Welcome Back

I've enjoyed the first two seasons of the documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham.  That's the show about the low-level soccer team bought by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElheney.  In fact, for the past two years, I've tangentially followed how the team is doing, so I'm more prepared for when the TV show airs, rather than be surprised.  The new season of the show premieres on May 2 on f/X.

This year's soccer season ends in about a week, so anyone who watches the show and does NOT want to know how the Wrexham Red Dragons did this year -- you should stop here.  Consider this a SPOILER ALERT.

Just as a reminder, England has four tiers in what are considered "English Football League" play.  The top two are the Premier League and the Championship League.  The other two are known as League One and League.

Below that are the non-official leagues.  Wrexham had been in the next tier, known as the National League.  They hadn't been in official English Football League play for 15 years.

The way this all ways, in general, is that the top two or three teams (depending on the league) get "promoted" to the next tier up.  And the bottom two or three teams get "relegated" down to the tier below.

In the first season of Welcome to Wrexham, the team had their best year in a long time, but just missed getting promoted.  In the second season, Wrexham actually got promoted finally -- after decades -- to compete this year in League Two.

That's where things stood at the end of last year's series.

And where things stand as of today, with Wrexham having two games left in the season -- they are right now in second place and, after winning 6-0 (with the M.K. Dons losing,  Wrexham has actually clinched getting promoted up to League One next season!!  This is very uncommon for a team to get promoted two years in a row.  Usually, it's something they have to build to.  In fact, it's not uncommon for a promoted team to get relegated back down the next year.  Or to add perspective, this is the first time that Wrexham has had back-to-back promotions in the team's 159-year history.

So, for those who watch, just know that the coming season of the documentary, which begins on May 2 -- it has a happy ending.

And as sort of advance preview, here's phone-camera footage the end of today's game, played at home at the Wrexham Racecourse stadium, and the mass of fans rushing onto the pitch to celebrate.  The rush begins around the 4:30 mark, if you want to jump to it.