Transcript:
All right, so I had to record this video to talk about Welcome to Wrexham and the incredible insights that I think it has for business and business acquisitions.
If you don't know about the story or the TV documentary series, it follows this random soccer team in Wales in the United Kingdom that Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney came together and partnered to buy. It's essentially this team that's been around since the mid-1800s, and the club's been failing for a while. They've dropped down really low into the lower leagues and haven't had a good streak in a while. So the Hollywood guys acquire this team to essentially try to get back into the good leagues and compete again at the highest levels in the UK.
It's just incredible storytelling from start to finish. It's this working-class town — Rob McElhenney draws parallels to his upbringing in rough parts of Philadelphia, and he feels like he knows the people, like they're the same type of people he grew up around in Philadelphia, only across the pond.
What I think is so masterful about what they're doing is, if you look at it from a business acquisition standpoint, it's essentially a turnaround business. It's a failing, downward-trending asset that they've acquired and tried to turn around. And I think it's a really great case of uncovering hidden value in something that doesn't seem super glossy or exciting on the surface.
The real assets this team has are its history — it's one of the oldest teams in the UK, and their stadium is famous for being the oldest international soccer stadium in the world — and the dedicated, diehard fans of the town, who at one point even had to pull together money to keep the club alive. They're so dedicated to this team that they tried to save it from going under with their own pocketbooks.
What they do really well — and it makes sense given their filmmaking Hollywood background — is they tell the story really well. They tell the story of the town: how it used to be a booming town that's fallen on rough times, and how the team has been the consistent presence through all of it. It really is beyond sports. It's a lifestyle. It's a way for people to connect with each other, for families to connect. They feature this team and this town in a really great way and leverage that history to build the value of the team and the brand in people's minds.
And spoiler alert — if you haven't watched it or don't know anything about what's happening, you can hit pause now — but it helps that they've won their league back-to-back times. They got promoted. The way it works in the UK is, if you come in last place, you get demoted to lower leagues, or you get promoted to the next leagues. So they got promoted back-to-back times — I think the first team in history to do it, if I'm not wrong. It definitely helps that they came in, started spending money, instituted a culture of winning, and invested in good players. The winning helps all of it, and the actual turning around of the asset helps too.
But to me, the masterful part is how they saw the diamond in the rough. Even though this might not make sense financially right away, they saw that the real asset was storytelling. And it's funny — I was already thinking about this type of thing, and then in one of the episodes, I think in season 1 or season 2, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were doing an owner's press conference with the fans of the club. One kid asked him something — I can't remember what it was — but Ryan responded and said, you know, sports is really about storytelling. So you could see from his perspective, he was already looking at it like that.
I think you can apply that to all kinds of businesses too. A business may be thriving, or it may be on rough times, but you can look at what kind of story you can tell — whether it's about the community, or the product, or the history of the company — something you can leverage that builds value in people's minds.
So I thought they did it really well. I'm about halfway through the entire series. I kind of know what's happened in real life, but it's fun catching up on the journey so far, and I highly recommend checking it out. It's given me a lot to think about in terms of how important storytelling really is. Even with a filmmaking background and a writing background, when I should know that, it's reinforcing a lot of stuff.
So, Welcome to Wrexham — a solid series and a really great case study.
A few notes: I corrected "Rexom" to "Wrexham" and "Rob Mhenny/Mhoney" to "Rob McElhenney" throughout, smoothed out the stutters and repeated words, and tightened a few sentences while keeping your voice and all the substance intact. Let me know if you'd like it more heavily edited or broken into sections with headers.
Michael McGovern
The Wildman Path
Who I am and how I work:
I'm an ex-filmmaker turned direct-response marketing strategist who co-founded the Business Acquisition Summit (the premier virtual M&A event for entrepreneurs), and co-wrote the book “How to Sell a Business Quickly.”
I’ve worked with 7-and 8-figure companies in different niches like financial publishing, precious metals, online education, business coaching, real estate, eCommerce, and health & wellness.
Now, I help entrepreneurial businesses unlock hidden growth with campaigns that actually sell & drive real enterprise value — using Hollywood storytelling techniques and deep buyer psychology.
I work in one of three ways:
1. Marketing and/or copywriting for companies ready to grow via marketing that pays for itself [driving a LOWER cost per customer acquisition (CPA)… and a HIGHER average order value (AOV) and lifetime customer value (LTV)]
2. Equity “growth partnerships” where I bring an owner’s mindset to your long-term growth as we prepare to win back your time & freedom via an exit (either of the day-to-day operations or of the business fully) in 1-3 years, together
3. Full acquisitions of $1-10M businesses as an investor alongside my experienced M&A team at Relentless Growth Group
Behind the business stuff — I'm a former digital nomad now resettled back in my hometown of San Diego, California, a lapsed Jiu Jitsu blue belt, a student of Portuguese (because of my Brazilian wife), and a newly minted Dad of the world's cutest baby boy.
To get a conversation started with me, simply reply to this email with the word "GROWTH” now. Feel free to add extra info/ context if you’d like.
