Latest news with #WrexhamFC
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Wrexham gets a rude welcome to the Championship as Southampton twice strikes late for 2-1 win
SOUTHAMPTON, England — Wrexham was denied a Hollywood-style ending on its return to English soccer's second tier on Saturday when relegated Premier League team Southampton struck twice in the final minutes to grab a 2-1 win. Josh Windass' penalty kick in the 22nd minute looked enough for Wrexham's first win in the Welsh team's first game back in the division in 43 years.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Fantasy football: here come TV's Welcome to Wrexham rip-offs
It was the crossover that no one in the entertainment industry, or the sports world, saw coming: the stars of Deadpool and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia aligning in February 2021 to purchase a beleaguered professional football club in the north of Wales. Four years on from that blockbuster deal, which looked all but doomed to end in disaster, Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac (legally changed from McElhenney, a tongue-twisting trip wire apparently) have not only proven to be eminently noble stewards of 160-year-old Wrexham FC; in hindsight, they look even cannier for deciding to make a great show of their attempt to reverse the club's fortunes. Welcome to Wrexham – their Ted Lasso-like hourlong series documenting the club's historic ascent from fifth division English football to, now, the Premier League doorstep – has been an unqualified hit with American audiences and critics, many of whom came into this premise as clueless as the new owners themselves. So it figures now that Wrexham has nabbed eight primetime Emmy nominations, Hollywood finds itself scrabbling to turn Reynolds and Mac's offsides run into a proper reality TV subgenre, with three new Wrexham knockoffs hitting small screens starting from last week. Amazon's Built in Birmingham: Brady and the Blues follows Tom Brady's quest to turn around Birmingham City. From the kickoff, the seven-time NFL champion bristles at any attempts to frame his interest in City as a vanity project; that's even as his series serves up another test of the Patriot Way, the TB12 method and other winning formulas that fueled his gridiron Cinderella story – a favorite chestnut. 'What's the difference between football and soccer'?' he asks, rhetorically. 'Nothing.' Throughout the five-part series, Brady fancies himself a visionary and disrupter only to be revealed as a classic American know-it-all. 'I'm a little worried about our new coach's work ethic,' he says, hinting at some buyer's remorse over former England captain Wayne Rooney – who turned out to be a complete disaster as manager. Brady would have been far better served making a documentary on his conflicting interests as an NFL owner (of the Las Vegas Raiders) and the league's highest-paid game analyst. The alternative, his Prime Video series, is as satisfying as a solitary morsel of dark chocolate – once a TB12 nightcap staple, bitter and unfulfilling. And that's despite the excess of clips from Peaky Blinders. (Show creator Steven Knight is an executive producer on Birmingham.) FX's Necaxa, the official Wrexham spinoff that debuted Thursday, offers a deeper dive into Liga MX – Mexican fútbol. Surprisingly, Mac and Reynolds also feature prominently as executive producers and talking heads in this five-part series. The job of actually reviving the team falls to Eva Longoria, who further seizes the opportunity to reconnect with her Mexican roots. Apart from Mac and Reynolds's cameos, the series is told completely in Spanish – a language that Longoria, a Texas native who grew up speaking English, is openly self-conscious about speaking. The obvious play here is cultural representation, and it will surely find an audience in a league that was once more watched in the US than the Prem. Only one Wrexham knockoff really scores: ESPN+'s Running of the Wolves. At first blush the idea of a third-division Italian team owned by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, daytime TV's impossibly good looking real-life married couple, couldn't seem more far-fetched. But Consuelos isn't playing a part here. In fact, he spent chunks of his formative years on the boot, grew up rooting for Juventus and speaks fluent (if heavily American inflected) Italian. It was in 2022 that he and Ripa joined the group that owns Campobasso FC, a properly downtrodden outfit. But you wouldn't know it from the way Consuelos cheerleads for them on Live!, syndicated TV's morning colossus. Campobasso is a real-life fantasy team for Consuelos. He bolts to Italy at a moment's notice to participate in personnel meetings and stir enthusiasm around town. ('Really good haircuts, great tattoos and they smell amazing!' was how he assessed the team after greeting them coming off the bus before a friendly.) When co-owner Mark Rizzetta rings long distance from Italy to strategize about acquiring a star player who once seemed out of reach, Consuelos doesn't hesitate to interrupt dinner at home with the wife to take the video call. Wolves doesn't just nod at Wrexham and open with Ripa and Consuelos interviewing Reynolds on Live! about the club. (That's as trash talk between Brady and Mac spices up a matchup between City and Wrexham … ) Wolves tweaks the Wrexham formula to more winsome effect over the course of its four hourlong episodes. Reynolds and Mac look like kings of comedy until they're set against two former soap stars closing in on 30 years of marriage. 'In my next life, I want to be an Italian football problem,' Ripa sighs as Consuelos and Rizzetta scramble to put a deal together at the transfer deadline. Throughout, Ripa makes clear to her husband that she'd have an easier time accepting the inconveniences if he'd just buy them a villa already. Where Birmingham City is just another mountain to climb for Brady, who never cottoned to the role of stay-at-home dad, Consuelos is at pains to make his football dream a family affair. After one Wolves win Consuelos dances with his daughter inside the team's rickety stadium, a far cry from the hallowed cathedrals of English football. (Square that with Brady mocking Birmingham City's much nicer but still humble headquarters as he's pulling up …) Consuelos attaches to players – not least Abdallah Soulemana, a lightly used Ghanan-American defenseman from the Bronx. In the pilot, Consuelos can't bear the idea of cutting Soulemana and losing out on his potential, so he arranges a loan to another team and makes the extra effort to seek him out on the field to gently break the news. Still, once you get past the game highlights and human interest stories, there will be no missing these Wrexham knockoffs for what they truly are – hackneyed exercises in marketing and self-promotion, with a bit more spit and polish. And there's no mystery to why American celebrities, masters of this dark art, are making reality TV the cornerstone of their global football exploits. Since Reynolds and Mac bought Wrexham, they've seen their initial $2.5m investment in the team mushroom into a roughly $475m asset and the town of Wrexham reborn as a global tourist trap. Talk about faking it till you make it. It's not hard to imagine Michael B Jordan (Bournemouth), Snoop Dogg (Swansea City) and more celebrity football owners getting into the international TV game. But it is hard to imagine them replicating Consuelos's genuine enthusiasm for the actual sport. You get the sense that if the day ever comes when he's forced to sell the family stake in Campobasso, it'll be to make way for owners with more cash to put them at the top of Europe's football table – or to score Ripa her dream villa. In all likelihood, their particular football problems won't feel quite so first world to sports fans who know from struggle.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Fantasy football: here come TV's Welcome to Wrexham rip-offs
It was the crossover that no one in the entertainment industry, or the sports world, saw coming: the stars of Deadpool and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia aligning in February 2021 to purchase a beleaguered professional football club in the north of Wales. Four years on from that blockbuster deal, which looked all but doomed to end in disaster, Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac (legally changed from McElhenney, a tongue-twisting trip wire apparently) have not only proven to be eminently noble stewards of 160-year-old Wrexham FC; in hindsight, they look even cannier for deciding to make a great show of their attempt to reverse the club's fortunes. Welcome to Wrexham – their Ted Lasso-like hourlong series documenting the club's historic ascent from fifth division English football to, now, the Premier League doorstep – has been an unqualified hit with American audiences and critics, many of whom came into this premise as clueless as the new owners themselves. So it figures now that Wrexham has nabbed eight primetime Emmy nominations, Hollywood finds itself scrabbling to turn Reynolds and Mac's offsides run into a proper reality TV subgenre, with three new Wrexham knockoffs hitting small screens starting from last week. Amazon's Built in Birmingham: Brady and the Blues follows Tom Brady's quest to turn around Birmingham City. From the kickoff, the seven-time NFL champion bristles at any attempts to frame his interest in City as a vanity project; that's even as his series serves up another test of the Patriot Way, the TB12 method and other winning formulas that fueled his gridiron Cinderella story – a favorite chestnut. 'What's the difference between football and soccer'?' he asks, rhetorically. 'Nothing.' Throughout the five-part series, Brady fancies himself a visionary and disrupter only to be revealed as a classic American know-it-all. 'I'm a little worried about our new coach's work ethic,' he says, hinting at some buyer's remorse over former England captain Wayne Rooney – who turned out to be a complete disaster as manager. Brady would have been far better served making a documentary on his conflicting interests as an NFL owner (of the Las Vegas Raiders) and the league's highest-paid game analyst. The alternative, his Prime Video series, is as satisfying as a solitary morsel of dark chocolate – once a TB12 nightcap staple, bitter and unfulfilling. And that's despite the excess of clips from Peaky Blinders. (Show creator Steven Knight is an executive producer on Birmingham.) FX's Necaxa, the official Wrexham spinoff that debuted Thursday, offers a deeper dive into Liga MX – Mexican fútbol. Surprisingly, Mac and Reynolds also feature prominently as executive producers and talking heads in this five-part series. The job of actually reviving the team falls to Eva Longoria, who further seizes the opportunity to reconnect with her Mexican roots. Apart from Mac and Reynolds's cameos, the series is told completely in Spanish – a language that Longoria, a Texas native who grew up speaking English, is openly self-conscious about speaking. The obvious play here is cultural representation, and it will surely find an audience in a league that was once more watched in the US than the Prem. Only one Wrexham knockoff really scores: ESPN+'s Running of the Wolves. At first blush the idea of a third-division Italian team owned by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, daytime TV's impossibly good looking real-life married couple, couldn't seem more far-fetched. But Consuelos isn't playing a part here. In fact, he spent chunks of his formative years on the boot, grew up rooting for Juventus and speaks fluent (if heavily American inflected) Italian. It was in 2022 that he and Ripa joined the group that owns Campobasso FC, a properly downtrodden outfit. But you wouldn't know it from the way Consuelos cheerleads for them on Live!, syndicated TV's morning colossus. Campobasso is a real-life fantasy team for Consuelos. He bolts to Italy at a moment's notice to participate in personnel meetings and stir enthusiasm around town. ('Really good haircuts, great tattoos and they smell amazing!' was how he assessed the team after greeting them coming off the bus before a friendly.) When co-owner Mark Rizzetta rings long distance from Italy to strategize about acquiring a star player who once seemed out of reach, Consuelos doesn't hesitate to interrupt dinner at home with the wife to take the video call. Wolves doesn't just nod at Wrexham and open with Ripa and Consuelos interviewing Reynolds on Live! about the club. (That's as trash talk between Brady and Mac spices up a matchup between City and Wrexham … ) Wolves tweaks the Wrexham formula to more winsome effect over the course of its four hourlong episodes. Reynolds and Mac look like kings of comedy until they're set against two former soap stars closing in on 30 years of marriage. 'In my next life, I want to be an Italian football problem,' Ripa sighs as Consuelos and Rizzetta scramble to put a deal together at the transfer deadline. Throughout, Ripa makes clear to her husband that she'd have an easier time accepting the inconveniences if he'd just buy them a villa already. Where Birmingham City is just another mountain to climb for Brady, who never cottoned to the role of stay-at-home dad, Consuelos is at pains to make his football dream a family affair. After one Wolves win Consuelos dances with his daughter inside the team's rickety stadium, a far cry from the hallowed cathedrals of English football. (Square that with Brady mocking Birmingham City's much nicer but still humble headquarters as he's pulling up …) Consuelos attaches to players – not least Abdallah Soulemana, a lightly used Ghanan-American defenseman from the Bronx. In the pilot, Consuelos can't bear the idea of cutting Soulemana and losing out on his potential, so he arranges a loan to another team and makes the extra effort to seek him out on the field to gently break the news. Still, once you get past the game highlights and human interest stories, there will be no missing these Wrexham knockoffs for what they truly are – hackneyed exercises in marketing and self-promotion, with a bit more spit and polish. And there's no mystery to why American celebrities, masters of this dark art, are making reality TV the cornerstone of their global football exploits. Since Reynolds and Mac bought Wrexham, they've seen their initial $2.5m investment in the team mushroom into a roughly $475m asset and the town of Wrexham reborn as a global tourist trap. Talk about faking it till you make it. It's not hard to imagine Michael B Jordan (Bournemouth), Snoop Dogg (Swansea City) and more celebrity football owners getting into the international TV game. But it is hard to imagine them replicating Consuelos's genuine enthusiasm for the actual sport. You get the sense that if the day ever comes when he's forced to sell the family stake in Campobasso, it'll be to make way for owners with more cash to put them at the top of Europe's football table – or to score Ripa her dream villa. In all likelihood, their particular football problems won't feel quite so first world to sports fans who know from struggle.
Wales Online
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
The best pictures from the first days of the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham
The first days of the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham have seen thousands attend the Maes on Is-y-Coed on the eastern outskirts of Wrexham Speaking on the opening day, chief executive Betsan Moses said the week-long event was the culmination of two years of hard work organising and fundraising. The National Eisteddfod is the largest cultural festival in Europe, held in a different part of Wales every year and aims to "promote, preserve and protect the heritage and culture of Wales". This year, it's Wrexham's turn, and there are plenty of nods to its Hollywood connections - although there are no public plans for the adopted pair of Rob and Ryan to attend. "There was widespread praise for Y Stand, the concert in the pavilion which told the story of a family's connection with football," she said. "The stage had been transformed into a football stadium and the Eisteddfod choir formed the crowd. We invited the audience to wear the red and white of Wrexham FC and we were extremely pleased to see many of them had done so." This year's president, actor Mark Lewis Jones, with credits in The Crown, Game of Thrones, Keeping Faith, Man Up and Baby Reindeer, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Just a few miles from his home village, he told the Eisteddfod, of his pride. ""I was, and continue to be, a proud Welshman, brought up in a community that was Welsh even though we were so close to the border, but even so I didn't think the Eisteddfod was for a Welshman like me. And it took me a while to understand that I was wrong." "The Eisteddfod is for everyone, for everyone," he said. Having sung at every National Eisteddfod for 60 years, veteran folk singer Dafydd Iwan has performed on the festival's main stage for the last time in Wrexham. He said: "The line has to be drawn somewhere, and I'm looking forward to enjoying several more 'Steddfods' from the back seats!" he said. The Eisteddfod runs until August 9. Here are the best pictures from the Maes so far:
North Wales Live
03-08-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
National Eisteddfod 2025: The latest news on Sunday
The National Eisteddfod 2025 is well underway in Wrexham, where the annual festival is being held this year. Thousands are flocking to the event after staff and contractors transformed farmland at Is-y-Coed on the eastern outskirts of Wrexham, into a small town with a 1,500 seat pavilion. It also has a range of performance spaces and stalls as well as a temporary Gorsedd circle. Here is a round-up of the latest news from the National Eisteddfod today (Sunday August 3), to enjoy: The National Eisteddfod got underway on Saturday without any major difficulties the festival's chief executive said. Betsan Moses said the week-long event is being staged on farmland at Is-y-Coed on the eastern outskirts of Wrexham and is the culmination of two years of hard work organising and fund-raising. Speaking to journalists on Sunday Ms Moses said everyone was pleased with the arrangements that had been made. "The police were happy that traffic moved freely thoughout the day and the car parks were full. Stall holders and traders are happy with the expansive layout of the Maes and the footfall was good. "There are more stalls here this year because the Maes is larger than the one at Parc Ynys Angharad in Pontypridd in 2024. They are also not grouped in any particular way so people walking along the rows of stalls see them all." The weather was also favourable with warm sunshine and blue skies. She said the only complaints they had received were from people having difficulty what to go and see and do. "There was widespread praise for Y Stand, the concert in the pavilion which told the story of a family's connection with football. "The stage had been transformed into a football stadium and the Eisteddfod choir formed the crowd. We invited the audience to wear the red and white of Wrexham FC and we were extremely pleased to see many of them had done so. "All in all a very good start to the Eisteddfod," she said. Yesterday evening there was a varied evening of music enjoyed by large crowds on the Eisteddfod Maes. Anglesey singer and songwriter Elin Fflur and Diffiniad, which has close links with the Wrexham area, featured on the huge Llwyfan y Maes while Bob Delyn a'r Ebilliad played to a capacity audience in the smaller, intimate setting of Tŷ Gwerin. Meanwhile the audience in the Pavilion enjoyed a musical commissioned by the Eisteddfod. Y Stand was written by Manon Steffan Ros and the music composed by Osian Huw Williams. Diffiniad was founded by a group of friends, mostly from the Mold area, to perform dance music in Welsh. Bethan Richards, from Ammanford, joined as a singer, and her rich, deep voice lifts some of their most memorable anthems to the heights. Songs like Hapus, Hwyr Tan y Bore and their version of the Caryl Parry Jones classic, Calon had the large, appreciative crowd singing along. The audience had earlier been delighted by a set by Elin Fflur and her band. She sang songs old and new including "Harbwr Diogel" ("Safe Bay"). Written by Arfon Wyn she won the Cân i Gymru competition in 2002. Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion are a folk-rock group fronted by chaired bard Twm Morys. Their music combines an eclectic array of influences and instruments with more traditional Welsh folk sounds. Tŷ Gwerin is located in a large yurt and the group played a variety of folk songs from around Wales and further afield. Their set culminated with Twm Morys' song Trên Bach y Sgwarnogod (Little Hare's Train) which sparked dozens of the audience to join a conga around the audience led by saxophonists Edwin Humphreys and Einion Gruffudd. Y Stand is a brand-new show about football, about winning and losing, and about the special connection that comes from supporting a team. The Pavilion was transformed into a football stadium, alive with the sound, colour and the energy of the crowd. The story is told through the eyes of the 200-strong Eisteddfod choir and five main characters. Clem (Dyfed Thomas) is an actor who is a former Wrexham player, returning to the stage with his personal history and deep love for the Club, and Grace (Cadi Glwys), a young 14-year-old girl who dreams of playing football. The Eisteddfod gives an opportunity to a large number of groups and solo artists during the week-long festival. Others due to take part are veteran folk singer Dafydd Iwan, Blaenau Ffestiniog-based rock band Anweledig and Fleur de Lys and top folk band Bwncath. In other news it is going to be an emotional week for the leader of the Wales and the World contingent at the National Eisteddfod. Maxine Hughes, originally from Conwy, is well known for being the official Welsh interpreter of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney the two Hollywood actors who purchased Wrexham FC four years ago. The well-respected journalist would tease the pair as they struggled to come to terms with some Welsh phrases. But this year has been one of significant challenges for Maxine who recently revealed she has just finished an intensive course of chemotherapy and faces further surgery immediately after the Eisteddfod. She said the diagnosis came shortly following the death of her father, John, late last year. Speaking on the Maes she said she was incredibly proud to accept the invitation to be the leader of the Wales and the World at the Eisteddfod. "And I was in hospital when the email came that I was to be inducted into the Gorsedd. I nearly fainted I was so happy. "It is such a great honour to be recognised by the Gorsedd, and as Leader of Wales and the World this year, and even more significant because the Eisteddfod is in Wrexham. I am so proud my father's family is from Wrexham and he would have been even prouder that this is happening here, his home town," she said. Maxine added she is heading back to the USA immediately after the Eisteddfod and undergoing surgery early next week. "The surgery was due to take place this week but I was able to explain to the surgeon that I needed to be here and he agreed to put it back a week," she said. She said she looks forward to the Eisteddfod every year. "I aim to come back to Wales in August with the boys to see the family members and go over to the Eisteddfod wherever it is being held. As well as being the Leader of Wales and the World I will be holding other sessions with the Welsh Government and students," he said. When she was young Maxine competed regularly and successfully in the National Eisteddfod. "The Urdd Eisteddfod and the National Eisteddfod were a big part of my childhood. I recited individually as a pupil at Ysgol Bodnant and at Ysgol Bryn Elian there was a lot of singing. I also danced and competed in gymnastics and I was happy to take part and enjoy," he said. Her work has included some of the world's biggest news stories, from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan to the war in Syria, and of course the American elections. She had the opportunity to meet and interview Donald Trump for the first of S4C's three-part documentary series, Extreme World. Maxine negotiated for more than a year to gain access to Trump before securing 30 minutes of his time at his home in Florida for a face-to-face interview, where he talked about his plans to stand and be re-elected. Rumours are rife on the Maes that we will see Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at the Eisteddfod but Maxine explained that that is unlikely. "They are busy preparing for the new season in a new league and their focus is all on the club. "What they have done with the club has been fantastic and I appreciate what they have done for the city," he said. The Gorsedd will also gather today for the Crown ceremony in the Eisteddfod Pavilion. Poets were invited to present a poem or a collection of poems, without being in strict metre of up to 250 lines, on the subject of 'Ruins'. The Crown was designed and produced by Neil Rayment and Elan Rowlands. These are the two who created the impressive Crown for the 2024 Rhondda Cynon Taf Eisteddfod. Elan, who is originally from Caernarfon, said that the Crown was inspired by the ancient fossils found in Brymbo Forest - which date back over 300 million years. During this period, layers of plant debris – along with flooding – formed the rich coal seams that shaped Wrexham's industrial legacy. These fossils are the symbolic foundation of the Crown, representing the deep foundations of the region's identity. Surrounding the Crown are images of important milestones in Wrexham's history. "It was a privilege and a joy to be the youngest craftswoman to co-design and create the Eisteddfod Crown last year, and now, to be one of the first craftsman-designers to create it for the second year in a row. "Designing the Crown for the second time is not only a professional milestone, but also an extremely satisfying creative experience. There is something very special about taking a concept that rooted in place, history, and memory, and turned into symbolic wearable artwork. "This project holds deep personal significance for me. My great-great-grandfather worked in the Hafod collieries in Rhos, and my father grew up in the area. In addition, as I researched the industrial past of the area, I was particularly touched by the story of the Gresford Disaster in 1934, where 266 men lost their lives. The Crown honours their memory, and the enduring strength and resilience of the community that helped to be built." Neil added: "This Crown is more than a ceremonial object – it is a piece of heritage art, designed and created by hand, and rooted in tradition and innovation. It places us firmly within the cultural history of Wales, a legacy I am extremely proud to contribute to." The Coronation ceremony will be held on Monday 4 August at 4pm. Maxine gave a speech as the leader of Wales and the World at the Gymanfa Ganu in the Pavilion on Sunday night.
