For me Wrexham has always been a drive-past town: nowhere special. And yet there I was in a restaurant in Rijksweg of all places, passing a comment to another diner: “I see Wrexham has been promoted!”
The chances are that you have no idea where Rijksweg is but the whole world knows Wrexham, thanks to Hollywood actors, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds! Obviously I exaggerate for effect.
You, of course, know the story. How two years ago these two A-list actors bought struggling Wrexham AFC – so old, it describes itself as an Association Football Club in contrast to Everton FC, founded 14 years later. And having mentioned Everton, I quickly move on.
And it’s a made-for-television story, literally, as McElhenney and Reynolds shrewdly used their purchase to feature in a highly successful ‘docuseries’ entitled Welcome to Wrexham. I've watched it on Disney+ and it’s very good, very funny and lovable.
Two strange facts for you. McElhenney and Reynolds had never even met in person before embarking on this joint venture, neither had either of them even been to Wrexham before completing the purchase.
And yet by all accounts it is not that they own Wrexham AFC but Wrexham own them. Their unaffected joy on Wrexham’s 3-1 win against Boreham Wood was there for all to see. McElhenney was in tears.
For Wrexham is more than a football club, it is a community deep-rooted in the past with a hugely loyal fan base. So much so that when a previous owner tried to asset-strip the club, the supporters bought the club through the Wrexham Supporters’ Trust in 2011.
Sadly that didn’t do the trick and so by the 2019-2020 season, the club had been in its lowest position in the league in 150 years. That’s when talks of the McElhenney-Reynolds takeover had begun and on buying the club, they knew they had to completely rebuild and in a major way.
However, they have become an object-lesson in how to own a football club, totally aware that they assumed responsibility for more than a soccer team but an entire community, even a whole town. They could teach a few things to the Glazer brothers and certainly to Farhad Moshiri.
I was struck in their Mission Statement the commitment to show “appropriate and respectful observance of the Gresford Colliery Disaster” which cost the lives of 266 Welsh miners in 1934. Wrexham AFC is more than just a football club.
So we wait with bated breath to find out whether McElhenney manages to talk Gareth Bale out of retirement to play for this iconic Welsh club.
So why has Wrexham AFC attracted so much publicity? Simple: here is a feel-good story and it’s about people. And more, a happy ending (so far).
We are being worn out by the News, wherever on the television, print and especially online. Story after depressing story. I recall Bishop Geoff telling me how he was actively avoiding the News during the pandemic, altogether draining.
Just looking at the BBC News website now, leading with the resignation of Richard Sharp as BBC Chairman, the other five main stories are all negative. In fact, the only positive item on the page is that the HMV flagship Oxford Street store is to reopen. That will give you a spring in your step!
As US journalist Hunter S. Thompson confesses: “Good news is rare these days, and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished and hoarded and worshipped and fondled like a priceless diamond.”
Or to quote the apostle Paul, the same quote as it happens as last week but this week in the JBP translation: “This priceless treasure we hold, so to speak, in a common earthenware jar—to show that the splendid power of it belongs to God and not to us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)
This priceless treasure, this pearl of great price, is the Gospel, even the good news of Jesus. For at the heart of history, even from another drive-past town, comes Jesus of Nazareth who freely gives what our hearts long for, unconditional love and extravagant blessing from the God of all creation.
I don’t want to push the parallel with Wrexham AFC too far but it is God’s purpose to purchase us for himself, even when we were floundering in our failure. As Paul exclaims: “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings.” (1 Corinthians 7:23)
And our transfer fee, even the lifeblood of the Son of God. So the apostle as he continues his epistle defines a struggling fellow Christian as “this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died.” (1 Corinthians 8:11)
I recall a story I heard years ago about a husband and wife who became Christians through the Salvation Army. It seemed that the practice at their local Citadel (i.e. church) was to display some Bible text pinned on their chests. The problem was that they couldn’t read and were too embarrassed to ask for help. So they simply copied the text from a local shop: Under New Management.
And when we turn to Christ, we too are under new management, under a manager who is in it for the long run (even eternity), who has all the resources needed and who knows what he is doing.
And this is no absentee owner, who oversees at a safe distance. The very opposite. The Good news is that “the Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood.” (John 1:14)
Which in the case of Ryan Reynolds is actually the case, as he completes his purchase of a house in Marford, just down the road from the Racecourse ground!