Welcome to (Public Administration in) Wrexham – PA TIMES Online

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Benjamin Deitchman
June 28, 2024

Welcome to Wrexham, the documentary series currently airing in its third season on the FX Network, is not officially a documentary about British public administration, but public administration features throughout this intriguing reality show centered in North Wales. The program follows the trials and tribulations of the Wrexham Association Football Club (AFC), a soccer team aiming to advance into and through the ranks of the English soccer leagues, starting in 2020 when North American Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney purchased the club. Wrexham AFC formed in 1864, and the team and the city and borough of Wrexham are fully intertwined. Although this is the story of a privately owned sports team, there are aspects to the relationship between the club and community that directly relate to contemporary public policy and governance.

The first season opens with Wrexham, both the club and the community, languishing in 2020. Wrexham AFC is the third oldest professional “association football” (“soccer” in the parlance of the North American owners) club in world with a storied history, but due to poor results over the previous decades, was in the fifth tier of competitive English soccer, a level below the official English Football League (as with other big Welsh clubs, Wrexham plays in the English system.). As a post-industrial area, which formerly had coal mining and large-scale industrial output, the local economy of Wrexham was struggling with problems further compounded under the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures. Movie star and mogul Ryan Reynolds and television star Rob McElhenny became interested in purchasing the struggling club. Using their resources, both financial and their media savviness and connections to record and distribute a successful documentary, they set out to grow the club and the community.          

Rich celebrities from another country purchasing the iconic cornerstone of a small city could have led to backlash from supporters. The documentary, which is carefully edited and produced by the ownership team for its own benefit, explores a model of community engagement from which public and private leaders could learn. Rob and Ryan are there to listen, often making the journey to be in Wales in person around their busy filming schedules, and are humble in their decision-making approaches. They are actively involved in leadership, particularly in marketing and other areas in which they are highly skilled, but they respect the soccer expertise of the coaching staff in the on-field strategy team. While Wrexham’s opponents mock and gripe about the Hollywood impact, the team’s results have improved and they will play next season in League One, the third tier of the English Football League.

Rob and Ryan learn along with the viewers of the documentary of the sporting and cultural difference between the United States and Great Britain. In the United States, leagues force cities to compete with lavish stadiums and tax incentives to attract major professional teams. This controversial practice leads to public funding serving the interests of private enterprises. In other countries teams do not have the same opportunity to move for more lucrative deals. Wrexham AFC’s fortunes can rise and fall with its locality. The club has sought funding from the government of the United Kingdom to improve its famous old stadium. Rob and Ryan have welcomed the King and Queen of England, the Prince of Wales and several of their celebrity friends to Wrexham not only to attract these taxpayer finances, but also as a broader effort to drive economic development in the area beyond just the club. Their financial, emotional and storytelling investment has not fully revitalized the city, but the increased attention has been a boon to tourism, pubs and other businesses in the area.

Soccer is the world’s favorite sport and through the television series Rob and Ryan have brought fame to individuals and institutions in this small corner of Wales. In this age of globalization, the World Cup and massive superstars such as Argentina’s Lionel Messi dominate social media and discussion of the sport.  Money is a major driver of modern sports and although Rob and Ryan are well-off, they are not the oligarchs, sovereign wealth funds and other billionaires who dominate the major markets. The documentary shows that one need not be the best in the world, both on Wrexham’s men’s and women’s teams, to spark joy and bring people together through competition and celebratory…