[light playful music]
♪ ♪
COACH: That's it. Good touch.
That's what we're looking for, yeah?
[indistinct chatter]
ROB: Rob, he was our number one.
You can't lose your job to injury.
Mark stepped up,
and he's gotten us through this entire season--
through the entire season.
Mark has only lost two games.
And then Rob was healthy, so Rob came back in.
PLAYER: Good, Rob.
ANNOUNCER: And a strong hand by Mark Howard.
COACH: Go!
Good.
MARK: Lain-O is a really good shot stopper.
Obviously, I've only seen him play five or six times
this season, but in training, the saves
that he does make is really good.
PLAYER: Ooh! PLAYER 2: Good save.
PLAYER 3: Big save, Rob.
MARK: When Rob did get back in the team,
I've not been one to moan or argue
or complain about those sort of situations.
We've all got our own, uh, capabilities
and strengths and weaknesses.
I'm not here to complain against it.
I'm not here to fight against him.
I'm here to support him and help him.
[dramatic music]
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to beautiful Hayes Lane,
where tenth-place Bromley will host the league leaders,
Wrexham.
[crowd chanting]
ANNOUNCER: And it's into the arms there of Lainton.
And I just wanted to comment, actually--
Rob Lainton hasn't had that much luck at Hayes Lane.
During the COVID season, um, he suffered an injury
in a collision with James Alabi.
It's a ball round the corner,
looking for the run to James Alabi.
It's gonna get there.
Massive collision. PERSON: No.
ANNOUNCER: Rob Lainton is down and not moving.
He was down for approximately half an hour,
He was taken to hospital,
and, thankfully, he was all right.
And then, uh, last season,
Wrexham returned for that nil-nil draw,
and, uh, he went down again and got another injury
that day and had to be treated.
ANNOUNCER: Jordan Davies, the ball goes through to Coulson.
Lainton with an excellent save and Lainton again!
And the ball's gone over the bar.
Rob Lainton puts his body on the line every single game.
ANNOUNCER: He'll certainly want a less eventful match
than, uh, his past couple visits, Rob Lainton.
ANNOUNCER: Here's Lainton.
Kendall closing it down, and Lainton has to get rid of it,
manages to find Palmer.
[whistle blows]
ANNOUNCER: The halftime whistle blows,
a scoreless first half,
as the teams head back to the changing room.
TRAINER: Just strap it up here. LAINTON: It feels fucking--
it feels funny.
- Just relax.
[indistinct chatter]
[cracking]
[tense music]
- You all right, Rob?
- MCL.
He's done his MCL on that last kick.
I don't think he can continue.
Mental.
PHIL: Go tell Chomp he's coming on, please.
[somber music]
MARK: It's so hard sometimes,
'cause you want to play, you do want to play.
I don't wish injury upon anybody.
I've had some really bad injuries in my past,
so Lainton has obviously had his fair share of 'em,
and he's been very unlucky.
Three times in three seasons at that ground
is just--it's horrendous.
Uh, mentally, it must be really tough for him.
PERSON: Fucking Bromley. [players cheering]
PHIL: Let's get on that fucking football.
PLAYER: Let's go, boys.
ANNOUNCER: Back under way.
Wrexham making a change at the break at halftime,
and, uh, Rob Lainton coming off.
We talked about his bad luck
at Hayes Lane in the first half.
Well, that bad luck has carried on.
ANNOUNCER 2: Oh, at Bromley-- three seasons in a row,
and Lainton has picked up an injury at Bromley.
It's incredible. It's awful.
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause, whistle blows]
ANNOUNCER: And that's the final whistle.
Wrexham, victors today. [crowd chanting]
PHIL: I really hope, for Rob, it's not too bad.
Um, he's had some bad luck at this ground.
Equally delighted for Mark to come on
and--and show a real calm assurance.
It's never easy coming off the bench in any position,
but certainly at keeper.
But I thought, you know, he just came on
and give us a nice air of calmness
and helped us get over the line.
ANNOUNCER: Wrexham close it out.
With not counting drawing at Barnet,
Wrexham now have got some breathing space
at the top of the table.
♪ ♪
SINGER: ♪ Don't forget where you came from ♪
♪ Don't forget why 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 ♪
[melancholic guitar music]
♪ ♪
♪ Don't forget to sing when you win ♪
♪ ♪
[light orchestral music]
REPORTER: Word is that Rob Lainton
will be out for the rest of the season.
Are you comfortable with Howard in goal again?
PERSON: You know, he's done enough
over the course of, you know, the season as a whole.
PERSON 2: He's kept, what, 13 clean sheets this year.
He stopped us from getting a pumpkin at Notts County
at the end of the season-- four or five decent saves.
PERSON: What a class act Mark Howard is.
- He has been fantastic for us. - Awesome.
SHAUN: He's a fantastic goalkeeper.
We got a fantastic-- PERSON: Shot stop is brilliant.
- Who--who's had--who's had a very, very good career.
- I think Mark Howard's...
37, 38, so he's obviously getting no younger,
but I think he's been a really good signing
and a really experienced head.
CHILD: Mom, I'm just gonna put the telly on.
MARK: That's fine. LUCIE: That's okay.
MARK: After that, though,
we can go out in the garden, right?
CHILD: Ugh. CHILD 2: Yep.
MARK: Should've got a plate for your cookies.
Bonkers. - Well, we've got table.
Who cares about plates? [laughter]
- Yeah, you just know that Mommy and Daddy'll
clean up after ya, didn't ya?
[child laughs] CHILD: Yeah.
CHILD 2: [chuckles]
[dog barking]
MARK: Uh, Mark Howard, goalkeeper.
I turned pro at 18.
I'm 36, nearly 37 now, so close to 18, 19 years.
[gentle guitar music]
LUCIE: It's hard--because of his age, you think
you're kind of coming to the end of your career.
It was weird.
It felt like Wrexham was just a really good fit.
♪ ♪
MARK: Me and Lucie, uh, traveled around a lot,
like, with different football clubs and stuff,
so she's been unbelievably supportive
of my whole career, and we've been blessed
with two beautiful children, and I feel very fortunate.
Good save.
- Mark, he's brilliant. He just, uh...
switches off from work
to family man when he gets home.
MARK: Nice, Bobs.
There's a lot that surrounds going on
at football and the expectancy level,
like I said, but just coming home
and just being a normal person, being Dad, is, like,
the thing that makes me happiest.
No days off. Extra training, Bobby.
CHILD: [laughs] MARK: Yes, 1-nil!
LUCIE: [laughs] Mark, careful of his face.
[Mark laughs]
- [dramatically] What a save from Mark Howard.
[Lucie and Mark laugh] Lucie: I knew that was coming.
MARK: Get the catchphrase. - I knew it was coming.
Mark, have you been training her?
MARK: Yeah. [Lucie laughs]
Welcome back to the Yours, Mine, Away! Podcast
with me, Mark Howard.
Uh, I can't believe
I'm actually saying this today.
Uh, I've got one of my idols in,
uh, one of the reasons that I play in goal
and still carrying on to this day.
Uh, he's played over 1,000 professional games.
Actually sounds crazy to say that.
Please welcome big David Seaman.
- Pleasure, mate.
- The podcast only started about
when I started my uni degree.
I'm studying, uh, journalism and media.
Uh, I'm at that stage in my career
where I am looking to what happens next
to make sure I've got everything in place
for life after football.
I've looked up to you for years.
- [laughs] I know, and it's weird, innit?
You know, like, as--you know, 'cause you were, like--
What were you, about 14?
MARK: 14, 15. BOTH: Yeah.
- I was like, "Oh, my God.
I can't wait to get to that level,"
and I still never have.
[both laugh]
ANNOUNCER: Aerial power in there.
Paul Blake, but can they find a cutting edge?
Sarver! [speaks indistinctly] Off the line!
Somehow kept out by Seaman. That is a fantastic save.
MARK: But you've brought in that glove...
- I know. Yeah. MARK: That made that save.
MARK: That's the best-ever save I've ever seen.
For the ball to change directions so many times--
DAVID: Yeah, it was-- it was a different save.
It weren't, like, a hard shot
and then it did a little deflection.
MARK: These belong in a museum, mate.
[David chuckles] They'd be worth a lot of money,
these, by the way. DAVID: Yeah, true.
MARK: Dave Seaman had a huge influence on me,
'cause coming through at Arsenal,
he was always the number one until I went full-time,
but I was lucky enough to train with him a few times
and see what he was all about, and, yeah,
I think he's played over 75 times for England.
He was at the pinnacle of his game
for a long, long time.
How big are they?
- Yeah, but we used to tuck 'em in, though, didn't we?
- Yeah.
Big baggy sleeves. - Yeah.
Do you have yours right now?
- No, I, like, literally pull a cuff up, and that's it.
- Yeah, but do you tuck it in your shirt?
- Oh, it's untucked, yeah. - Untucked? Yeah.
- Hide me belly. - Oh.
[both laugh]
- I think that, mentally, I'm still 100% there.
I want to get to 40. I've got that in my head--
that I know that I've got more to offer on the field.
I love what I do.
I look forward to being re-given that opportunity
to keep--keep my place, and I just want us to do well.
Um...
and--and I want us to get promoted.
I want to be part of that journey.
[serious music]
HUMPHREY: So, obviously, at the end of last season,
we suffered an injury to Rob Lainton,
which left us without kind of adequate goalkeeping cover.
Um, and, you know, I think some of the challenges we endured
in that final game of the season could be linked
to injuries, both to goalkeepers
and central defenders, so we're very sensitive
to ensuring we had good-quality injury cover this year.
So, when Rob went down again,
much as Mark had done a brilliant job,
we wanted to ensure that we had someone in there
to provide competition to him.
- The breaking news is that Ben Foster has come
out of retirement just before his 40th birthday
and is gonna be playing
for National League leaders, Wrexham.
So they've confirmed they're gonna be signing him
until the end of the season.
Now, he returns here, having, uh, spent time there on loan
from his parent club, Stoke, uh, 18 years ago.
So there you have it-- Ben Foster coming out
of retirement and going to be playing,
uh, for Wrexham.
- Ben Foster is an unusual character
to see turning out for a National League football club.
ANNOUNCER: Brilliant save by Foster!
HUMPHREY: He's got 500 career appearances,
400 of them in the Premier League.
He played for England.
He's played for Manchester United.
He's played for Watford.
He has played almost his entire career
at the absolute top of the game.
AIDAN: American friends call me,
and they're like, "Oh, uh, who's Ben Foster?
Uh, we don't know much about soccer."
I said, "Well, it's very simple.
It's like signing Tom Brady."
[tense music]
- Every once in a while, uh, over the course of a season
or a career, there are those people out there
that get that extra little bit of magic--
the Kobe Bryants of the world,
the Michael Jordans of the world,
um, the Tom Bradys of the world.
RYAN: Ben Foster, he is that player.
- Ben Foster, Premiership a goalkeeper his entire life,
you know, just--you know, he's brilliant.
- Howard's done a good job for us.
He's not perfect, but who is?
PERSON: Well, he--he knows that bringing Ben Foster in
means he probably doesn't play another game this season.
Goalkeeper's the hardest position on the field.
You can--you can make ten saves.
You make one mistake, you're the villain.
PERSON: Yeah.
RYAN: The thing, I think,
broke our hearts is that Mark Howard
has stepped up for this team over and over and over again
all season, with clean sheets galore
and putting his heart,
his body, his spirt on the line.
ROB: Mark has only lost two games,
but we bring in another keeper,
who, by all measure and all regard--
and Mark would admit this as well--
is the superior keeper.
And that's just the reality of--of the sport.
- I felt for Mark.
PHIL: It's been hard.
The team is right at the top
of the league and has done well for us.
Um, when you get a chance
to sign a keeper of Ben Foster's quality,
um, you know, you've got to take that,
and, uh, yeah, it's always tough on somebody else.
- That's what's best for the team.
I think Mark knows that. We know that.
Obviously, Phil knows that,
'cause he's making that decision.
[somber music]
MARK: The manager phoned me on the Wednesday night
before Ben signed, and I was just about to walk
into my daughter's school play,
so that's-- manager sent me a text saying,
"Can you call me quickly?"
To be fair, I understood his decision.
At first, you think, "Oh, no, this don't look great for me,
but it looks good for the club."
I said, "If it makes us better,
we're all in it together."
And, uh, I went--
and, obviously, I had to hang up and go
and watch me daughter's school play.
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
- Yeah, I think that's where I really--I used to train--
RYAN: Ben Foster, retired Premier League player,
he said, "I jump in. Let's go.
I'll--I'll get you guys across the line."
- Morning, all. PERSON: Good morning.
You all right? You all right? Morning, morning, morning.
[upbeat music]
BEN: I really enjoyed retirement.
I started playing an awful lot of golf.
Really, really enjoying
doing all the things that I've never been able to do
for the last 20 years of my life.
And then Wrexham came knocking,
and, um, it-- [laughs]
STEVE: Steve Parkin. Nice to meet you.
How are you? Good seeing you. Yeah, I'm good.
BEN: Okay. - Yeah, good. Looking good.
BEN: They were the team that basically gave me
my opportunity to-- to play first-team football,
and that's basically where my career just lifted off
from there, so, initially, I owe a lot to--to Wrexham
for what they've given me.
PERSON: Come on, I'll take you through.
- To bring Fozzy in was a case of having
an insurance policy.
I mean, you're bringing in a top goalkeeper as well.
I know he hadn't played for a period of time,
but he's got a pedigree.
- I'll be honest, I was thinking it'd have to be
something pretty-- pretty spectacular or unique...
- Yeah. - To get you out of retirement,
because you've had--
We spoke about Newcastle. - Yeah.
- And that was an incredible offer.
- Yeah, obviously, you've got to expect
that, being non-league,
it's not going to be anywhere near
kind of, like, Premier League money
or anything like that, and to be perfectly honest,
yeah, I don't really need much anyway.
So the negotiations, quite honestly,
took about five minutes, didn't they?
It was--it was the easiest conversation
in the world.
RYAN: The Internet went nuts with,
you know, "Ryan and Rob splash out millions of dollars
to bring in Premier League goalie
for the end of the season,"
and what I will always love and I will always be indebted
to Ben Foster for is the fact that he immediately went
on his own podcast
and said, "The negotiations for this deal lasted five minutes.
I'm being paid peanuts."
- It's literally peanuts. I don't want much. I don't.
- "I'm coming back to just get this club
into the next league-- that's it."
- I don't need any glitz or glamour.
I don't need all the nice shiny, sparkly bits.
I said, "The part of it for me is to try
"and help the team, get them over the line,
get promoted, and that's what it is."
It's seeing Wrexham back in the football league.
Stick me in a corner with the goalies or something.
We'll have a goalie corner. It'll be lovely.
[laughter] - Don't say--don't say that.
[laughter]
And he was the first one I saw when we got here as well.
He was getting out of the car. I was thinking, "Oh, no.
Don't like this. Don't like it."
If anybody deserved to be given another chance
to just finish out the season
and help Wrexham get over the line,
it would've been Chomp.
Gutted for him at that moment in time,
because like I say, he had such a big part
to play in this season.
Um, he had done fantastically well.
I think goalkeepers are much better
at dealing with this situation
than what outfield players are.
I think outfield players tend to--
I think egos get in the way a little bit,
whereas goalies, we understand that there's only one player
that can play in that position, only one goalie can be picked.
BEN: I explained to him how, um--
how I--how I came about signing,
basically how it all happened.
I said, "Listen, I'll be honest with you, Chomp.
"I'm--I've come here to play. You know? That's what it is.
"I've--I've told the manager that I'm playing,
and I'm not coming here to be a number two."
And he said--he's, again-- he's super honest, Chomp.
And he's like, "Yeah, I understand that, mate.
"You know, you were playing in the Premier League last year.
"You're not gonna want to come here and be a number two."
And I was, like, "Listen, I'm not--
"you know, I'm not being a big head or an eg--
"I-I feel like I can do this.
"You know, I want to do this.
"I want to do it properly as well.
"I'm not coming here just to, you know, gain
"a few Instagram followers or whatever.
I-I-I want to do it properly."
Um, and I think he could see that, to be fair.
PERSON: That's a fucking test at the start.
MARK: Ben's someone that I've followed
a lot of my career, uh,
because he's a few years older than me,
someone that I've looked up to and what he's gone on
to achieve, from playing for England
and playing for Man United in the Champions League,
and he's had numerous promotions.
Ben's standards that he's put in that 18-year period
are incredible,
along with what he's done in the game off the field.
- Hello, everybody. I'm Ben Foster, the Cycling GK.
♪ It's Friday, yeah ♪
♪ Saturday, Sunday ♪ [laughs] Right.
HUMPHREY: He's got a YouTube channel.
I mean, lots of people have got YouTube channels around here,
but his is good.
- Yeah. - This hotel is bloody lovely.
Look at this.
People want to see that, don't they?
They want to see a bit more behind the scenes.
HAYDEN: You know what I mean? - Yeah, I know. Exactly.
How cool is that?
[people screaming]
MARK: I think that he's the first person
that ever make it popular to show interest in YouTube
and podcasts and the GoPro and everything like that.
He was the first person that did it.
- Success! [exclaims]
[grunts]
PERSON: Right there!
BEN: Just about to do the Yours, Mine, Away! Podcast.
Super Mark Howard wasted no time
in getting me, tapping me right up for the podcast.
- Real quick. [both laugh]
Hello, everyone.
Today we've got an unbelievable guest,
my current teammate,
just nicked my place-- thanks a lot for that, mate.
I'm gonna get straight to that. - [laughs]
- Uh, please welcome Ben Foster.
- [laughs] Aw, mate, don't. - [laughs]
- I feel bad now.
- I had to break the ice with that.
I had to-- - It was good. Uh, no.
Thanks for having me, mate. I'm looking forward to this.
- At first, everyone thought, "Oh, Mark'll be so pissed."
BEN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. - "Like, proper pissed."
And then, obviously, after, like,
you coming in, I was like, "If it get us through--
"like, through that door, mate, and we get promoted,
let's just enjoy that moment." BEN: Mate, that is so proper,
that is, honestly. That is so proper.
- That is what goalkeeping is about, though, innit?
Like, obviously, you've been in teams before,
been out of teams, and that's what we are like.
- Exactly, do you know what I mean?
MARK: That's not what my missus said, by the way,
when I told her. [both laugh]
She wouldn't want me saying that.
She went, "What?" No, I'm joking.
[both laugh] - It's good, it's good.
- How has the first few days at Wrexham been?
- Really good, mate, buzzed off it,
absolutely buzzed off it.
You saw me in training on Thursday.
Don't lie, right? Don't lie.
Give your honest assessment
of what I looked like training on Thursday.
- Uh, rusty.
- Did I look like a goalie that had been retired
for ten months? [laughs]
- The first few volleys...
- I thought you was gonna say "ten years," though, yeah.
[both laugh] - The first few volleys,
I was like, "Oh, he's-- he's not what I remember him."
As soon as you got in the games,
you just turn on again.
BEN: Good to go again, yeah. - Yeah, it was mental.
- I hope--I hope I'm feeling good tomorrow.
I was nervous. I was really, really nervous.
Like I say, I hadn't played for a while.
There's gonna be a lot of eyes on me.
You know, if I make a mistake in the first few minutes,
it's gonna be like, "What have we done?
This is a circus." Do you know what I mean?
"You're signing a 40-year-old goalie that's miles off it."
[indistinct chatter]
[soft upbeat music]
[turn signal chimes] - Hello, mate. Ben Foster.
- 18 years ago. It was 18.
PERSON: I was there. BEN: [laughs]
PERSON: I'll see you, Ben. BEN: Cheers, mate. Thank you.
- Aww, that's really lovely. Thank you very much.
Of course you can. [indistinct chatter]
[crowd chanting]
ANNOUNCER: Let's turn our attention to today--
Wrexham against York City.
Two changes for Wrexham. Here goes one--
Ben Foster makes his return to the racecourse.
He'll be in goal for us.
Uh, it's a strange old world.
It's time for Foster Mania.
- Foster just got to keep a clean sheet, hasn't he?
INTERVIEWER: Well, he has to, doesn't he?
That's what he's here for.
Let's hope he's got nothing to do.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah? - I am.
I really am, uh, just because he hasn't--
he must've had two good days training,
because if you've not really been--
been at it for nine months,
how--how easy is it to come back in?
How match-sharp are you? I don't know. I don't know.
- [laughs]
Yeah, I'm gonna have to, mate.
I totally forgot you needed shin pads.
Oh, they're golden, mate. [laughs]
[indistinct chatter]
- Rob McElhenney. - Yes!
You could tell by the smell Wasn't it the smell?
RYAN: Yeah.
- Work like dogs, all right?
PHIL: Come on, boys. Hey, fucking no disappointments.
BEN: Best team in the league.
We're the best team in the league,
but you still got to outwork everyone.
CROWD: ♪ See the Reds who fight together ♪
♪ Speak their names with pride forever ♪
ANNOUNCER: Here come the teams.
My watch just warned me that I'm in a loud environment.
Well, listen to this.
ANNOUNCER 2: [chuckles] And it's about to get louder.
[singing continues]
CROWD: ♪ Fearless in devotion ♪
♪ Rising to promotion ♪
[singing continues]
- Look at that beast. Look at that beast.
ROB: Yeah, that's a big man.
PERSON: Oh, shit.
- It meant a bit to me, do you know what I mean?
It was like I was coming home again almost.
But I couldn't help, um,
in the hours leading up to the game,
just thinking about it, thinking, you know,
"There's gonna be a lot of eyes.
There's gonna be a lot of focus."
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
ANNOUNCER: Plays it backwards,
driven long to the halfway line.
John-Lewis driving in to Tozer,
brings it down well and feeds it inside
to the man outside.
He plays it.
Mendy can't make the interception.
Fallowfield drives it in.
[cheers and applause]
RYAN: Yes! There we go!
BEN: York City, they're--
as most teams in this league--
are very good at just putting balls into the box.
ANNOUNCER: The diagonal for John-Lewis, who backs in well,
jumps loose, shot-- Good save by Foster!
RYAN: There we go! - That's a long man.
- That's why we spent all those peanuts.
- That's a long man.
BEN: First couple of minutes,
they--they put balls in the box relentlessly.
For a goalie, it's nightmare.
ANNOUNCER: And across to Flagstaff, the defender,
and Foster takes it comfortably under his bar.
Bit of backspin on it, but he took it well.
Foster, that's a great throw.
Finds Lee surging forward, got two strikers ahead of him.
BEN: As a goalie, that's, like--
oh, that's the dream start.
Come and take a cross, bowl it out.
It's like, yeah, here we go. We're cooking now.
ANNOUNCER: Great confidence and experience from Ben Foster
at the back there, collecting the ball.
Great throw out on a good break.
BEN: Not only for me, but, I think,
for the lads in front of me, my back four, my defenders.
They see a goalie that's willing to come off his line...
a confident goalie, proactive goalie,
they think, "Yeah, this is nice.
This is--we've got--we got a good goalie behind us."
So I think it just settled everybody, settled everything.
- Nice. - Yeah!
ANNOUNCER: Wrexham build it nicely.
Lee now, left edge, cuts inside,
Beats his man, squares it!
Cannon, helps it on first time, German shot!
Off the bar!
[tense music]
Has it gone in? I think it has!
♪ ♪
It's given!
[thunderous cheers and applause]
It's a Wrexham goal!
- Whoo!
Yes! Whoo!
ANNOUNCER: Come on!
ANNOUNCER 2: It's an own goal by the keeper, Whitley!
PERSON: Yes! Come on!
[cheers and applause]
[person cheers] - Aah!
ANNOUNCER: Tozer's delivery comes in at pace.
ANNOUNCER 2: Yes. ANNOUNCER: Header comes on!
And it's there! Sam Dalby for Wrexham!
- Tremendous stuff, that!
BEN: That was the first time I got to see us play
proper football, and I'm watching it, thinking,
"This is--this is so far above non-league, it's ridiculous."
Like, we are so much better than non-league.
ANNOUNCER: Foster launches it long.
It's helped on by Dalby and Lee is one-on-one!
Can he wrap it up? Yes! [cheers and applause]
3-nil!
Elliot Lee gets a goal he deserves,
'cause he's been a constant threat.
- [laughs]
ANNOUNCER: And that is it, a 3-nil win.
[cheers and applause]
We see Mullin celebrating.
We see Ben Foster enjoying the applause
of the Wrexham fans.
- These lads are class, you know--look at this.
[supporters chanting]
- Oh, yeah. One step closer.
- Boo-yah.
Get in there. Winning start, love that.
SUPPORTER: Ben Foster.
- He was amazing then, though, wasn't he?
- Amazing then, and he's amazing now.
- He's the man.
- That's what we need till the end of this year--
someone solid between the sticks.
- Yeah, rock-solid Ben Foster. Come on!
- Go, Wrexham!
- Absolutely brilliant play,
brilliant play, but I felt that he was playing with love,
and it was really nice to see.
- You've come for eight games. That's one down now.
A perfect start. - Yeah.
- Another seven of them, and-- - Oh, we're cooking.
Yeah, we just need to keep it going.
We just need to keep it going.
It's as simple as that, and it's nice, though,
'cause, like I say, I started my career here,
and then I'm gonna finish my career here,
and that's the--it's, like, the full circle of a football.
Like, it's--yeah, it's very, very nice.
INTERVIEWER: That could be May, or could it be...?
- Oh, don't--let's not get carried away.
INTERVIEWER: [laughs] - Let's not get carried away.
Bloody hell. Let's get these, uh,
next seven games out of the way.
- When he came in Thursday in training, he was excellent,
and he was, uh, very confident he'd be fine to play,
and he certainly showed it.
- I felt really good, to be fair.
I was nervous, like, I was--I--
Like I say, I've played games, but I was still nervous,
genuinely, so nervous.
- How are you? ROB: Ah, good to see you.
Great win, great win. - [laughs] I love this.
I love how much it means to you lot.
ROB: Oh, my God, please. - It's class, isn't it?
ROB: It's incredible. - 10,000 fans there today.
You know, there's no country in the world that would have
a non-league stadium have 10,000 fans in it.
It's bonkers.
Rob, uh, Ryan,
they're both just buzzing, like, absolutely buzzing.
Um, "We're so thankful. We're so happy."
Like, "Thank you for joining us.
"Thank you for helping us. It means so much to us.
"You know, we're gonna get over the line,
"and we--we're gonna have a wicked time in Vegas when
we've won the league and"-- [laughs]
And as soon as they said that, I went,
"We're going to Vegas? We're gonna go to Vegas?"
And they were like, "Yeah, of course we're going to Vegas."
And I was like, "Oh, you're the boys."
What a start to life at Wrexham FC, 3-nil.
The boys were on absolute fire, and as always,
you know I like to look out for you lot.
We've got a giveaway, and I've got a friend
to tell you what all you need to do.
- If you want to win this, this Foster shirt...
[sniffs] Which smells exactly like victory
and some other stuff... [Ben laughs]
- You know what to do, all right?
- As always, give this video a like, subscribe,
and then get in the comments and say something nice.
It's as simple as that. All the best. See you soon.
[bright whimsical music]
♪ ♪
BEN: All right, come on, then, big dog, let's go.
[billiard balls clacking]
- He was brilliant at the start of it.
- Yeah, it was all right? I've enjoyed it, to be fair.
Like I say, everybody's been dead nice, and--
God's sake, this is a bad game, this.
That's unlucky, that, you know?
Don't ever get too high, yeah?
Don't ever get too low. It's as sim--
Try to stay somewhere in that middle bit.
If you can stay there, you won't go far wrong.
- The lads are from levels higher, aren't they?
- Much higher, mate. - Yeah.
- Much higher. I'd say a league, one level.
- That's what I always picture.
It's like, we've got a League One team
playing non-league, but it's still no guarantees in that.
BEN: No chance, mate.
MARK: The levels that we've performed at
and the results that we've got,
the standards that we've got as a team,
we deserve it, but whether we'll get it or not
is a different thing.
- If I miss this, I'll be heartbroken,
by the way.
Nearly rolled off, that did. - Nice, mate.
- [laughing] Nearly rolled off.
[both laugh]
[lively orchestral music]
♪ ♪
- We've got to do it this year.
We've got to--we've got to-- we've--
we've got to have a bit of luck, surely, you know.
- The clever thing about Parky is he's built a team,
more for probably mid-table League One.
- Yeah, we get--we get League One crowds.
[crowd shouts]
- I think if we go up-- I think--
I think we go straight up again.
PERSON: Yeah.
- I think we go straight up again.
PERSON: Through it all...
flippin' Notts County haven't lost a step.
They're still with us.
PERSON: Well, the battle with Notts County
has been absolutely remarkable, hasn't it?
Two unbelievable football sides.
- They're a very, very good side, Notts County.
PERSON: Play good football, yeah.
- Very good. PERSON: Yeah.
- All 5 leagues, no one has ever earned 107 points.
I mean, Notts County can go up with 109 points...
PERSON: Would you look at who's up next?
It's all been leading up to this.
With the season nearing the final hurdle,
it's the big one.
- Surely it's done. Surely it's done.
- Uh, absolutely. [person laughs]
- Um, if we don't do it this time, we may as well pack up
and go home really, innit, you know?