Certainly a fun documentary to follow the inner workings of UK football, but compared to some of the grittier series produced for the likes of Leeds, Sunderland, Arsenal and Man City, it's really steered towards a US audience.
It's a great story, and fact that the owners, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, produce the series means a crew isn't coming into a club after the major adjustments, meaning context can be given, therefore the true 'plot' begins when the documentary started filming.
As it is produced by the owners, the series is always going to show every move or appointment they make as a positive one. Many of them are, and to their credit a whole episode is dedicated to hooliganism, showing it is a little 'warts and all' series. However, appointing Shaun Harvey and portraying him as best in the business is laughable from a football fan perspective. Four previous clubs, all into administration, two of which went under completely. Then moves on to lead a corrupt EFL. They have one moment in the series where a fan/volunteer questions his involvement, and then the narrative leaves it be. So they are showing all angles, but their enthusiasm to sing some praises seem like naivety.
It's strange who they decide to give subtitles to, some of these accents are not difficult to understand, and even then they seem to get them wrong semi-regularly. Plus, minor things to someone outside of the UK, but showing clips of old Wembley when talking about the pitch of new Wembley just ignores details that don't fit into the rhetoric.
Showing the deeper organisational things is great, e.g. Disability inclusion, however there is no real chronological order. For example, the Tiktok sponsorship deal, a big deal for the club, is brought in after its been seen on the kit for a few episodes. It doesn't go too in-depth on the marketing, showing the series is really a surface level introduction to UK sport for an American audience. With the right approach, sponsorship, TV deals, player negotiations can all be really interesting, but they're skimmed over.
Personally, my biggest issue with the series is the suggestion that the fly-on-the-wall chats between fans, players, staff and the owners aren't staged. Particularly the phone calls between the owners, or two fans in a pub as if they don't know they're being recorded. The series lacks the realism of the All or Nothing or Sunderland Til I Die series.
The penultimate episode exploring the father-son bond in sport was nice, yet entirely ruined by the self-appointed masculinity expert making sweeping generalisations.
I'm a big fan of both McElhenney and Reynolds' individual works, and they have done wonders to Wrexham AFC, but keeping swearing into the series isn't the thing needed to be a proper portrayal of lower-league football.
It's a great story, and fact that the owners, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, produce the series means a crew isn't coming into a club after the major adjustments, meaning context can be given, therefore the true 'plot' begins when the documentary started filming.
As it is produced by the owners, the series is always going to show every move or appointment they make as a positive one. Many of them are, and to their credit a whole episode is dedicated to hooliganism, showing it is a little 'warts and all' series. However, appointing Shaun Harvey and portraying him as best in the business is laughable from a football fan perspective. Four previous clubs, all into administration, two of which went under completely. Then moves on to lead a corrupt EFL. They have one moment in the series where a fan/volunteer questions his involvement, and then the narrative leaves it be. So they are showing all angles, but their enthusiasm to sing some praises seem like naivety.
It's strange who they decide to give subtitles to, some of these accents are not difficult to understand, and even then they seem to get them wrong semi-regularly. Plus, minor things to someone outside of the UK, but showing clips of old Wembley when talking about the pitch of new Wembley just ignores details that don't fit into the rhetoric.
Showing the deeper organisational things is great, e.g. Disability inclusion, however there is no real chronological order. For example, the Tiktok sponsorship deal, a big deal for the club, is brought in after its been seen on the kit for a few episodes. It doesn't go too in-depth on the marketing, showing the series is really a surface level introduction to UK sport for an American audience. With the right approach, sponsorship, TV deals, player negotiations can all be really interesting, but they're skimmed over.
Personally, my biggest issue with the series is the suggestion that the fly-on-the-wall chats between fans, players, staff and the owners aren't staged. Particularly the phone calls between the owners, or two fans in a pub as if they don't know they're being recorded. The series lacks the realism of the All or Nothing or Sunderland Til I Die series.
The penultimate episode exploring the father-son bond in sport was nice, yet entirely ruined by the self-appointed masculinity expert making sweeping generalisations.
I'm a big fan of both McElhenney and Reynolds' individual works, and they have done wonders to Wrexham AFC, but keeping swearing into the series isn't the thing needed to be a proper portrayal of lower-league football.