visited the club’s fiefdom last December to celebrate one of Elizabeth II’s final decisions, namely, the granting of the city with 63,000 inhabitants, status of the city.
25 miles from Liverpool, Wrexham is trying to emerge from a long depression with a commitment to new technologies. In the late 18th century it thrived with its lead and coal mines at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Cricket matches or horse racing were held there as early as 1807 on what is known as the Racecourse Ground, where football was first played in 1864. Thirteen years later, the first recorded game between national teams took place here, a duel between Wales and Scotland.
Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds speaks to his players as they await the arrival of Carlos III and Camila last December. Founded in 1864, Wrexham is the third oldest professional football club in the world. It was acquired by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in late 2020. Karwai Tang (WireImage)
King Charles and Camilla, and Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. During the visit, they met the staff and spoke about the running of the club. ARTHUR EDWARDS (Getty images)
Wrexham fans watch an English fifth tier game between their team and Maidenhead United in January 2022. OLI SCARFF (AFP)
Celebration of Wrexham’s first goal against Maidenhead United at their Racecourse Ground stadium. The town is in North Wales OLI SCARFF (AFP)
A young fan poses with Wrex the Dragon, Wrexham’s official mascot, during half-time in the game against Maidenhead United. OLI SCARFF (AFP)
Wrexham players leave the path towards the dressing rooms after the end of the first part of their game against Maidenhead United. OLI SCARFF (AFP)
A Wrexham fan buys a cake from one of the stalls on the Racecourse Ground at half time of his team’s game against Maidenhead United. OLI SCARFF (AFP)
Fans leave the stadium after the match between Wrexham and Maidenhead United. OLI SCARFF (AFP)
Wrexham fans chat in a pub adjacent to the Racecourse Ground minutes before the start of the English 5th League game OLI SCARFF (AFP)
A woman walks in front of a row of houses in Wrexham town centre. OLI SCARFF (AFP)
In Wrexham, Spain stormed into the 1986 World Cup in a memorable game by Mark Hughes and amid an electrifying atmosphere typical of a proud city. Almost two thousand of its residents owned the team when they received an unexpected offer just over two years ago was proposed: Reynolds and McElhenney, who had never been to Wrexham, offered €2.5m in investment to pay off debts and capitalize on the club gaining control. It is a unit that only played in the English second category in two brief spells, the last between 1978 and 1982, but has featured eight times in Europe as the Welsh Cup winners who stopped playing at the end of the last century. Almost 10% of followers voted against the arrival of the actors, who warned of their intention to broadcast everything that happens there in a TV series when they bought it.
The Wrexham force along with King Charles III and Camila Arthur Edwards (AP)
The end of the first half of the season was a rejection letter and last season turned into a dramatic thriller when the team lost their chances of promotion in the 119th minute of the play-off semifinals. He did it as the islands’ football guns dictate: a throw-in that hit the far post and a header into the net. “We’re going to try again,” said It’s Always Philadelphian star McElhenney. Both he and Reynolds, star of Deadpool or The Proposal, set foot in Wrexham for the first time a year after taking over the club. There they began to act in their most realistic film. A somewhat deceptive sign greeted them: “The sun always shines in Wrexham.”
“These people are dear to your heart,” admitted Reynolds, a Vancouver Canadian who was already following the team on YouTube and left Field of Wrexham, fascinated by the atmosphere at The Turf, the pub that marks the entrance to football only one in the UK where for decades you could watch the games from your back balcony, pint in hand and a sign warning that no one goes sober there. “In places like this you can feel the history and its heritage. It’s not a joke,” Reynolds admitted. In many cases, when you buy a football team, you buy the soul of the city that hosts it.
Wrexham fans at a game at their stadium. OLI SCARFF (AFP)
It all started on a spring afternoon in Los Angeles. McElhenney was working on a script and Humphrey Ker, a British actor, who was also on the other side of the camera and was mad to see the Champions League game between Liverpool and Barcelona, which ended in a sizzling comeback at Anfield , walked around his office . This shocked McElhenney, who while in detention received Ker’s proposal to watch the famous Netflix series chronicling the misadventures of Sunderland. McElhenney then envisioned a script in which he would be the protagonist. A consultant considered various options and Wrexham appeared on the horizon. Next, Reynolds had to be contacted and persuaded to become a partner and then appoint Ker, who lives in London, as the club’s CEO.
The Deadpool superhero has nearly 48 million followers on Instagram and has called his football experience “emotionally draining, financially dopey and totally addicting”. The team are struggling for another year for promotion to League Two, the fourth division of English football, in a category, the National League, where they have already done well for fifteen years: champions of a 24-year championship hardly get promoted teams , with six more playing in an agonizing play-off for second promotion. Meanwhile, the action of the docuseries progresses with the contributions of the townsfolk, the bartender, the librarian, the singer of a local group or the center forward of the team. Wrexham has become a mecca for fans from around the world who vacillate between reality and fiction. Now the twist in the script brings an epic in the cup, allowing this Sunday for the series to be broadcast across more operators: in Spain Wrexham appears on Dazn and in England the match will be broadcast by none other than the BBC’s first channel.
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