Welcome to Wrexham

- Okay. Yes. - You good, mate?

Right. Bryn, give us a clap.

How's that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Stop you there,

because we've just gotta say right at the outset with this thing here,

okay, that it's completely nuts.

I've had 35 years in sports broadcasting, and this is all unprecedented.

Back-to-back-to-back promotions,

out of the National League and now into the Championship,

and it's happened just like that.

There's an incredible thing already happened here.

Arguably, one of the greatest stories in the history of football,

but if it happens again,

if there's another promotion up to the Premier League,

and arguably, you've got the greatest story

in the history of sport, right?

Sport. The whole lot.

- - Take two, marker.

Why are you doing this to me, Josh?

Why can't you just let me? I just wanna bask.

Would you let me just bask?

We'll talk about the Championship next year.

Um, I think I took, like, a solid three, four days, um, of basking

before, um, the terror set in of where we were headed.

There wasn't much time to really bask.

Fuck off.

I don't think people genuinely realize how difficult it is

to get a team from National League to League Two to League One,

and then to the Championship in consecutive seasons.

It's a daunting prospect when every other club

in the Championship this year has played in the top tier

and there's only us that are yet to do it.

That bears repeating.

There is only one team in the Championship that hasn't played in the top tier,

and that is Wrexham AFC.

For you to challenge in the Championship

with the money of the teams coming down from the Premier League,

you'll find it really difficult,

and that's where your supporters will get the shock.

The games come thick and fast and the physical demands of-of the league

are obviously a lot higher from the division we'd-we'd come from.

That is one of the greatest goals you will ever see.

This is such a tough division.

I genuinely think it's the toughest league in the world bar none.

The reality is, in the Championship, you have any number of what I would call

sort of temporarily embarrassed Premier League teams

like Ipswich Town and Leicester and Southampton,

all of whom have dropped down from Premier League this season.

The teams that come down, they always come down with a lot of power in their squads.

The journey this season is to try and compete with clubs

who are running proper big training centers, academies.

Big stadiums, big atmospheres and massive fan bases.

Championship, it's a battle of the bastards.

It's well-documented. It's the hardest league in the world to win.

The standings in the Championship are often on such a razor's edge.

Every team has the ability to beat everybody else.

And a run of a few good results can rocket you to the top of the table.

A few bad results can see you tumbling down

into the basement.

Of course, our worst-case scenario is what happened to Luton Town,

who recently suffered back-to-back relegations,

dropping from the Premier League back to League One.

We are now at a table where we have to put an excessive amount of money on red,

the red being Wrexham.

If we don't spin that wheel

and put that money on the table, we have no chance of winning the prize.

Yet, what does that do to the town of Wrexham

and its small football club in the event it comes up black?

It's like you've chased this prize, you've chased this dream,

you've achieved all this success, and now the most daunting part starts.

I've watched more football videos in this transfer market

than I think I have in any other, to be honest.

Right now, we're in the race to the finish line

to get ourselves ready for the first home match of the season

against West Brom, and we're not ready… …at all.

We're still putting the finishing touches on the pitch,

and the kop is just dirt and boulders.

We've already had to sign new players like striker Ryan Hardie,

goalkeeper Danny Ward.

And there will be more that we have to sign

that are coming in with huge contracts.

And while everyone at the Racecourse is working their butts off,

everyone else has to go Down Under for the preseason tour.

- Hey! -Hello.

A bit nippy here, Down Under.

Tonight, we welcome one of the oldest professional football clubs

in the world, bought by a couple of international actors in 2021,

which spiked a record-breaking trifecta of promotions

all the way up to the Championship.

-It is history and Hollywood colliding. -

-Yeah. Go, Wrexham. -Yeah.

When we looked at the numbers,

we knew Australia and New Zealand had large support and following.

We were playing local clubs, Melbourne Victory,

Sydney FC and Phoenix Wellington.

And so, when we showed up in Melbourne and we showed up in Sydney,

and you have 37,000, you have 42,000 people

coming to the match, it was mind-blowing.

-Up the town. -Up the town.

Surprised the hell out of me. I mean…

Well, Hugh Jackman's got a lot of relatives.

Yeah, it's mostly Hugh.

So the preseason tour is actually a really good opportunity for Phil

and for us to see our new signings.

We have really high hopes for Ryan Hardie, our new striker.

Angles it wide. Barnett drives it in. There's the second.

And it's the new recruit, the Scotsman, Ryan Hardie.

And for Danny Ward, who Phil brought in to challenge Arthur in goal.

In New Zealand? We sent them to New Zealand?

We paid for that?

- Honestly amazing. -

That's probably one of the best things I've ever done. Oh, wow.

Unreal.

-Oh, my God. -Oh, my goodness.

-Shitting hell. -

Oh. Oh, my God!

And Ollie and Dobo somehow had a mini break to do shit?

It's about to get seriously hot.

-Get in. -No, that was a warm-up.

-It's not a warm-up. -Yes!

- -

I fucking love New Zealand!

Oh, yeah. And Wayne went on holiday as well.

Let's go!

We were lucky enough to be invited to New Zealand for the summer tour,

which was just absolutely unbelievable.

This is my second time. It won't be my last.

I'm gonna need a drink after this.

-Hello, guys. How you doing? You okay? -Hiya.

-I'm Wayne. -I'm Hannah.

There's actually a bar in Wellington called The Welsh Dragon.

We walked in there, and it almost felt like you were at home.

This is sort of me in my comfort zone.

I'm around Welsh people in a pub.

Even though I'm 12,000, 13,000 miles from home,

you're just made to feel like part of the family.

It's a tremendous place.

But we got some very bad news out of Sydney.

Ollie Rathbone.

With five minutes to go in this first half.

Putting Rhyan Grant under pressure.

He stayed down after that challenge.

The ball came to me on the edge of the box.

I think I chested it down and kind of was in two minds whether to shoot or not.

Defender's kind of read me, so we were kind of scrapping for the ball.

And then in the middle of it all, I just felt a big crack.

At that point, I knew it was gonna be a serious one.

Yeah, finding out that I'd ruptured the ligament.

Ollie Rathbone's injury, in particular, was one I think that hurt us.

Because going into the season,

I think most people would've had Ollie Rathbone in that starting 11.

And not to have him available due to the injury was a big blow.

So in order for us to compete in Championship,

we're going to have to make changes

-all over the place… -

…but the biggest change is going to happen on the pitch,

which, of course, is the most devastating.

Whenever you're talking about losing a large amount of people,

beloved players,

you run the risk of the supporters no longer supporting them.

Because they're not following a kit.

They're following a human being.

And so making that transition is really difficult.

Mark Howard's left with everyone's best regards.

He was a great character for us.

He's starting for Salford.

-Good luck to him. - Yeah.

Steven Fletcher was released by Wrexham.

The clutch man just coming off the bench,

getting you a goal whenever you needed it.

You just felt that excitement.

The whole stadium believed that something was gonna happen

whenever Fletch came onto the pitch.

I'm just blessed we got to see him in a Wrexham shirt.

What an absolute honor it was.

Paul Mullin, legendary striker for Wrexham,

has joined Wigan on a season-long loan.

I'm gutted. I thought Mullin was gonna be with us a bit longer.

People will say, "You know, we shouldn't be looking back,

and we should look forward," and it's like, well,

I can't remember the last time we had a striker like Paul Mullin, have we?

And he scores!

And Mullin scores his hundredth!

Paul Mullin is the face of what we've just achieved.

It's a shame one, right? He scored a hundred goals.

A living legend in our lifetime.

You sort of realize that these players have authored

some of the greatest moments of your life.

It's tough when they leave, you know,

because we're not here if not for Paul Mullin.

Why is Paul Mullin gone? Why did Parky not give Paul Mullin a chance?

There's a kind of an understanding that, like, they made this contribution.

There's a baton that's handed off, and the next group goes, you know?

He's been an incredible servant to the club.