Original subtitles

OK, there's lots of good Canadian music out there.

We're gonna do a couple of songs.

Uh, for anybody from Alberta, this is Four Strong Winds.

♪ Four strong winds that blow lonely ♪

♪ Seven seas that run high ♪

My name is Tamara Lee Reynolds.

♪ Change come what may ♪

We've been playing about ten years.

One of the ladies in my book club

offered to teach us in her home.

So about seven of us signed up.

And then the class kept getting bigger.

Bars and nightclubs and, you know, whatever.

Yeah, Jimmy Fallon might get word of us.

That was fun.

I'm the proud mother of four boys.

This is Ryan.

This is Jeffrey, Terry, and Patrick.

Ryan kind of was an old soul, and I

always say that I think he brought himself up.

You know, he had the example of the older boys,

who kind of looked out for him.

And, um, he just had, um, some wisdom about him.

But it was not easy growing up as Jim Reynolds' sons.

Sometimes Jim was not-- like, a lot of times--

not emotionally available.

So I--my role, as far as I can see it,

was to be emotionally available for the kids.

Um, that was a tough time,

and it was very hard for me

because I could see he was overdisciplining the kids.

But he didn't know any differently.

He would just explode,

occasionally, you know, throw something

against the wall that had to be fixed after,

and then he went, damn, I got to fix all this now.

And I went, yep.

You know, I think he kind of forgot to have fun

with them too.

When he was diagnosed with Parkinson's,

it was a--a downward journey.

It was a tough situation.

Ryan would love to have Jim here

to see how well he's doing,

as would the other boys.

Jim did the best he could with what he knew at the time.

His emotional kit was a little lacking, not quite adequate.

I'm pleased as a mom to see all four boys

reconciling the past in a way that works for them.

They know that Jim would have been so proud of them.

♪ Don't forget where you came from ♪

♪ Don't forget what you're made of ♪

♪ The ones who were there ♪

♪ When no one else would care ♪

♪ Don't be afraid to cry now ♪

♪ Even when the world comes crashing in ♪

♪ Don't forget to sing when you win ♪

♪ Don't forget to sing when you win ♪

My relationship with my father

was almost exclusively tethered and held together

by our mutual love of sports.

It was kind of everything, you know,

the only thing we talked about, so it was just so much.

It was such a harbor in the tempest

there for so many people.

It's a safe place to always return to.

- Yeah. - So no matter what happens,

no matter how frayed or fractured

your relationship might be,

it's a common ground that you can always...

Yeah.

Come back to and reset and restart.

This is a generational experience.

Um, and there are so many things that we pass on--

that we inherit and that we pass on.

When I think about this experience with Wrexham,

I try to think of all the wonderful things

that were passed down to me.

And I try to take the best parts of those things

and give those to my children.

My kids are obsessed with Wrexham.

They're obsessed with Wrexham.

Wrexham! Wrexham!

Wrexham! Wrexham! Wrexham! Wrexham! Wrexham!

Come on, Ollie.

Very fortunate to have a father

who's very much in my life and my kids' lives.

And, you know, to have a great relationship with him is--

is fantastic for me and--and my kids

because, you know, I--I say to people,

he's like one of my best mates, you know.

Oh!

Oh, for--come on. What? Tozer.

Oh, no, I was just--

When you become a parent, my first thought was,

what a wanker I used to be.

- Wow. - What do you mean, used to be?

Yeah, so I just felt like I had so many thank-yous

to give to my parents.

And I--I was kind of in awe

of what they'd done for me growing up.

I think, with me, though, I'm not really

spending much quality time with my children,

apart from on a Sunday.

Daddy. What?

Ollie, do you want coffee or tea?

No, I won't have any caffeine till the game.

I'll have tea-- actually, do you know what?

I think there's more caffeine in tea than there is coffee.

So do you want a coffee or a tea?

Yeah, fuck it.

So a coffee or a tea?

Yeah, I'll have a coffee, please.

It's been hard for me because I've been away from my family.

40 number 6.

If we could move Wrexham down to London,

that would be ideal scenario.

But that's unfortunately impossible, so yeah,

we've just got to keep-- keep going,

making it work how we are.

And we've kind of found a bit of a middle ground now

with how I travel up and staying up here

and getting home and being at home at the right times and...

It's been over a year now since--

Yeah, it's been over a year

since I've actually been at home on a match day.

Yeah, this is as normal as-- and as homely

as it would get, I guess.

Isn't it?

Sometimes my wife says, you know, this isn't--

this isn't what married life's meant to be like.

But what is it meant to be like?

I don't know. I don't know.

You've got to make do, and you've got to work things

out and, uh, make sacrifices.

And she understands that,

and my kids are learning to understand that.

Or was it Mummy?

I am actually missing that-- his football,

which is our biggest passion together.

You know, he gets upset about me not being there.

My dad was away a lot.

And, um, for me, that was always exciting

to have my dad at football games.

I remember I used to be like, yes, Dad's here,

because it wasn't an everyday occurrence

because you had work.

Oh!

I've always wanted to be a policeman.

And that's what I aimed to do and actually got in at 18.

As time went on, I went into Royalty Protection.

I worked with various members of the royal family,

queen being one of them.

And then my last six years of my, uh, service,

I was personal protection officer

to the Prince of Wales, who is now Majesty the King.

I mean, there are huge moments.

You know, there's going down the Thames

on the royal barge for the Jubilee

or Remembrance Sunday

or even the Royal Albert Hall,

uh, Royal Variety Performance

with Dame Edna Everage in the royal box,

which is a good clip.

To be part of all those big events,

you know, it's such a privilege.

But it entailed going away for two or three days a week

or even two weeks at times.

Come on, Ollie. That's it.

Control it.

There were times when they were younger when Ollie's got a--

you know, he's in the semifinal of a cup match

or a school play.

Or you've organized to go out and do something,

and all of a sudden, the day before or two days before,

it's totally rearranged,

and--and you disappoint the family,

um, that you're not gonna be there.

I mean, you have to ask Ollie how many times I've--

I've disappointed him over the years,

together with his brother and sister.

My mum and dad, obviously, divorced

when I was about 11 or 12.

I was very happily married to Ollie's dad.

Um...

we had a--I thought we had a great marriage.

And we had three wonderful children.

I was very confident about the future

and, um, loved our family life.

But then Andy left.

I was devastated because I always thought

that I would always be married to Andy.

I, you know, loved him a lot, um,

so I suppose it--it...

blew my world apart.

Any marital split-up with--with children involved

is a huge upset.

That was a very difficult time for me personally.

How do I go about telling my three children,

who I love to bits, that--

that Daddy is not gonna be around anymore

and Daddy's gonna move out of the house?

That was, like, a really fucking hard day. Um...

It's more--it's more the arguing of my mum and my dad.

That's what I really remember, just sitting in--

in the study... Yeah.

And hearing you two arguing in the dining room.

And then we was all crying.

Yeah.

It wasn't an easy divorce.

I'll put it that way.

At that point in time when-- when he left, we didn't know.

I didn't know the reason.

Um, kept thinking it was another woman.

I didn't find out the truth until months later.

Well, it took a long time.

It didn't--it wasn't an overnight decision.

It was months and months of deciding

of what route do I take,

and how do I go about telling my children

their dad is also gay?

On my agenda:

uh, players' house, match-day travel,

program, safeguarding,

match confirmations to other clubs,

match officials, scouts, um, a bit on medical.

Mitch, can you speak to Lee

about, um, menus for next season?

Yeah.

Uh, and then just some practical bits

around training schedules, really,

so everybody's aligned.

So yeah, a bit varied, in no particular order.

Every day is different within a football club.

Particularly here, over the last two years,

it's--we've seen such a growth.

It's definitely a daily challenge.

It's like you've got a castle of gin.

I know. I haven't got tempted yet.

I'm sure I will at some point, but not yet.

For the family, it's, you know, the people who don't see you,

you know, for six days a week

and phone calls on Christmas Day

or in the night and all sorts of things,

but, you know, that--that's what you take on

and that's what you love, really.

Yeah, I think, to get me here, there's not been any sort of,

you know, one defining moment.

I think it's many years of, um, probably working

in a family business and working for my father,

where there is no favoritism or anything like that.

You have to work harder than everybody else

to prove yourself.

And, uh, that put me in good stead

for, you know, what I'm doing now.

So my father originally was at Burton Albion.

I think he started as a commercial manager

and then was a chairman first time round.

So when I was a child, I can remember

sitting with the tea ladies in the tearoom

and then, after the matches, sitting in the changing rooms

while my dad spoke to the manager

after the game, which I have very vivid memories

of the-- the old-style baths there

with all the dirty water in it

and the smell of liniment everywhere.

But, uh...

Well, when you're a child,

you don't think about it, do you, particularly?

You just, you know, go with your dad to watch football.

And--but now I look back, you know,

we've had some very special times together

and, uh, you know, moments that,

you know, last forever, really,

creating those moments.

So it's been great.

And that's--that's the only day I've seen you

with tears in your eyes, on the day, uh, I left.

I've learned everything, you know,

from working with my dad, you know,

from the values that he brings, you know,

that community engagement,

which has always been the--the main priority.

You--you create the right culture

within your environment.

He's the oldest kitman in the country.

- 80... - 3.

83, yeah. How long you been here, Rocky?

- 29 years... - 29.

14 days, 16 hours through now.

My dad's starting life was--was challenging,

you know, with his circumstances with his--

you know, his mom bringing him up as a single parent.

And, you know, that's created my dad

to be the person that he is today,

and that--that's filtered to myself.

Fleur's made a massive contribution to where--

to this club's success and journey

over all those years, you know.

My problem now is getting ahold of her.

She's so committed and focused on Wrexham

that it probably takes her two days to ring me back,

you know, so that's the downside.

Thank you.

My life was Andy Palmer,

the heterosexual married man,

three children, um,

being a police officer.

Um, and now all of a sudden,

the people that thought they knew me,

suddenly they know a different person.

Yeah, it was a shock, shock to my system.

And I wished I'd found out when it happened

and that he was honest and truthful with me.

And we sort of kept it from the children.

Uh, and that wasn't my choice.

We ended up telling them about 18 months later.

They don't write books about how to go about it.

And you never know how your children are gonna react.

I think my oldest child found it the hardest,

but Ollie took it in his stride, really.

He seemed to accept it,

accept the situation that we were in.

My dad didn't really ever express himself as a--as a--

as a person, as a dad.

He didn't let us know how he was feeling.

And we spoke about that when I got older.

We spoke about why he kept things back.

We spoke about why he made some decisions that he made.

You know, he mentioned that he wanted to keep

his feelings to himself

because I was not old enough to understand them.

I was--that's OK. That was his choice, you know?

Do you know what I found really comforting

is that we did have a good marriage,

and actually, he didn't leave me for another woman.

Um, he actually left me for another guy.

And I can't compete with that.

And he did say to me, you're the only woman I'll ever love.

And I always get a lot of comfort from that.

I'm getting emotional now because I've never

spoken about it.

But, you know, you're the strongest person I know.

And I love you very much.

And thank you for always being there for me.

- Oh, thank you. - And you're the best.

You're the best mum I could have asked for.

I love you too. Gosh.

Here he comes.

Holding up the traffic?

Just a typical...

Yeah.

This is all he's done for work,

really, last 20 years.

I appreciate that, actually.

Must have been an extremely tough time for you, you know?

You had a...

Certain job.

Certain job which come with a lot of coverage.

Yeah.

And also, you had parents who were--

what's the word?

You know what my dad said to me when I told him?

No.

He said, can you go-- go to the doctor

and get any tablets for it?

So--but that's--that's what the people of my dad's era

would think, that you could just go to your local doctor

and get a cure for it.

But this is the thing, right.

As I speak to people openly about you being gay,

by telling them, they go, my brother's gay.

Well, they feel more comfortable in your--

This is what happened with--

this is what happened with Rob McElhenney.

Yeah.

You came to the-- to the Racecourse.

To Wrexham, yeah.

I said to Rob, this is my dad.

This is his partner, Mark.

And then we traveled down to the game,

and he traveled with us. Oh, OK.

And I said, that wasn't his business partner, by the way.

He said, I did have an idea. I was like, why?

Hi, my name is Helena McElhenney.

My son is Rob McElhenney.

And this is his other mom,

my wife, Mary Taylor.

I'm in the same position as Ollie.

My parents got divorced when I was eight or nine.

And as an adult, we can both look back at our parents

and recognize the amount of courage

that it took for them to do exactly what they did.

I was afraid not only for my children

but for myself.

I have so much empathy for her

in that situation because it was a different time.

And anybody who's over the age of 35

who's watching this can understand.

And I think one of the beautiful things

about our culture right now is, anybody under the age of 35

might not even know what the fuck I'm talking about.

I get asked, uh, a lot

about what it was like to have two moms.

And the truth is, I don't know anything different.

Um, it was pretty great.

It definitely shaped my view of--of the world,

my perspective.

We had to recognize that not every family

looked exactly the same.

Uh, and yet we had nothing but love and support

and compassion and empathy.

I felt like, growing up, I was the only kid

in the world with a-- with a gay dad.

- I'm open about it now. - Yeah.

I--I tell people.

Uh, I mean, I don't talk about it

like it's a--a big event.

But, you know, if someone says, oh, um,

is your dad married?

And they say, oh, is she coming to the game?

I'm like, yeah, he is.

If I could go back,

I would tell me to not be afraid,

to be strong and know that because you are who you are

and you have a loving family that they'll support you.

It's been great, really, and I wish

we probably did do it more.

But again, we're both really laid-back.

We probably don't speak about our emotions

as much as what we should.

And that's just who we are.

But as long as my dad knows that I love him

and I know that he loves me, then I'm happy.

Mm. Love you too.

Don't cry.

No, we're fine.

- All good. - Yeah, we're good.

- Love you. - Yeah.

All right, simple. Good.

So every football team is a--is a tapestry

made up of all the different players,

but they're united by the same goal,

which is that they want to win.

They want to do well for this town, this team,

and get out of this league.

Elliot was a--was a player we'd looked at

and we chased the hardest because he had a lot of clubs

wanting to sign him.

♪ Here we go again ♪

♪ Here we go again, yeah, yeah ♪

He's another great character

and a very gifted footballer.

Said to my agent-- when my contract ran out

at my last club, I said, I want to be part of something.

I want to be part of a project, something that--that--

that's bigger than myself and something

that actually I'm passionate about.

Um, and that's when the phone call from Wrexham came.

And I was like, that's--that's sort of fate.

Like, this is probably one of the best projects in football.

Good boy!

There you go.

- Yeah. - Is it straight?

- Yeah, that's all right, that. - There you go.

I was originally born in Newcastle

'cause obviously, my dad played football.

So, um, he was playing for Newcastle then.

My one and only game against Wrexham

must have been 30 years ago.

And that's the only time I've ever played at the Racecourse.

But again, had huge support.

My dad's had a really successful career.

He's got 21 caps for the national team for England.

What a cap signifies is the number of times

a player appeared for his or her

national football team.

So if you played a match for England,

for example, you receive an honorary cap.

So in the case of Rob Lee,

he's played for England 21 times,

and he has 21 caps.

Don't drop that. It's all right.

You got 20 more, don't you? Yeah, I have.

Yeah, you're right. Yeah, you're right.

So obviously, when you're growing up

and you're seeing your dad do stuff like that,

it's--it's only natural to think, wow, one day, I--

I want to be doing this

and I want to be playing in front of these crowds.

To become a footballer,

but I think seeing your dad do it

and play at the level he has is, uh--

was sort of a driving force in me and my brother.

And we'd get home from school, straight out in the garden,

me and my brother just playing football all the time.

I think I'm sometimes known as the son of Rob Lee.

Yeah, I get a good reception every time I go back.

Mind you, if you start playing badly,

I--I probably won't, but...

Neither will I.

Uh, maybe taking Wrexham to the Premier League.

Me and Ollie Palmer went for a--for a drink

a few weekends ago.

And I don't think we paid for one drink, so...

I haven't paid for one for 20 years.

Everything I do is for my kids.

They're--they're my absolute world.

And I--I feel so lucky every day to--to have them.

He is always--

he's just always with the kids,

just always playing with the kids.

- Whoop! - Good boy.

Doing everything he can to get out of laundry

or cooking a meal.

Whoa-ho-ho!

Um--oh, I don't know why I'm crying.

He's just really, really caring, um,

does everything for the kids

and for me and just for us.

Everything he does is for us.

Snuggies! Mm!

And now I've been dragged into it.

Just want to be a fun dad that my kids

can look back on memories

and just be there and be present and--

and them just know that I was always around.

Bye, Daddy.

Bye, mate.

Love ya.

Ooh, a shark's come to say hello.

Mummy's waving.

Here, Vinny, come see Mummy and Daddy.

I have a policy with my children, and it's honesty.

I think, growing up, I was a little bit scared

to go to my parents to say

if I'd done something wrong.

That's probably because I'd done a lot wrong.

So I wouldn't tell them the truth,

and--and problems wouldn't get resolved.

That is a queen triggerfish in the wild.

They don't really like divers,

but Freddie's quite used to us now.

Probably very similar to my dad

in ways that I probably don't want

to be because I want to be able to come out

and talk about things.

Filming with you lot has been like therapy at times.

Chatting with my dad, never done that,

never spoke about things growing up.

Same with my mum.

It's been great.

It's been great to open up.

It's been great to hear them say that

they might have done things differently.

But for me, what's done is done.

You know, you can't rewind.

That's what I say about life.

The most precious, expensive thing that we all have

is time, and...

it's how you spend it.

My date tonight. This is my mom.

Aw, that's perfect.

♪ Time's washed away ♪

♪ Memories left behind ♪

♪ Stars can be revealed ♪

♪ When the skies clear ♪

♪ Voices raising up generations ♪