Rob McElhenney on Why Wrexham Should be Your Second Club 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@liamfisher4191]

As a child , I grew up in wrexham. We went to the matches initially myself and my dad then with friends...the days of dixie mc neil and the fc cup win at home against arsenal were magnificent. Then the decline was heartbreaking.....im now a 55 yr old man in Australia and am in tears watching this interview. The duo from the states have injected joy and dignity where it truly is deserved ...my beloved home town .Thankyou so much .

[@MrSchnuffs]

It's a North American duo... as a Canadian I can't let Ryan Reynolds be considered an American. It's practically law here hahaha

[@alexanderrose1071]

@@MrSchnuffswhere has he lived the majority of his life?

[@drlca6601]

@@alexanderrose1071 BC lmao

[@benswag]

Mr. Liam, They have introduced your team to the world and we all love them now!! I’m on the west coast of the US and I can’t get enough about Wrexham. Your old team now have 10k’s of fans around the world now and I hope this fills your heart with happiness every night… because Wrexham deserves it.

[@PaddyVieira4]

Ryan Renolds gets most the press but Rob is more engaging. I really appreciate how authentic he is as a person.

[@triciaamheiser785]

I would say they compliment each other. Neither of them have the egos that they should have, considering their personal exposure and their work ethic in their field. They're just applying the confidence that they have in what they do, and apply it to a formerly, non-league football club. They both have an emotional intelligence they allows them to write and perform comedy, and they have passed the British "smell test".

[@vantheman1238]

That’s unfair I’d say they’re both engaging and they both come across as great fellas.

[@GyikaCPFC]

Rob is a proper gent & Rog is a great poet. Best of luck for the season Wrexham!

[@DavidWilliams-nm5jv]

Great club, great interview. As an American fan of soccer and now Wrexham, I particularly love seeing new american fans discover promotion and relegation - and realize how much better it is than the major U.S. Sports with their fixed top tier ("sports socialism!" I like to say with tongue planted firmly in cheek). I think it would be amazing and ironic if all of these U.S. fans who grow to love the tension of Pro/Rel eventually force or encourage the MLS to adopt tiers and Pro/Rel - that would be AWESOME (and bring me back as an MLS fan, to be honest).

[@benswag]

We need the Pro/Rel system in the US for the NBA and the MLB system!!! Our lives would only get better. 😁

[@emdiar6588]

@@benswag 100%. The problem is, in the US, the owners of the teams are also the owners of the leagues, and they are not going to allow anything that could jeopardise their monopoly position. It IS socialism for capitalist billionaires, and their only interest is protecting their investment. They definitely don't want to open themselves up to financial risk, and don't really care if their team sucks as long as they are making money. Perhaps, as a compromise, they could run a pool, wherein at the end of every season, the bottom three teams have to pay a forfeit, don't get draft pick advantage, but still get a fresh start in the same league next season. That way, at the very least the ridiculous 'tanking to the bottom' strategy would be eliminated.

[@LOSTshowfan]

The prep that goes into these interviews is impressive. And then written so beautifully. The engagement is superb. Results in fantastic pieces. Rog and Rob are both poets, too!

[@PostcardAndAPint]

Rob seems such a genuine guy. This was great to see. Thank you for sharing 🍻

[@meninblazers]

You’re welcome!

[@AfroChilanGringo]

I love how Rob is so real with this Wrexham initiative. Thank you Rob for kicking off this great journey! #WrexNEffects

[@DavidAugustine-lc4cj]

Great interview. The best of Rob on Wrexham as more in-depth and holistic. Enjoyed it tremendously. Great intro and great questions too from the Almost Shakespearean Wordsmith Host! 👍

[@swissguy8052]

That was very interesting, thx for that. It shows what a magnificent person Rob is. Well done 👏 👏 👏

[@Rebel_AF]

What a beautiful interview. Thanks, gents! ❤🙏🍻

[@NorCalPhil]

Such a great interview. Up the town! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@thomasmurray3920]

Yes, you can have two clubs, or in my case, 3. I grew up watching Cryuff and Ajax, so they were my first club, but when I could no longer watch the Dutch first division on TV, I (bring if Anglo-Irish-Scottish ancestry) picked an EPL club to root fir-Chelsea. I used to live in Miami, so when InterMiami was formed, they became my third club. (And my alma mater’s soccer teams-UNC-as well). Yes, it is safe for many of us in America to wish Wrexham well, especially those of us who grew up in towns that time has passed by or forgotten (Elmira and Utica NY for me) because it’s about more that just the football team. Gif bless R and R, and all the citizens of Wrexham. I hope to be able to visit there one day. ❤️💙

[@JDMGearboxRepairs]

im'm a life long Birmingham City supporter... Wrexham is my now second club because of Rob and Ryan

[@sheffsteel7]

Agree about promotion/ relegation, Americans don't realise that it raises the stakes of a sport to dangerous almost life and death levels. This makes every game really important, also makes the result more important that entertainment, also gives historical moments of extreme elation or depression. Imagine the New York Yankees playing a game where defeat means they are relegated to the minor league. When a football club represents a city then success/ failure on the pitch means so much more than a mere sport.

[@ExileOnDaytonStreet]

"When a football club represents a city" Not sure what this has do with promotion/relegation. It would be nice to get rid of (or at least: greatly reduce) expansion fees in MLS/USL. That's probably the most direct result of pro/rel: you win your way into a league, instead of paying for it. That'd reduce the overhead for creating a team (just start small and work your way up). It'd also remove a lot of incentive to threaten relocation to a team if they aren't gifted massive taxpayer handouts (which, to be fair, is a serious problem in North American major leagues across all sports). So, maybe to the extent that pro/rel can get rid of that sort of Blackmail-by-Franchise-Owner, it might make a team represent its city more. As for the rest... maybe? It's a big deal to get promoted (to a top league, seems like diminishing returns on the excitement for yo-yoing around the various minor levels), but that's a double-edged sword. Teams that get promoted into a top league aren't exactly a big threat, and teams that get relegated are damaged in a way that makes it hard to compete even if they come back up. This is probably why it's so exceedingly rare for pro/rel systems to have any measure of parity. England is probably the most top-to-bottom competitive league in the world (certainly among the top leagues, I'd say it is), and it's a very small group of teams that ever have a chance of actually winning a title there. The only way to break into the top 4/6 is (a) just get a massive influx of likely-questionable-money and buy your way there (see: Man City and we'll see if Newcastle can do it), or (b) a once-in-a-generation overachiever (Leicester, and we've seen how long lasting that was). Turnover in that Big 4 (or 6, depending how you look at it and how generous you want to be) is insanely slow, if it happens at all. The end result is the rich getting richer. I suppose you could hope for FFP (or something akin to MLS's salary cap) to have enough teeth to level the playing field, but failing that: Every single other team in England has about the same chance of being champions of England as my son's U9 team does. A Minnesota United or Charlotte FC fan is pretty much infinitely more likely to see an MLS Cup than a Sheffield United or Fulham fan is likely to ever chase, much less see, a Premier League trophy. And this is the league with the parity. Every other big time league is even worse (Bayern's monopoly in Germany, RM/Barca's duopoly in Spain, etc.).

[@matthewgenyas4454]

Extremely well spoken and seems 100% genuine.. didn’t know he was the catalyst of revitalizing Wrex

[@LuBlossoming1984]

Rob, you are a golden guy with great vision!!❤

[@goattm2]

Love watching McElhenney's interviews. He comes across as a very nice guy and i love how he has absolutely fallen in love with the club.

[@nicholasjones7312]

And with Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@ChundiYesurtham]

L 😅

[@barbdec24]

Thank you! This was lovely. And every good team has a 'no jerks' rule. :)

[@tylergodefroy8713]

i think their pieces with the fans and people of wrexham are great

[@mand9330]

I ❤ Rob. What a wonderful guy

[@Tomurow]

Great interview. There are some interview sequences in the doc where Rob and Ryan are clearly playing comedic versions of themselves. This probably arose as a pandemic production choice as they couldn’t get over to the UK for much of the 1st season. I hope that season 2 is more ‘warts n’all’ naturalistic as I think this is what viewers really want to see! From the S2 trailer it’s hard to say. Anyway, good stuff!🎉😊

[@ezjaycobras6594]

Wrexham was my first few games as a child my grandad took me when I lived in Llandudno in north wales over 50 years ago I’m now living in Kent and support Southend United a club that came to the brink last year Where ham story has been fantastic and I love having them as my second team for sure I think what’s been done there is amazing and I know my grandad would approve ❤

[@nat5112]

15:30 @officialStuntpegg said that!

[@davehilditch1393]

wow mate, awesome interview, i love your style

[@sabungay]

Fantastic interview

[@adrianpaull487]

wow great self recognition and growth by Rob kudos

[@paulcrick856]

"Has sold more hats" kinda the best accomplishment.

[@welshwonderkids6975]

Up the Worldwide Reds 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇺🇸 🇨🇦

[@TzunSu]

Great episode, such a good decision to come on here. We're gonna crush league 2! Up the town!

[@letsexperienceearth3034]

Rob is such an awesome guy

[@katsybo]

That Stok is good, especially the teal one.

[@Edgy62]

Can SOMEONE please tell Rob that Soccer is a BRITISH name for the game, not an American one and that it's perfectly fine to call it that lol. It's driving me insane, I gerw up in Liverpool and we always went for a game of Soccer or Footy.......PLEASE tell him lol.

[@odonovan]

@Edgy62, I think most of us in the US know soccer is a British term (as is "rugger" for rugby, btw). It's just that MOST fans in the UK prefer the term football, probably because that's what it's called in the rest of the world.

[@agn855]

Don’t over-complicate things for our American friends *lol*

[@CrazyInsanelikeafox]

I remember it being called soccer in Ireland when I was younger, 40+ years ago.

[@me5969]

I'm from Liverpool, Toxteth specifically and I've never once heard anyone call it Soccer. It was always footy. Anything else and you were in danger of being a wool. I know it was the case back in the old times but no one calls it soccer today. you know what I mean? Southern Americans speak proper British I believe but we don't go around saying "Y'all" anymore. The fact is in this day and age the Americans call it Soccer (probably because of us) but we call it footy or football if you're a shandy drinking Tory from down south.

[@jacobharris954]

No one in Europe calls it soccer, we call it football

[@alpine_newt]

Great stuff!

[@teewhy6994]

I like Wrexham, but Southampton is my number 2, as it was my number one before StL City SC showed up. I do think it is important to have a European team to support if you are an MLS fan. It really helps explain how international soccer works and the effect is has on MLS.

[@acidarmour447]

@11:40 appreciate Rog not using the word tragedy. Greek poem sounds far less fatalist

[@kyrapatton1940]

Great interview🥰🥰

[@Alex-zi1nb]

oh god i had no idea there was a sales competition with the hats hahahah., i gotta buy robs now. its the goat

[@deadpool8340]

Love the welcome to Wrexham,shame they didnt buy Everton!! #UTFT

[@HandsomeDanVacationRentals]

Screw second club…WREXHAM is my first football club! Let’s go WREXHAM!

[@miazga3]

Is this interviewer reading all of his words spoken ???

[@matthewpetty4315]

Why is he talking like a poet lol

[@juniorlopez7410]

Ahhhh the “purists” come out to play.. “there’s no second club” 😂😂 I love it

[@wuxiagamescentral]

Tough first loss for Wrexham they gotta fix that defense

[@Asdf-jy5ts]

The pub owner looks like Manuel Neuer

[@spl1x]

MORE GREEN ATTIRE LIKE LAST YEAR, PLEASE!

[@CryptikConstruct]

Is Rog an Ade Edmondson impersonator?

[@ianeagle40nil]

Judge people by the company they keep.👌☮️

[@kennethfinnegan2978]

I’m curious, how much of a role does Shaun Winters have in your whole story? He’s in the documentary, he has 2 wonderful little boys and I really like him. He’s a genuine sweet guy. Does he factor in much in your story?

[@alexanderrose1071]

He was brought in early to help organize and professionalize the entire operation. As he worked for the EFL beforehand, his role was important in helping them understand how they had to operate within the English football world. He even helped visit stadiums when Rob & Ryan were looking to decide what team to buy. So yes, he plays a large role. He probably deals with Humphrey Kerr more than Ryan & Rob, but Humphrey is supposed to be their representative.

[@grahamstubbs4962]

I guess that would have been a challenging engagement to enjoy promotion that night. And a damn sight more tricky the following morning.

[@dewiwilliams4821]

No such thing as a second club in my opinion, but wish Wrexham all the best and will continue to watch their rise with intrigue and pleasure 👍

[@jasonmoore5824]

Life is too short to go thru that miserable, especially for something we all have no control over (as a sports fan). If your club played 55 matches a year, that is just 110-125 hours of football'ing hope & distraction. Considering we get 8700+ hours a year, I'm sure most people's brain-width and available time can manage a second club. The people who only care for one club are really limiting themselves, don't know what they are missing, and bound to be disappointed.

[@dewiwilliams4821]

@jasonmoore5824 What are you taking about? It's not miserable at all. I love one club, watch all their games whether at the stadium or tv and on top of that watch as much football as I wish as there is so much on offer.

[@sharman8489]

@@jasonmoore5824if you’re from the UK it’s the norm to support just one team. You may have a soft spot for one or two other teams but you only support one team. Luckily for me mine is Wrexham, I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of supporting a second club.

[@alexanderrose1071]

@@dewiwilliams4821when he says “second club,” I don’t think he expects fans of other clubs to love Wrexham as much as their first. Just to have a soft spot for them. Watch some of their games when they’re on and available. Things like that.

[@CurrentJose]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@tjansson77]

Great questions and stuff but all the reading takes away alot of the greatness. Not sure if you do this fulltime Rog, but alot more eye contact would be great to make this world class. Learn the intro and questions so you dont need to watch the paper all the time.

[@spradder5]

Agreed. The questions were fine, but the value of interview was diminished by Rog needing to read everything off his crib cards. This is fine in a radio interview if you don’t need to see or be seen by your interviewee.

[@thomasmurray3920]

It’s humorous that Rob has picked up on the British term for the players (the boys), but then catches himself because that term for men has a (sadly) different connotation here in the US, so he shifts to ‘men’. Maybe we’ll here him call them lads sometime in the future, ha ha.

[@zyante1]

Completely besotted with Wrexhams townspeople and team.

[@Validboy]

1. Inter Miami, 2. Wrexham.. 3. Who Cares..

[@Raskolnikov32]

I'm about the same age as Rob, he gets better looking as he ages, whereas I've turned into a half-dead ogre.

[@agn855]

So here go the Canadians, flooding Wrexham… kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4axaXaBf9F-hq8

[@Galantus1964]

LOL talk about reading you through an interview lol the interviewer couldnt even say 3 words outside his script ..

[@CoachKnapovicEAFC]

Shame they signed such a polarising figure in James McClean...

[@McC41e]

🤌

[@malligrub2516]

These guys really don't get it - this is just pure plastic modern football with a rich benefactor rolling in to town and splashing millions of dollars that their competition just don't have access to and they still don't understand that

[@markaled4939]

Disagree with all the comments saying it was a great interview, the dude barely looked up from his script and was thrown any time Rob mentioned anything not on script, very awkward interview

[@jasonmoore5824]

Personally, I think Rog is one of the best interviewers in all of sports media. He usually gets a lot of personality out of people and is super high energy/entertaining himself. But this was far from his usually high bar. Rob has almost done so many interviews about Wrexham over the last few yrs (and I feel like I've watched them all), I feel like his median energy has lowered a fair bit in things like this (almost like he knows he can best tell the story through the show itself). But felt like Rob came into this one with a renewed excitement, probably because he knows Rog is that good at what he does, that he's that funny/creative. But as it moved along, it felt like Rog zapped Rob of his enthusiasm. I'd had this set aside to watch since it was posted, and i'm sorta bummed how it came out. (Makes me wonder if it was at an ungodly hour or there was an outside reason that this wasn't Rog's best work.) My four cents on it...

[@jimjogger306]

Proper weird interviewer.

[@mattbwfc6125]

No one should have a 2nd team one club only. Other than the international team

[@throfur3489]

Nah. I've even got 3 teams. My local team Vålerenga, my fathers team from where he grew up in Ulsteinvik called Hødd, and Bayern München from when I watched that final in 99 and saw them robbed by Solskjær.

[@John414]

It’s impressive what the Yanks have accomplished but they still think there’s a “final” and have no clue what offside is… 🇺🇸 🤠

[@omp9]

Wrexham was in the final first season, but lost to Bromley 🏆

[@thewidowmaker4037]

Nobody should have a second club, thats right up there with half and half scarfs.

[@m.k.s.7417]

What if they have: "(a) Partnership(s)"; with: Italian_teams and/or; Celtic, F.C.!!?? -M.K.S.

[@jeffthomas3707]

No such thing as a 'second club'

[@GazEndo68]

On the contrary. Quickly becoming the most disliked club in the UK.

[@tony7044]

Success always brings haters.

[@GazEndo68]

@@tony7044 I don’t hate them. I’m pointing out what the constant media attention is causing amongst football fans. It’s becoming tedious.

[@gdhaney136]

@@GazEndo68 meh, for some maybe. I'm sure we can sing loud enough to drown them out.

[@GazEndo68]

@@gdhaney136 I’m on a lot of football forums and I’d definitely say I see more dislikes than likes. As a Stockport fan I have no issues with the club other than the attention seeking owners desire to make a very historical club into a tedious self indulgent soap opera.

[@rawpotatofella9654]

@@GazEndo68 not the owners or players doing that, its the media. and Brits whinge in general, its endemic to British culture to complain

[@roypinel4405]

Iam a Liverpool fan and Wrexham is my 2nd favourite team

[@aikighost]

Well Mullin is a scouser anyway so that makes it easier :)