Watch out Citizens, Deadpool's gunning for your spot at summit

After examining some of the Tinseltown stars named on the passenger list of Jeffrey Epstein’s “Lolita Express” and the number of celebrities happy to endorse the New World Order’s “Convid-plandemic” scam, I find it hard to believe that many of the modern icons of the entertainment world possess any degree of integrity whatsoever.

Actors such as John Cusack, Ben Affleck, Kevin Spacey and Tom Hanks, whose work I once admired, now exude – for me at least – a deeply unpleasant aura due to their “friendship” with Epstein and their association with his Caribbean paradise on Little St James, while other influencers such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, singer Alecia “Pink” Moore Hart and swimmer Michael “The Goat” Phelps carry a deeply unpleasant odour due to their willingness to sell their souls to the “Covid” deception.

When I hear mention of many of these public figures it’s The Stranglers’ single No More Heroes that immediately comes to mind… and I find it incredibly hard to look up to anyone occupying a spot in the public eye, particularly politicians and the world’s oligarchs attending the annual World Economic Forum soiree in Davos, Switzerland.

It’s a “sad and sorry... and sickening” state of affairs in the world today that instantly gets me humming the lyrics to the chorus of The Cranberries’ hit I Just Shot John Lennon... but there are two Hollywood icons who I desperately want to see the good in, although their ability to get TikTok on board as sponsors of the Welsh football team they’ve invested in and have a documentary series produced by Boardwalk Pictures, called Welcome To Wrexham, entering its second series immediately has the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

Santa Monica-based Boardwalk Pictures, founded in 2010 by documentary filmmaket Andrew Fried, has an impressive list of credits, but a close association with Netflix and some of the titles Fried has produced – including the 2010 Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special; Spooning... With Zac Efron; Last Chance U; We Need To Talk About Cosby; and The Show: California Love, Behind The Scenes Of The Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show – suggest a close professional relationship with, and access to, some influential but rather unsavoury characters involved in the entertainment game, perhaps the most pervasive influence on human behaviour existing in the world today.

Boardwalk Pictures has also recently had a significant “growth investment” from Los Angeles-based Shamrock Capital, a media-investment specialist for more than 45 years, which will help it further cement its position as a leader in non-fiction productions, which represent one of the fastest growing sectors in an industry that virtually defines our complete perception of the world we inhabit.

On a personal level I’ve thoroughly enjoyed most of the Boardwalk documentaries I’ve been fortunate enough to watch during the past few years of Covid lunacy... from Welcome To Wrexham; Last Chance U; Last Chance U: Basketball; and Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? But, despite my appreciation of these series, Boardwalk’s financial entanglements and the tentacles that stretch out towards the Caribbean Sea and “Epstein island” will inevitably dictate a high level of vigilance with regard to Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, which I sincerely hope proves totally unwarranted in the fullness of time.

As a huge fan of Welsh football and a life-long follower of the sport in Wales, I dream of success for Wales' national team, the sides playing in the Cymru Premier league and those that remain within the English pyramid. It’s amazing how the Welcome To Wrexham documentary has earned the Dragons a global following and elevated one of the oldest teams in British football to heights that hardly seemed possible after the 2007-08 season, when the club's 87-year stay in the English Football League came to an end with relegation to the premier division of the National League.

And the catalyst for that change in fortunes has undoubtedly been the November 2020 investment in the club by Deadpool star Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia creator McElhenney, who seem to have totally bought into the club, its history, the city and the supporters.

The first series, which follows the club’s fortunes during the 2021-22 National League season after the pair’s investment, was absolutely absorbing because of the club’s incredible giant-killing history, the passion of its fans and the apparent integrity of the new owners, who appear to have totally immersed themselves in it and the city itself.

But conversely there’s Boardwalk… and its association with the Super Bowl halftime show. There’s also the show’s affiliation in the UK with Disney+ and the club’s sponsor TikTok… connections that should immediately set off alarm bells for the club’s burgeoning worldwide audience.

The first series of Welcome To Wrexham concluded with the club’s failure to return to the EFL, following playoff semi-final disappointment at the Racecourse against Grimsby. The defeat meant a major financial hit for Reynolds and McElhenney since membership of the National League brings no “residual” payments for the club, whereas promotion back to the EFL would… costing the club about a million pounds every year it’s not playing at that level.

On the surface it represented a catastrophic blow, but on the plus side the adversity did focus attention on the 2022-23 season and the even greater importance of promotion back to the EFL for the Hollywood hotshots… only heightening the interest and marketability of the second series of Welcome To Wrexham, which fortunately sees promotion for the Dragons, who topped the National League – four points ahead of Notts County, who also returned to the EFL following a penalty shootout in the playoff final against Chesterfield.

Perish the thought that this was all part of the script when Reynolds and McElhenney first entered the directors’ box… but it certainly cemented my enthusiasm for the 2022-23 campaign, which will undoubtedly make for great viewing when season two hits TV screens, probably earning the club a sizeable windfall to offset the money forfeited by playoff disappointment the previous season.

First up for Wrexham on their return to the Football League will be a home clash with MK Dons, the offshoot of Wimbledon who not long before their 2004 reincarnation and move to Milton Keynes were under the ownership of former Cardiff City chief Sam Hammam, which adds a little extra spice to the encounter, hardly necessary given the anticipation the 2023-24 season has generated for Wrexham.

The campaign will also bring other interesting fixtures… such as AFC Wimbledon, who emerged in the Dons’ former home parish in 2002 and incredibly fought their way up the pyramid from the Combined Counties League to League Two status by 2011; clashes with the Dragons’ former National League rivals Grimsby, Notts County and Salford City, the development project undertaken by former Manchester United icons Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and David Beckham that began in 2014; and perhaps the most attractive of them all… a trip south to Rodney Parade on 23 December this year to face Welsh rivals Newport County, who beat the Dragons in the 2013 National League playoff final before Reynolds and McElhenney ever imagined they’d one day own a football club in North Wales.

Counting the coming League Two campaign Salford have already spent five years battling to move up to the next tier, while Newport will be embarking on their tenth campaign since returning to the division. So it promises to be a tough examination for manager Phil Parkinson’s Dragons, that I would wager is being eagerly anticipated by a significant proportion of Welsh football fans.

Can Wrexham achieve League One status at the first time of asking? Well, given the resources available to Reynolds and McElhenney, it would certainly come as no surprise to followers of the Welcome To Wrexham series – many of whom are probably already counting the years before regular trips to Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium replace those to Rodney Parade, the Peninsula Stadium and Blundell Park – but the nagging question on my mind is what scenario maximises the revenue potential for the club and its owners?

If Reynolds and McElhenney remain at the club and devote the passion and commitment they have so-far shown towards the project and city then I have little doubt Wrexham can be a Premier League side, perhaps even a force, within the decade… but is it simply an investment or does it have greater significance to them and perhaps even the strategists on the World Economic Forum thinktanks?

I can’t help but feel there is a greater goal at the heart of this North Wales experiment that could eventually see the hopes and dreams of all Welsh football fans come crashing to the ground… however I desperately want to look beyond those doubts and have faith in the motivation behind the project... so watch out Citizens, Deadpool’s coming for you, TikTok!