How a Comedian Became Wrexham’s Executive Director | Humphrey Ker Interview with MiB

Wrexham’s Humphrey Ker joins Rog to discuss his evolution as a football executive at Wrexham and his involvement with the city has grown to a fondness.

Check out the Men in Blazers Shop: http://shop.meninblazers.com/

Listen to all our Men in Blazers podcasts:
Wondery | https://mibcourage.co/43QaCW3
iTunes | https://apple.co/3oxDKj3
Spotify | https://spoti.fi/3B4eCpe
and all major podcasting apps.

Connect with us on social
Twitter | https://twitter.com/MenInBlazers
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/meninblazers/
Tik Tok | https://www.tiktok.com/@meninblazers
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/MenInBlazers
Threads | https://www.threads.net/@meninblazers

Rog on Twitter | https://twitter.com/rogbennett

Still want to know more about Men in Blazers? Right this way → https://meninblazers.com/

I think football teams and sports teams in general create a sense of community in a way that almost nothing else does nowadays modern society is we’ve become so splintered we’re not we’re not these like units together very much and football clubs provide that to communities and particularly Rex and we

You know we do for the town we know that that everybody in the town even if they’re not that into the football they’re they’re enjoying this journey the football club’s going on they all they’ve all got a daughter or a a son or an uncle or a brother or whoever it may

Be that is that is going to the football on Saturday and enjoying it caring about it it’s such a pleasure to bring today’s guest back to the show a gent who if he’d never been cast in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia if he’d never watched Liverpool matches in

The writers room for Mythic Quest and if he’ never recommended the sunle until I die documentary 21 Rob Mel Henny then Ream’s fortunes as both a football club and as a city could be completely different today sliding door style that one sundland pain field Netflix suggestion ultimately led to Rob and

Ryan Reynolds buying rexam AFC you know a butterfly flaps its wings in Los Angeles and Paul Mullen signs from Cambridge United and even though my guest is 6’7 so that is one pretty bloody big pair of butter fly wings he’s now going into his third full year as

Rexam executive director as a 247 football Whisperer to Robin Ryan and as an unmistakable part of the club’s recent success to talk about his role his role of a lifetime really and review 2023 as that year comes to a close Rex’s year of Wonder as it’s known around the

World is magnificent to say these words he’s big he’s red his feet stick out the bed he’s Humphrey car hello Raj oh Humphrey so bloody good to see you and your ever evolving facial hair what is your philosophy on facial hair humre C well I’m I’m I think I’m at my best with

A beard um my wife certainly likes the beard the most I had a beard I had cut it off for member some some of the lads from the club we did we did a bit of a movember and I was told under know on certain certain terms that I was not

Able to just shave off the rest of the beard and leave the mustache I had start from scratch had a had a mustache and I cut that off and I’m now starting at the B at the base and will soon hopefully have a full beard back oh we’ve just

Left base camp Oh and we’re going to beard Mountain yes let’s hope I don’t turn up Frozen dead on the side of the on the side of the track as often often happens with Mountaineers after writing a little note I may be some time Lads and then just walking out into the snow

But we’ll we’ll save part that conversation for our other podcast which is facial hair today and move to the football because you have had an incredible transformational two years plus personally and professionally I do admire your Arc February 9th 2021 you were named as executive director of Rex

And football club shortly after it was taken over by Rob and Ryan I’m fascinated off the top how have you how have you handled have have you processed all of these changes as you balanced your careers writer an actor with this new role of as football exact not just

Role but your time you know Los Angeles that’s where you were based home of aruan supermarket and their $20 probiotic smoothies now you’re in the lower D Valley with the just hell Street Social Sports Bars bottomless chis sandwiches which are fantastic you know what’s it like I mean you are like

Martin mfly completely different timeline after entering a footballing DeLorean it remains mad I think that’s in terms of how I’m sort of coping with it is just to acknowledge that it is completely crazy that I am part of this and to and to remember that I still despite having

Done it for three years still don’t know you know I don’t know everything I’m not I’m still very in experience I’m still learning so I’m always trying to approach it with humility and Grace and uh and just boed going what what should I be doing now is this how does this

Work uh to various people in the office what do I do with my hands yes where do I put them um I only very recently invested in like a suit I haven’t had to wear a suit a proper suit for ages and I was like oh now you we’re

In the efl and you’re traveling to lots of sort of boardrooms of other clubs and actually they don’t always have the same we’ve got quite a laay fair chill attitude to to dress codes at rexam um in in the director’s box um but actually if I’m going to Mansfield or Swindon or

Whever it may be and it might need to wear a suit so I’m I’m always evolving you know I’m always growing as a as a person and as a football executive shout out to Jos bank but you have had one of the most unconventional Pathways into football that I have come across you

Know there’s not put it another way there’s not many payers in the football front office world who started their careers with a sketch comedy tro Nam the penny dreadfuls who won a best newcom award at the end of a Fringe Festival and your football fandom it has run bright in

Your life from your discovery of Liverpool as a kid but you’re still a working actor I mean memorably practicing your best Imperial March in a wet car park during season one episode of of wel direct as you prepared to for an audition for the Obi-Wan Kenobi series serious question have there been

Skills that you honed in comedy in writing in acting um that you’ve repurposed in your new role with rexon oh yeah I think so I mean just in terms of you know a some of the some of the writing stuff that needs to be done some

Of the some of the um you know Communications and things that you have to do as a football club like okay that’s fine I don’t mind I’m very happy to write uh uh things on behalf of the football club that’s fine um I think the biggest thing is just being comfortable

Talking to groups of people which those that watch the first series documentary might not believe me when I say that because there is the slightly Infamous scene where I first talk to the players and lean on the light switch and look like a complete div um was that was

Comedy was that leaning on the light s was that slapstick improv maybe I should yes repurpose this be like no no I did that on purpose for for the for the LOLs but no I just lent on the light switch and felt like complete dildo um can I

Say dildo on this podcast please B me if I if I cannot you can you can but um I mean it’s fascinating that by the way that scene I looked at that scene when you are in the world of football there’s a lot of players and managers who divide

The world into two kind of people football people and nonf football people and in that moment with the light switch you look very much a non football person how did you learn how’ you learn so quickly I mean I think the biggest thing was was to be fair was not me changing

Anything about myself particularly but more people around the club understanding that I I was really enthusiastic that I cared about the football club care about the welfare of the people at the club um and ultimately that’s all it really boils down to you know and I think it’s that big thing as

I said earlier of knowing being honest and being like look I know this is what I know which is a fans knowledge of a football club which is a very very different thing to being on the other side of the of the white line um but

Being like I I care I’m you know all I want is for this club to succeed all I want is for you to succeed how do I help you to do that and ultimately that’s the thing I think you you you know there are so many instances of people coming into

Football clubs and going like well look I’ve been very successful as uh a plastic um nozzle salesman I’ve made I’ve made millions of pounds selling plastic nozzles so I know how to run a business CL what don’t I know about football from the nozzles right so

Here’s what we’re gonna do and I want you to play this brand of football and I want you to do this I want you to do that and it it doesn’t work I don’t think it works and maybe it does occasionally um but you see so many instances of football clubs getting into

Trouble because people come in and think they know what they’re talking about um and we didn’t and we we still are arguably don’t we’ve just we’ve just empowered the people that do we’ve got a young audience who listen to this show and a lot of people feel this I feel

This uh often what what do you do with impostor syndrome Humphrey I’m asking for a friend yeah no well listen I I am very very familiar with it in in all lines of my work I’ve always that’s always been a big thing for me I mean I

I I think it’s the advice I very rarely dish out advice because I think so much of what’s happened to me has been purely luck driven but if there’s one thing that I have I have brought to the table is a willingness to is a willingness to

Fail you know in a way is a willingness to be like yeah I’ll go I’ll go and give it a go you know I mean I truly if my agents or manager on my like theatrical writing side are hearing this they’re going to be like well then where

Are all these stupid scripts that you’re supposed to deliver that you never get around to doing because you’re you go like oh full I don’t know I’m too nervous I don’t know I’m not sure it’s any good anymore but but with the football club it was just an opportunity

Just to it was to being presented with like I got the rarest of things that happened to me in 2020 I a got cast on NBC show um now sadly defunk PA one out for American Auto and um and I also got the opportunity to to work for a

Football club and it was such an incredible opportunity that even though at the time I was like well this is absurd you shouldn’t in no way should you put me in charge of of a football Club it was just too good to I was like

Well I’d rather go and go down in flames than sit at home and and be like God it would have been cool to do that job God you are the only man in Hollywood that when their agent says where’s the script and you you can just look at them and be

Like guys step Fletcher doesn’t sign himself if you know what I mean it’s the best excuse in the whole wide world I’m like look unfortunately it appears that Ryan Barnett’s um uh quad injury is more serious than we previously thought so I need to monitor the what apps from

There’s nothing I can do about it but I I do need to stay by my WhatsApp just in case Kev I’d love to finish this script but I gotta deal with some Ole Parmer business as I said we are near the end of 2023 as we tape and it has been it

Has been a year of Wonder for all those who adore rexim AFC the year in which the team re-entered the promised land of the football league after 15 long years in almost sisifus like conditions of national league Exile and I want to use the time we have together to relive some

Of the key moments from from this year starting on April 22nd we two second half goals from Super po M sealed a 2-1 win over Boren wood finally finally sending rexam into League two for the first time since 2008 and at the final whistle the stands at The Stoke kiras

Emptied out onto the field as thousands of delirious supporters Mobb the players Rob and Ryan and you wrapped in a Rex and flag just with there experiencing every I imagine every human emotion at once unrestrained Joy borderline delirium more than a little relief in there Humphrey take us there into your

Own memories what you what do you most remember from that incredible what imagine was a deeply cathartic noise of of achievement and and town celebration yes it was it was an experience unlike anything else I’ve I’ve ever I’ve ever sort of felt in my life as I said as a

Liverpool fan I have had various things to celebrate over the years um I supported him about 1995 so sort of post the Glory Days but but there have been a couple of champions leagues in there and and a I went to the Champions League final in 2005 that was that was a really

Incredible experience but um no this was unlike anything else because because I have always really suffered from that thing of being a very plastic scous sir I I I have zero connection to them I am from the home counties I have always felt that’s imposter syndrome what’s

Paul Mullen think about you as a li Ms and I get on very well actually um he and I we’re we’re close Pals and you only need to look at page 134 of his wonderful book Paul Mullen my rexim story to see see his uh his assessment

Of me uh which I come out of rather well H what he doesn’t really like is I do like trying to do a Liverpool accent for his benefit I don’t don’t think he cares for that very much can you just give us a quick blast of that humphy we we must

We must we must hear that prob I probably should um yeah um and you know it all depends on which sort of Liverpool accent you’re looking to do because there’s there’s a variety of different ones AR there you know you can do the sort of this is a bit Paul’s got

Sort of this one you know he’s he’s sort of um got that uh you know it takes his time over his over his um his words and his his sentences um so that’s he does not like that sure by the way that was amazing I just got PTSD from the wagatha Christie

Documentary just listening to you oh sure but yes anyway we were talking we were talking about the greatest stand of my life yeah I mean it was it was so much relief was a huge part of it relief was a big sentiment last season um

Because we were in such a kind of life or death struggle with KN County that every time we won rather than sort of celebrating it you were just like oh thank God we didn’t drop points and so there was huge dose of that there was a

Huge dose of elation of pride of a sense of belonging you know I referen this thing of being a plastic Liverpool fan and you know I’d often fall foul of that like we won well we won the Champions League and people being like we you’re not what are you did you were you

Playing were you are you part of the whole thing and I’d be like I pay my membership fee you know I’m a member of the club but I never felt as though I was a real I’ve always just felt a little bit of an imposter when it comes

To being a Liverpool fan um you know my credential are as good as anyone else’s other than I’m I’m born in the catchment area of reading FC rather than rather than Liverpool FC um but to that night to feel part of it to be to share that

With Rob with Ryan with sha and with my wife who who had come over for for the game which was which was amazing um really was just something so so special my abiding memory of that night I’m afraid to say was that I had unbelievably bad Bo um

Uh because been quite a hot day it was quite a hot day and quite a cold evening strangely so I’ve been running around all day to that terrible was running around stressing and I put a load of coats on for the for the game yeah went

Did all the celebrations on the pitch we then all the players and their families and and Club staff and everybody went up and crammed into one of the hospitality Suites and we got the sound system from the from the dressing room brought in there and people were dancing on tables

And it was it was all it was glorious Mayhem and I sort of uh snuck in took my coat off and was like oh my God what is that and I asked my wife who is normally the world’s loveliest and most supportive person is always like no no

You’re all right um she was like oh yeah no I mean it’s yeah I mean I know I can smell you I was like well that’s that means it’s we’re talking about full-on dead body time now if if my wife is is affirming that she can smell something

It’s really bad so we actually left the party quite early I’m afraid to say oh and yeah I just was like I can’t have this be everyone’s abiding memory of me this evening yes so I you know I I put my coat back on high-fived various

People told them that I love them and uh we went home and we stopped at a garage on the way home bought a bunch of sausages and bread and made sausage sandwiches and sat on the floor and sort of scrolled Twitter Hy that by way that

Was such a smart move on your part because you know British people they do like to judge you and you would be forever though the one time you meet many of the distant they’ll be like yes what’s his name the tall one with the with the problem with the problem

Forever totally you’d never shake that you would never ever sh but I love that you chose that moment to deliver the moral message to everyone saying we won today but we got work today and this is where it starts paying with sweat right now I’m going back to I don’t know about

You I’m going back to the office guys going back I should have said that I should have I should have pretended I was going to the office whenever I interview a promoted manager to the Premier League they always they always make sure they said yeah you know dur

That night during the celebrations I was already thinking about that first game and trying to walk down the back against you were that man or we can claim that you were that man now I can pretend to be that man but the celebrations did not stop that night however bad your bodyo

The problem was it did not stop the partying because the players celebrated their remarkable National League winning season with an open top bus parade through the city center you were there with them for that you foric three M ride in front of 40,000 fans um you told the media that

You were so overwhelmed by the reception quote I love this Humphrey you burst into tears Humphrey what can you can you put those emotions into words for us the knowledge that you were part of this that you’re among those who’d given this town you know together with with the fan

Base having that they crave for so bloody long and made it real the bus tour had been unbelievable we were expecting about 15,000 fans we got 40,000 it was just magical and as we came up the High Street which I I had cycled up every day

When I first got there I would cycle from where I was staying to to the to the race course every day and I was you know it was during covid everything was shut everything you one in every three stores were were non-operational um it was it was very

Sort of Bleak High Street at that stage mostly because of covid but but you know again because Rex in general was just looking for something to get excited about I think and as we went up there the DJ started playing um I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You by Elvis and

Which is a song that our fans sing on The Terraces and had been a song that have been like you know associated with the documentary and they all started sing it and I was looking and it just it just set me off I just couldn’t believe

You know just to be part of something like this again as an actor you know I’ve you know I think it’s probably time again for us to mention that I won best newcomer at the end Festival in 2011 that was obviously a great experience but uh it doesn’t you don’t have 40,000

People in the streets um you know climbing on bus stops and hanging out of trees and um handmade signs and you know and again as we were going around we just I’d see so many people in tears in the crowd because of how much it meant

To everybody and I saw so many faces that I’d come to know over the last two years um you know well or in passing or whatever it is and it just it was just amazing so yeah it was it turned I’d found the thing that was going to break

Through my icy Patrician veneer which was um you know over top bus tour God I’m surprised that they did not throw an open top bus tour for you in Suburban reading when you’d won that edra Festival that’s new but what did it hit home what did it crystallize it’s a

Beautiful image seeing the people the relationships the friendships the fan uh you know the just the Deep fandom that You’ ENC what did it hit home as you kind of circled that that that incredible town I think football teams and sports teams in general create a

Sense of community in a way that almost nothing else does nowadays we used to have these you know these bonds whether it was your church or your your um you know everybody working in a factory together or you know I think modern society is we’ve become so splintered

We’re not we’re not these like units together very much and football clubs provide that to unities and and particularly Rex and we you know we do for the town we know that that everybody in the town even if they’re not that into the football they’re they’re enjoying this journey the football

Club’s going on they all they’ve all got a a daughter or a son or an uncle or a brother or whoever it may be that is that is going to the football on a Saturday and enjoying it and caring about it and and that sense of that we

Given this incredible thing back to this community I’ve lost count of the number of times and I mean it truly happens pretty much every game where someone will come up to me and say say oh you know I used to come here as a boy I used

To come here with my Dad I’m 60 years old now I I came for 30 years and in the last 10 years I just couldn’t bring myself to come anymore to see this thing that he loved that I love that we love together fall into ruin um and thank you

For for for bringing it back and often with tears in their eyes and it’s the most unbelievable privilege to be part of this and to be part of delivering that to somebody because I that’s the thing that I loved about Liverpool and I what started out as a

Sort of you know oh I’ll pick them why not I like the green and white outfit they’re in that they’ll do I wasn’t into football but I was like I need a football team everybody around me likes football find them and then the more I went and the more I understood the

Culture of Liverpool which is not unique to Liverpool but it’s the same at most great football clubs how much it means to people what a sense of community it is what a a a touchstone a a place of Refuge a place of a place of you know therapy uh

All these things um that’s what made me fall in love with football was was the people more than the sport almost but you went with the team on that incredible Coast to Coast US tour where they sold out a 50,000 seat stadium in North Carolina to face Chelsea with

American crowds taking to Rex them like like like Jack Gish to a Gucci Outlet and I was at the game in Philly sold out with Americans in reom shirts it was incredible to witness but Humphrey like me you’ve lived in America for for a long time you you’ve been to so many of

Our great Sports cities you know but was any part of you really prepared for what you experienced for what you witnessed on that tour no we you know we we’d sent a team to the TST tournament the the new the soccer tournament thing they do in North Carolina a couple of weeks before

Or a month before and Mark Howard who is one of our goalkeepers he had gone Along on with that game he played with a bunch of sort of our veterans and a few kids we had strange mixed team and he was one of the only first team players that that

Went um and he came back and was like uh oh get ready this is gonna be crazy but even so we just had no appreciation of how many I mean the game in North Carolina Keenan Stadium 55,000 people I would think 30 against Chelsea who beat

Us 4-0 I would think 35,000 of the 55 ,000 were there for us um and 20,000 were there for Chelsea which is nuts it was really eye openening and and then that that pattern continued you know we we came to San Diego 35,000 there again more rexon fans than man united fans you

Could just hear from the reaction when the goals went in you you could tell like oh I think there’s more there are more rexon fans here than there are man united fans was there a moment when it really hit homey just how much this Rex and phenomenon it had register did

Emotionally with a seismic Global audience I mean I guess I’m asking what’s your best story from the tour one of the things that was really lovely the tour we took Brian Flynn with us who is former rexon manager former rexon player former Wales manager yes yeah one of the

The as he repeatedly likes to say the only man to have scored a goal for Wales against Brazil in in the 1970s I think or early 80s he’s roughly he’s roughly American listeners he’s essentially he’s he’s kind of like Welsh Doug fluty to to kind of Loca he’s a gorgeous human being yeah

He’s the nicest man in the whole universe and um seeing it kind of through his eyes was was really amazing because he’s just you know he’s played football at Top Flight he’s you know very successful manager very successful this and the other but has also kind of

Reom through and through in in many respects and he just was like Blown Away by the whole thing just just he just loved every minute of it and I thought he perfectly encapsulated rexam and rexam fans in that that moment because so many of our fans had come over and

Were just you know I was talking to Peter Gwyn who is a former rexam uh sponsor is uh the the owner and operator of Peter gwin and son’s quality potatoes the chippy Choice um and he had traveled over there free plug for them um he had

Traveled over and was was in San Diego walking on the beach and just saw two people walking towards him in rexim shirts and was like oh all right like where like hi yeah where are you from like you be other Rex and people and they’re like oh we’re from Arizona he’s

Like oh uh oh okay anyway they got chatting and then our game against Salford a couple of weeks ago they were there they’d flown over they stayed at Peter’s house the these are now the presidents of the Arizona chapter of the rexam supporters Club they they flew

Over they came to Peter’s house they stayed with him and he brought them to the game and that th are those stories are happening all the time I I keep meeting people who are like oh we’re from uh you know Ottawa we met someone online that he picked us up from

Manchester Airport we’re staying in their house with their children they’re all going to come to Canada next year to visit us it’s creating these bizar it is incred combinations to know that one of the offshoots of Rex’s success has been that gwyns the chippy’s choice now has a new

$500,000 a year account with someone in Flagstaff Arizona it is incredible spreading the gospel it is beautiful it is the sense of human um human connection there’s a poetry to it and then there’s the hardnose reality because the team came home to rexam just days before the season opener and they

Arrived without Paul Mullen who agonizingly was left behind in California recovering from a punctured lung suffer during the Manchester United game you know so the season starting you’re almost crashing into it what did you think was possible for for this club and did that change after the first game

When MK Dons who just been Rel at from League one just stormed into the Stoke kiras and departed with a 5-3 win yeah well yeah I mean before prior to the season starting we we you know our aspiration was to get promoted you know our feeling was that you know the season

We put together in the National League was something really remarkable and there was there was you know there were well established precedent for teams to come up and do well in League two and we thought well we’re as good of a team to come out of the national league as

Probably has ever existed so with a few additions here and there I think we can we can do really well the first game against MK Don I think we were you know we probably got back from the US a little bit too late we were missing Paul

We we leared very quickly that you know in the National League if you make a mistake uh you know seven times out of 10 you’re going to get punished and in League two it’s nine times out of 10 um and we basically yeah it was a bit

Little bit of an eye opener you know we we actually as has been been often the case with us this season not often but sometimes been the case with us this season have we’ll get off to some slow starts and and uh look like we don’t

Know what we’re doing and then all of a sudden everyone settles down you’re like oh yeah this is such a very good football team so you know given that where we are now we’re very very happy with it it was um it was a little bit of

A rude awakening but not no cause for panic I think we all realize there were a few um extenda circumstances that we could uh we could look at and then and then move on from one of the the the early storylines of the season was actually a tough one the the retirement

Of Ben Foster the iconic goalkeeper who hung up his gloves the first time after 390 Premier League appearances at the Premier League’s alltime saves leader he’s a j honestly he age better than every single nft in existence and after 300 days off just before his 40th birthday he joined rexim heroically for

The final six games of of last season made a RIS strong crucial penalty save in the 96 minute against KN County really a l worthy stop that gave rexim a crucial three-point lead at the top of the table with four games to go this campaign now a more challenging reality

Rexam leaked 13 times in those first four games and Ben announced that he was headed back to retirement as his performances quote hadn’t reached the level that I demand of myself humphy take us to this this really the first big challenge of the season on the field

And the conversations you had with the incredible Ben In This Moment was it clearcut from him or was it an agonizing back and forth yes so I the I was actually back in the us at the time and the first inkling we got was shortly after the game I think it was against

Swinden um sha Harvey was was in situ and he had spoken to Phil who had turn Ben had come to him off the game and said I I think I’m I think I’m done and I think I’m there are there are saves that I should be making here that I’m

Not and there are saves that another goalkeeper would be making and you know I’m I’m I think I should go because I think that I am holding us back and I’m the reason that we’ve dropped points so far which you know I really admire because I think that it’s you know the

End of last season was such sort of fairy tale and it was so fun and I think that he just was really enamored of the idea but you know I will say this as well I mean obviously I’m biased but the dressing room that we have is really quite

Remarkable in terms of talking to lots of the players are like this is the most fun I’ve ever had playing football I love everybody here I love the the whole it’s just a great place to be and so understandably I think he just wanted to be part of it but then recognized that

Perhaps the best thing to do was to kind of fall on his sword and move on and so we suddenly swung it were like oh Lord we’ve got like five six days left of the transfer window we desperately need to find a goalkeeper um in pretty short

Order few different names came up um but Arthur was the one that that was the The First Choice Arthur aono who’s our who’s our current First Choice goalkeeper um and he came in and and Phil I love every now and then Phil when I speak to him he does this sort of

Thing where he’s like I tell you I tell you what I’m so Phil this is Phil Parkinson this is Phil Parkinson I many people thought you were talking about Phil Collins the legendary entertainment that’s fair this is Phil Parkinson the man who invented the and I

Do speak a lot yeah but this is Phil Parkinson the man who invented the word yes yeah yes so so he man who never ever says apart from the dressing room but if he really likes a player I I’ve never heard him he’s so softly spoken

And so polite um the rest of the time but he if he really likes a player then he does this like I tell you be some player this lad some oh some player and he started saying that about Arthur after about two training sessions

We were like okay great I think we found think we found a good new goalkeeper he’s getting the fill seal of approval we found ourselves a great goalkeeper um one hero um shuffles off another returns Paul Mullen back in Action September 9th making a 30 minutes of substitute

Appearance against donc cter ravers and he quickly picked up where he’d left off he’s blasted nine goals as we tape in just 16 games all comps propelling rexam ever higher up the table uh and anyone who’s watched welcome to rexam though that just before the start of the

2021-22 Season you turned around to Rob meleny and said if I were you and I owned the football team I would buy Paul Mullen he was then a striker at Cambridge United he scored thir 34 goals or comps making it look as easy as the carne shows you how simple it is to

Knock those milk bottles over so you’d have a go and you knew Paul Mullen you saw it was a talented intelligent player but I’m sure that that the gentleman has suceeded even even your own expectations from the inside what’s he like what’s his secret Paul has just has an unbelievable mentality

It’s the thing that you hear about so much in football like oh this guy’s mentality mentality it’s all there so much as is about mentality but I mean he truly is someone that just wants to win wants to score goals and is sort of personally affronted if if either of

Those things doesn’t happen and I think he’s got a and these are all qualities that we learned about subsequently you know initially it was all statistically look at what he’s do you know he’s scoring all these goals for Cambridge um you know if we could get League 2’s top

Goal scorer to drop down the national league that’s a huge uh a huge result it just you know it just mathematically sort of seemed to make sense what we’ve learned subsequently is that philosophically he embodies he’s the perfect sort of you know if you have a phrase in American

Sport like franchise players you know and that and that sort of is what he is because he our fans worship him he he’s cut from very similar cloth to to rexon fans he shares a lot of the same philosophies and same politics and same everything and he just wants to win for

Them and they worship him for it and it is a classic talismanic you know football hero fan relationship is there anything you don’t like about Paul that you can tell us I mean there’s got to be I mean I’ll say this that he does does occasionally text

Me things like can you get me Taylor Swift tickets and I’m like I know how would I get you Taylor Swift tickets try Ryan his wife’s best friends with her and he’s like oh I don’t want to ask him I’m like well so you want me to ask you

Want me to do go cap in hand asking for Taylor Swift tickets from Ryan do it yourself this reom side has been glorious to watch um for the last couple of weeks especially at home where that week one loss to MK Don is has been the

Only defeat at The Stoke kiras as we speak in addition to Paul Mullen you got versatile 28y old midfielder Elliot Lee just shining 11 goals in all competitions currently tied I think for the fifth most in the league the gentleman you mentioned 22y old goalkeeper Arthur en cono on loan from

Arsenal he’s been in the academy there since he was eight but has just arrived and as it’s as if he’s always you know growing up in North Wales for you what what or whom or or whether has been your biggest surprise of the season so far on

Or off the pitch what have you seen that you didn’t expect we’ve had really great performances sort of across across the team so far this season I think someone who who’s done really really well for me that that sometimes goes on heralded although that’s kind of changing a

Little bit more amongst our fans now is James Jones who’s one of the central midfielders I think he’s that classic player that doesn’t appear flashy doesn’t score a huge amount of goals doesn’t get a huge amount of assists he doesn’t you know he’s not dropping shoulders and dribbling around people

Left right and center but he actually is so important to the way we play and I think more and more people started to realize that actually JJ is is a fantastic player and again a fantastic guy and that’s the thing that I think Bill deserves credit for is he’s just

Created this dressing room full of really hardworking hard grafting um you know good decent down toe guys and and it’s it’s reaping uh rewards for us there’s another storyline that I’ve really enjoyed getting to know this year and I do want to touch upon the rise of of Rex’s women’s team

Honestly my favorite episode of Welcome to rexen season two was the one that introduced us to the to the absolute legend that is Rosie Hughes yes um just a a more prolific Striker you will not see she scored nine goals in one game against the former Club I mean lling

Harlem was never Rose found the back of the net 100 times in the first 46 games Rex was quite good form that 100 goals in 46 games and last season the entire Rex and women um storyline as they won promotion to the adran premere the highest level of women’s football in

Wales which meant that that was life changing they could sign professional contracts you know they no longer had to pay for their own uniforms and gear I mean it’s transformative um it’s actually a story that we’d love to delve more into but hre we last spoke you and I during the

Women’s World Cup about uh a shared joy of seeing there was British people where Women’s Football was day class A when we grew up like women kicking the foot in a deeply misogynistic Society fairly awful Society it just was not it was not okay but watching women’s football grow and

Grow and Thrive when it comes to this incredible reom team you know what are your Ambitions your expectations what’s next for them well we’re aiming you know as high for them as we are for the men we want to get them into a position where they are you know Far and Away the

Best team in Wales um we got stiff competition from cardian Swansea and I mean this season our women’s team has done brilliantly you we got promoted we are I think second in the table at the moment um and uh trying to chase down Cardiff who who are top um you know to

To create a fully currently they’re semi-professional to make a fully professional outfit with a women’s Academy with a women’s youth team with like all these things that really don’t you know the club has never had um and don’t don’t exist particularly in Wales you know the women’s game in in the UK

Is growing at an exponential rate which is brilliant and long may that continue um so yeah we you know our ambition is to you know have a have a Rex and women’s team with International standard players um that are you know beating all comers uh very handily that’s that’s the

Dream when I come over to rexam uh which I hope to do uh the beginning of 2024 I’m honestly more excited about going to watch the women’s team uh almost the men’s team those it’s really fun those episodes if you have not seen them are genuinely um two of the most yeah

They’re two of my favorites two of the most beautiful emotional episodes of Television I’ve seen this year the thing I say about that very briefly is what why I think it’s so brilliant those episodes is that they are both fans and players so almost all of those women are

Recks and fat they come on a Saturday they come and watch the men’s team and then they get to live their dream by representing the club the following day which is which is such a cool thing that we you don’t see necessarily elsewhere in that you know we’ve got Jordan Davis obviously who’s

From rexam and Max clareth who’s comeing up through our youth ranks but to have a team that is almost exclusively made up of people who are like this is my this is my dream this is my f my family all Rex and fans is so cool as we take rexam

Currently second place in the league two table 20 games down another 26 to go um the national league was harder to get out of than jigsaws bathroom um since only the top team qualified for automatic promotion you got a little more Breathing Room in League two three teams earn that automatic willly Wonka

Golden ticket into League one another four then fighted out um agonizingly in the playoffs we spent a lot of time talking about and reliving 2023 today Humphrey as we charge towards 2024 which I think is the club’s 160th year which is incredible yeah what are your expectations and and what’s your biggest

Fear um my expectations are listen we’re going for promotion we want to get promoted out of this league as you said it’s it’s we know we want automatic promotion we’re aiming for a top three finish um I think we’ve shown flashes this season where we you know away at

Notot County home to morham we’re like unbel you know we on our day we are unbelievably good and and would be worthy champions of leag to I think um Stockport have been Sensational this year they’ve had a tiniest of wobbles of late I mean you already call it a wobble

Because they’ve won 12 games in a row and then they didn’t win a game it’s like Panic stations at stop clubing crisis clubbing C what are they gonna do um no they’ve been Sensational and you know what I mean fair play that they I remember going to to stop Port

Away in the covid season when we first took over the might even before we technically took over the club um and they were so hospitable they they had just had their takeover before and they they’re doing it all the right way like I really I know that we did spend a lot

Of time loving love Inning on uh um Nots County last season the documentary but I’ve got a huge man of respect for Stockport County only has not been to New KN County so I’m biased because I’ve been to one and not to the other other um but yeah they are properly well-run

Club so there’ll always be a big threat knots County will be a big threat Mansfield having an unbelievable season so the biggest my My Hope and my aspiration is automatic promotion my fear is playoffs and then we all know how how badly playoffs can go but you know I think I think my

Biggest fear always is just you know us letting the people erect them down which which you know we we’ve given them such a good time over the last few years that you know to to fail or to to to make mistakes that are avoidable that’s the thing that I’m afraid of you can’t

Control what happens in the 90 minutes on a Saturday but we just need to make sure that you know in January we’re setting ourselves up to have everything that we need for for the rest of the season and then hopefully for next season in League one let not put in the

Car before the horse I mean I won’t pull this together but two quick ones before we go because I do need to go back to your own art because as kids in England so many of us dream are being involved in football um you moved 5,000 miles

Away from home um you built a career in a completely different industry and yet somehow still achieve that dream you know yeah in those rare moments when when some else isn’t vying for your attention when you aren’t talking Rob meleny out of a legally entering Welsh airspace have you taken a moment to

Think about your journey and what you’ve learned from it yes I think so I I I it’s been interesting because I’ve switched from a career that is very you know I’m a freelancer basically as an actor and as a writer it’s a very you’re Your Own

Boss you do things however you want you I’m only answerable to myself and being put into a world that is very rigid and very very regulated and very um office-based in a way has been really interesting for me I think it’s made me grow up a little bit

Because because again lots of actors and writers and comedians are Perpetual children we we we our our job is to Revel in in silliness and joy and all those things um but yeah to be honest I think the single biggest thing for me is

It has left me with a sense of what I’m just so grateful for for it is to be part of something it goes back to that sense of belonging that comes from football clubs to where it’s as astonishing I’m not wearing something right now that has a Rex and badge on it

Because I’m so unbelievably proud to put that on and to be a to have a sense of like being part of something and and that’s thing that I I suppose yeah when I evangelize about football and when I evangelize about reom it’s often that sense of like come

And be a part of something go join your local Club go and go and uh you know get that sense of collective Endeavor and pride that you get from something like that last question for you Humphrey car o over the course of the series that that theme song changes from from kbm’s

Cover The Times They Are are changing to Buddy Holly’s every day uh to Aussie Bourne kiwi John Humes don’t forget um with the chorus don’t forget to sing when you win which which is an Everton supporter um would be an incredibly welcome change from having a late

Afternoon sadn but if you had to choose a theme track for your life a Humphrey car theme song and everything you’ve experienced over the past two years oh wow what would it be I tell you what it is I I’ve got it so this I’m going to pick champagne problems by Taylor Swift

Because the only thing that is difficult in my life right now is I have to travel a long way to go to one of my two jobs being a pretend man on the television or a football executive which are both which I am living the dream so therefore

The only thing genuinely every now and then my wife I be like look I know this is completely unacceptable but I have to complain about there was nowhere to sit when I got to the the airport when I got to the gate of the airport I stood for

25 minutes waiting to get on my flight to Rex and uh so it’s yes champagne Problems by Taylor Swift Humphrey um you are a beautiful human being thank you for just reliving I think for many many of our listeners just stories um of joy and wonder honestly why are we sports fans

Other than to feel things and so many of these moments are are are great great Collective memories for so many in North Wales uh but also across North America as you experienced this summer to you to your family to health to happiness and joy and and to and to more Ro thank you

So much thank you for having me it’s been a pleasure courage