Welcome to Wrexham 3×03, “Notts Again,” foregrounds mental health awareness as the newly promoted women’s and men’s teams play to make a statement in their respective leagues. After the two-episode Season 3 premiere doesn’t mention Wrexham AFC Women’s progress after their promotion, this episode is a welcomed change of pace.
As much as those first two episodes are a crash course in Wrexham AFC’s reintroduction to the European Football League, “Notts Again” does the same for the women and the Adran Premier League. Just as the men’s team underwent staff and team changes to accommodate the new challenges they will face, so does the women’s team.
However, Welcome to Wrexham points out a noteworthy distinction – how and when the players are paid. After all, Wrexham’s men were paid in League Two, but Wrexham’s women weren’t given a salary until they were promoted to the Adran Premier League — the top league for women’s football in Wales. It’s refreshing that co-owners and co-chairmen Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, who wanted to pay the team before their promotion last year, are visibly annoyed when discussing the UK’s regulations.
“Notts Again” makes a concerted effort to emphasize how thinly the women’s team stretches themselves with semi-professional football careers and other jobs and responsibilities to make ends meet. Though Welcome to Wrexham doesn’t necessarily define it, that balancing act is a pressure that takes a toll, and defender Phoebe Davies touches on that by expressing how tight her schedule is. Even so, that added stress doesn’t take away from the women’s team’s buzz about playing in this league, going up against top-tier teams like Cardiff and Swansea, and making it to third on the table.
Those highs are enormous and celebratory, which is why it’s crucial that Welcome to Wrexham continues its track record of showing the good with the challenging.
“Notts Again” does this most efficiently with the women’s team through the stories of goalkeeper Delyth Morgan and defender Mia “Robbo” Roberts. Morgan speaks to her journey in understanding that she shouldn’t be so harsh on herself because of how her mentality impacts her game – a strong thread throughout “Notts Again.” Meanwhile, Roberts and her father, Wrexham AFC legend Neil Roberts, discuss the difficult “part of football” when players discover they’ve been let go from a club.
Those glimpses into how players process the game off the pitch provide real insight into how they do or don’t play on it. It’s a critical part of the sport that encourages critics, fans, and other people in the sport to see the human behind the player.
Part of the deep understanding is considering the players’ mental health — and how that affects the teams. Like the photographer, Oliver Stephen, on Welcome to Wrexham 3×02, “Goals,” this episode finds a community connection in Dan Rowe, a wellness consultant who works for the charity Andy’s Man Club. Stephen and Rowe are brave to share their stories and shine a light on the importance of mental health. This sports docuseries does a superb job of pulling out from the club to zoom in on the individuals who demonstrate how the town and the people who make it up are integral to the club’s appeal.
Rowe’s work with Andy’s Man Club ties nicely with Sam Kotadia’s work as the First Team Sports Psychologist for Wrexham AFC. There’s a real narrative balance and cohesion to “Notts Again” – from the women’s team, the individual stories, and the men’s team.
Kotadia’s efforts to help “players understand their minds better” and “focus on the action, not the outcome, and always measure success in what we’re in control of” is a worthwhile cause that doubles as the thesis of “Notts Again.” Even though Kotadia only works with the men’s team, Welcome to Wrexham uses that considerate angle through the women’s team and Rowe’s story. Overall, the episode – and show – holds mental health as equally important as physical health, which is still a surprisingly refreshing outlook in 2024.
It also creates a delicate yet necessary framing advice for “Notts Again.” Every game already carries so much weight, but it becomes increasingly personal when Welcome to Wrexham encourages its viewers to consider the individual behind the performance. McElhenney and Reynolds even do as much through their perspective as actors. Those meaningful discussions bring a different relevance to the Stockport game, specifically for defender Ben Tozer. He doesn’t play his best in the first half, and the episode’s editing and structure make it effortless to care about the result and the player simultaneously.
“Notts Again” makes it impossible to avoid how the two are intricately interwoven.
That dedication to prioritizing mental health also runs from Morgan on the Wrexham AFC Women’s team to goalkeepers Mark Howard and Arthur Okonkwo on Wrexham AFC.
Howard’s discussion of how goalkeepers are often considered the fall guy when a team loses gains a sharper focus after the Stockport game when Wrexham conceded five goals. His confessional plays similar to Morgan’s earlier disappointment after missing saves during her time at Everton. That commonality draws a connection between the men’s and women’s games that comes even closer when considering the players’ mental health.
Kotadia also considers mental health through the lens of unreliability (of life and the sport), which helps mentality by building resilience. “Notts Again” sees that in action when Morgan describes Everton letting her go as “the kick that” she “needed” and Howard seeing Okonkwo joining the team as a chance “to just get on with it and adapt.” Wrexham does just so when Okonkwo joins the squad and aids Paul Mullin in getting his first goal of the season. “Notts Again” makes it so that evolution in mentality is palpable.
Without it ahead of the Notts County game, it’s challenging to imagine that – even at their best – Wrexham would get to third on the table and win or draw their next five matches.
“Notts Again” is an intense episode – and not only because Wrexham come up against one of their strongest competitors with whom they have a storied past. It builds on the momentum of Welcome to Wrexham 3×01, “Welcome to the EFL,” and “Goals” to amplify the tension until a release is necessary. In this episode, that release comes in genuine care and consideration of mental health – across the board.
So, it’s impactful to see Rowe’s work with Andy’s Man Club, creating a safe space for men to talk to one another about what they’re experiencing. Likewise, it’s influential and important to see Wrexham’s forwards Jake Bickerstaff and Ollie Palmer have relaxed sessions with Kotadia. All of it comes together to create an unforgettable Welcome to Wrexham episode that encourages a more mental health-forward environment in sport and beyond while highlighting what Wrexham does to support its team and town.
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What did you think of Welcome to Wrexham 3×03, “Notts Again?” Let us know in the comments below!
Welcome to Wrexham airs on Thursdays at 10/9c on FX and streams on Hulu the next day.
