deliriouslove1970. The life & times of Gary and Denise Flanders. (Free and worth every penny. If you would like to compliment the editor, send to garytheflan@deliriouslove1970.com. If you would like to complain, call your mother.)

Wrexham AFC (Associated Football Club). A professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. Formed in 1864, it is the oldest club in Wales and the third-oldest professional association football team in the world. The club will compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following three promotions in the past three seasons.

The Welsh team initially participated in friendlies and cup competitions and first entered a league by joining The Combinationin 1890. The team spent 13 seasons in the Combination and two seasons in the Welsh Senior League, winning four Combination titles and two Welsh Senior League titles. It entered the Birmingham & District League in 1905, where it would remain until becoming an inaugural member of the Football League’s Third Division North in 1921. It spent 37 years in the Northern section until it was placed in the re-organized Third Division in 1958 and then relegated two years later. Wrexham was promoted out of the Fourth Division in 1961–62, only to be relegated again two years later. Another promotion followed in 1969–70, and it reached the Second Division for the first time after winning the Third Division title in 1977–78. Two successive relegations saw it back in the fourth tier by 1983, and it saw no further promotion until 1992–93. Relegated once more in 2002, it gained immediate promotion in 2002–03, before worsening financial problems resulted in another relegation and then administrationin December 2004. It took 18 months for the club to exit administration and the club’s decline on the pitch continued, as it dropped out of the Football League in 2008. Wrexham subsequently had five unsuccessful play-off campaigns in the fifth tier of the English football league system, before being promoted as champions of the 2022–23 National League to EFL League Two. On 13 April 2024, the club secured a second consecutive promotion to EFL League One. The next season, the club secured a third consecutive promotion to the EFL Championship, becoming the first ever team to secure three consecutive promotions in the English Football League.

In 2010 the club entered into a ground share at the Race Course Ground with the Celtic Crusaders a rugby league team.

Something odd, for European Football League standards, happened in 2020. Two American actors decided to purchase the club.

Even more unusual, the two actors decided to make a documentary about their experience. It has had 3 seasons of wildly successful shows. It has made Wrexham a tourist attraction and one of the most popular football teams in the world. It has won multiple Emmy awards and this week it launched its fourth season.

It is far more than a ‘soccer’ show, it is a warm hearted story of how a football team and a city are intertwined and is all about connections. If you have Hulu streaming service, you must give it a try. The team has done something no other team has ever done: back to back to back promotions. The next level is the highest level – The Premier League, where the big teams play.