Wrexham’s 2020-21 season concluded with a 1-1 draw at Dagenham, extinguishing their National League play-off aspirations. Paul Rutherford’s dismissal early in the second half compounded their woes.
The spotlight shone brightly on Wrexham once again in Los Angeles.
Celebrity co-chairmen Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were front and center at the premiere of the latest installment of the documentary series that has propelled the Welsh club onto the global stage.
With Saturday’s pivotal match looming, the documentary’s final episodes are yet to be definitively scripted.
A victory over Middlesbrough would secure a play-off berth, while any other result would leave their fate uncertain.
Paul Rutherford is acutely aware of this precariousness, his past anguish in a Dagenham locker room serving as a reminder that even Hollywood ownership cannot guarantee a predetermined outcome.
Five years prior, the midfielder was sent off during Wrexham’s unsuccessful final-day push, as rivals’ victories elsewhere denied them a play-off spot by a single point.
“It felt like my world was imploding, that I’d let a lot of good people down,” Rutherford recalls, reflecting on the images of him alone in the changing room, grappling with anger and despair after the straight red card for a rash challenge.
The cameras captured the raw emotion as Wrexham’s 1-1 draw extended their exile from the English Football League, this time under the watchful eyes of the world.
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As one of the club’s longest-serving players at the time, he understood that more than just promotion aspirations were at stake.
Manager Dean Keates was dismissed the following day, with Rutherford and ten others released shortly thereafter.
“And the rest is history,” Rutherford quips, displaying a touch of hindsight-infused humor. Now 38, that match in 2021 marked his final appearance in a Wrexham shirt, concluding a five-year tenure.
He was in the hospital awaiting the birth of his third son when he received the news that he would not be returning to the club, missing out on their subsequent rapid ascent under the new celebrity ownership.
“We actually thought it was going to be Russell Crowe,” he laughs, recalling the rumors of a film star takeover that surfaced in September 2020, during a period of behind-closed-doors matches due to Covid restrictions.
“I can remember the talk before a friendly with Cefn Druids at the Racecourse and someone had mentioned that he’d had a grandfather from Wrexham – so we were getting bought by Gladiator.”
Rutherford, a native of Liverpool, joined Wrexham from Southport in 2016, making 199 appearances before his departure in 2021.
The squad was informed of the closely-guarded identities of the potential owners a few weeks later, as the process of transferring ownership from the supporters trust commenced, with everyone aware of the potential implications.
“We’d been on a bit of a rollercoaster,” he says. “As a squad, we’d been close to promotions a couple of times, then close to going to the Conference North before Dean came in and got us organised.
“There was Covid so all those fears about what it could mean for the club with the finances, and then the takeover happened.
“There was a narrative that as players we knew it was good for the town and the club but not for the players but it wasn’t quite like that. We weren’t resigned to our fate.
“As a group, it actually galvanised us, we wanted to be part of the story, we wanted even more to be successful and get that first promotion but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.”
Rutherford said that he had been “realistic” about his own future, knowing deep down he was losing sharpness and had started to encounter hip problems – ones that now mean he needs a replacement.
“I was good value for money but as soon as they could raise the wage ceiling, they could find better players,” he says. “That’s football.”
Cue the arrival of players like Paul Mullin and – after a play-off defeat in Parkinson’s first year – promotion after promotion, leading to the chance of a fourth and final one from the Championship.
Rutherford subsequently played in the Welsh leagues, but now divides his time between coaching, driving his sons to football training, and working in a hardware store showroom.
This is a world away from the millions at stake for the international players in Parkinson’s squad, who are vying for a spot in the Premier League after a team rebuild and significant investment, with over £30 million spent last summer alone.
“But even though it’s very different, it’s also the same club,” he says, noting that his middle son is part of the club’s academy.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to go back now and then and you see some of the same faces, good people, people who gave up their time for free to keep the club afloat.
“It’s a global brand but the football club is still at the heart of it. It’s kept its soul.”
Rutherford is well-positioned to offer this assessment. Although the co-owners did not contact him after his release, he was invited to experience the American adoration for his former club as part of an invitational Wrexham side in a tournament in North Carolina, alongside figures such as Mark Howard, Lee Trundle, and Andy Morrell.
“Honestly, it’s hard to put it into words how big it’s become unless you see it,” he says, referring to Wrexham’s newfound global fanbase. “It was just after the club got into League Two, and I actually said when I was out there that they would be in the Premier League in 11 years.
“I don’t know why I didn’t say 10, but I thought they would land in League One for a few years and then take five or six years to get out of the Championship.
“To think they could do it in four is just phenomenal. I don’t want to say it would be a Hollywood story, it’ll be more like something out of Football Manager.”
Regardless, the final day awaits, and Rutherford’s experience serves as a reminder that not all stories have a fairy-tale ending.
“It’s bittersweet that we couldn’t get that promotion to the league and what happened, but I can look back now and say I was one of those who played a small part in the story and be proud of that,” he says.
“It was difficult at the time but hindsight gives you that context and I hope people keep that context if it doesn’t happen this time.
“It would only be a tiny applying of the brakes on an unbelievable journey – they’re still on their way.”
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