What next for Welcome to Wrexham? Season three must buck sports documentary trends -

Up The Town?

It was a laudable attempt by the team behind Welcome to Wrexham to create an element of suspense for the final episode of series two by adding a question mark to a long-standing supporters’ battle cry.

But surely even those with only a passing interest in either Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney or British football know how this chapter ends. Wrexham’s 15-year exile from the EFL finally ended last spring.

That, though, should not detract from a finale that, like the curtain coming down on series one via heart-breaking defeat in the National League play-offs, delivers on so many levels.

Every emotion is here. From the despair of falling behind inside 44 seconds to Boreham Wood in the match that will ultimately decide the promotion race — “Really? That just happened for real?” bemoans a stunned Reynolds — through to the sheer, unadulterated joy as thousands of fans pour on to the field and tears are shed in the stands at the final whistle.

Whoever chose Rocky theme tune Gonna Fly Now to accompany the return of Wrexham’s sporting mojo deserves a pat on the back.

Then there’s the human interest element that the documentary does so well. Paul Mullin’s devotion to autistic son Albi has been a big part of the current series, while the tragic stillbirth of Jordan Davies and partner Kelsey Edwards’s baby son in December 2022, featured in last year’s show.

Footage of the couple attending a scan for their unborn child, due a couple of weeks after the 2022-23 season is over, and Mullin attending an autism charity event are poignantly interspersed with action from the promotion clincher.

In the closing stages of the final episode, Phil Parkinson spots midfielder Davies, together with new-born daughter Harlow, in the 40,000 throng packing the streets for the May 2 open-top bus parade. The elation etched across the manager’s face at such a happy sight will surely be matched by those watching at home.

Viewing figures throughout series two are said, by those in the know, to have been strong. That’s no mean feat considering the usual PR machine that would click into gear surrounding a show like this having to be scaled back due to the Hollywood actors/writers strike over pay and conditions, meaning neither Reynolds nor McElhenney could do any publicity work.

(OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Building an audience large enough to persuade FX to commission a third series, which will premiere in spring next year, amid such restrictions speaks volumes.

So, what next? How does Welcome to Wrexham stay fresh amid an increasingly cluttered market that has seen Huddersfield Town, Sheffield United and Burnley go down the ‘behind the scenes’ road in recent months? And are there any lessons to be learned from other successful football docuseries?

Sunderland Til I Die, broadcast on Netflix, is probably as good a place as any to start, not least because this is effectively where the Wrexham-showbiz crossover story began.

Humphrey Ker, now the club’s executive director but then a writing partner of McElhenney’s on Apple TV show Mythic Quest, recommended this show about a struggling football club from the north east of England to his friend. After initial misgivings, McElhenney binge-watched both series.

Then came the light-bulb moment. “We should do this,” he told Ker. “Buy a football team. But do it in reverse, by buying a club already struggling and try to turn it around.”

It is easy to see why McElhenney enjoyed the Sunderland show. The two series — covering the 2017-18 and 2018-19 football seasons — are very different. Not just in terms of key figures, with the inevitable churn at a club slipping down through the leagues meaning there is a revolving-door style existence for managers and players.

But a change at the very top — as the club went from the David Brent-style pronouncements of CEO Martin Bain to the ‘how not to negotiate transfers’ masterclass offered by new owner Stewart Donald — gives the two series a very different feel. This comes despite certain central themes remaining, including the gradual extinguishing of hope among the club’s long-suffering supporters.

A third mini-series was mooted a little over a year ago. Producers Fulwell 73 even went public to say the show would end “on a high” and cover promotion in the League One play-offs.

Since then, though, nothing. With that May 2022 triumph at Wembley now fading into history, you have to wonder if the final chapter will ever see the light of day, which is a shame.

Unlike Sunderland Til I Die, Class of ’92, first broadcast on the BBC before switching to Sky, has bucked the trend of sports documentaries rarely stretching beyond a couple of series.

Starting with the takeover of Salford City, then playing in the eighth tier of English football, by five former Manchester United players in 2014, the show proved an instant hit.

As with Welcome to Wrexham, the stardust may have come from the owners — Gary Neville and brother Phil, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs. But the true beating heart of that docuseries were the people who had previously lived away from the spotlight.

Sunderland Til I Die focused on tough seasons (Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)

That included the volunteers who for years had given up their time freely to help the club, such as Babs who still cooks the burgers on a matchday. Or Jonno and Bernard, the no-nonsense management duo who took charge of the team in the second episode.

Neither man would make for a welcome sight if walking towards you in a dark alley at night. But the pair were TV gold, particularly the rousing dressing room team talks that gave even Parkinson a run for his money in the swearing stakes.

But, like Babs and other volunteers such as Andrew, whose love of all things Salford helps make the club’s matchday programme such a unique production, Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley helped bring the documentary to life.

The managerial duo made it as far as series four before leaving in the wake of leading Salford into the National League. By then, Class of ’92 was on its way to becoming a shadow of its former self, the most recent series covering the early weeks of 2022-23 being little more than match action and footage of the elder Neville brother driving around Manchester.

Whether this is by design or budgetary restraint remains unclear. But, for Welcome to Wrexham, it is a timely reminder to keep seeking out those untold stories away from the pitch.

As Sunderland Til I Die proved, unfiltered access is everything. The entire club has to be on display, regardless of whether this might make for uncomfortable viewing or not.

A prime example came in series one when Reynolds and McElhenney were considering Parkinson’s future after a slow start to his time as manager. To not reflect this would have been wrong, hence why the ‘Sack The Gaffer’ episode felt like a genuine peek behind the curtain.

As McElhenney will know better than anyone thanks to Always Sunny in Philadelphia being the longest-running live-action comedy series in history, any show that wants to stick around must evolve.

By bringing forward the premiere to the spring from autumn, the producers have made an important first step. This cut down the time lag between events happening and reaching the screen from months to potentially just weeks. And for those viewers from overseas who don’t follow the lower division football results religiously, there’s also an increased chance of enjoying the story unfold oblivious to how it ends.

Another promotion this season will also help, as new players with new backstories will have to be signed to compete at a higher level. If the producers can retain the sense of trust they enjoy at the Racecourse — no one opens up like Mullin, Davies or Anthony Forde have done unless implicit trust is there — then that required evolution shouldn’t be a problem.

The narrative surrounding Wrexham is changing all the time. The perennial strugglers locked in non-League purgatory we met at the start of series one have morphed into a club whose turnover this season is expected to reach £20million, an income level way beyond their fourth-tier peers and sufficiently high to bring a smile to the face of even a Championship owner not in receipt of parachute payments.

Parkinson’s side, fresh from smashing the previous record points tally of the National League to smithereens last season, are also currently unbeaten in two months, having won eight of their last nine games in all competitions.

Describing this group of players as “plucky underdogs” would push the boundaries of creative licence to breaking point. The town, however, is different.

For all the excitement and sense of pride generated by the club’s recent success, Wrexham, like Sunderland following the collapse of the old ship-building industry, still carries the scars of a lengthy economic decline since the days when coal was king.

Good things are happening, particularly in terms of the flourishing pub and restaurant trade thanks to the influx of tourists drawn in by the show. The proposed new public space where the old Hippodrome used to stand, dedicated by McElhenney in honour of his business partner’s birthday, will also help.

But ‘To Let’ signs still dominate alongside the bookmakers and charity shops that are now such a familiar sight on struggling High Streets up and down the land.

Walking around the town centre — very few locals acknowledge the city status granted in 2022 — this is where the true underdog element of the show can be found. These two Hollywood actors have been a remarkable force for change in a place they’d more than likely never heard of before locking on to the local football club, never mind visited.

If that’s not a fairytale that deserves telling via a third series, what is?

(Top photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

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