EXCLUSIVE: Wrexham star Elliot Lee is delivering on and off the pitch as he bids to take them to League One… but it’s tackling food poverty that is his biggest goal this season (and he hopes Ryan Reynolds can help him do it!)
- Elliot Lee has been one of the best players in League Two so far this season
- The midfielder is thriving on and off the pitch, as he pushes local charity work
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There is a running joke in Wrexham’s dressing room that long after his playing days are over Elliot Lee will still be in the thick of things in North Wales, painting the walls or cleaning out the toilets if he has to.
‘I always joke around with the lads and I always say that I’ll still be in Wrexham whether I’m kit man or I’m in the stands!’ Lee laughs.
‘I’ll still be here in 10, 20, 30 years time. I’m very much an adopted Wrexham boy now and I just love it.’
Lee is beaming as he sits down with Mail Sport to reflect on life in Wrexham, the recently released Disney+ documentary series about the club and his goals for the season – both on and off the pitch.
‘From top to bottom, the club is just unbelievable,’ he adds. ‘The owners, the staff, the manager, the coaches, the lads, the physios, the chefs, the groundsmen, everyone. I get on so well with all of them. I go in with a smile on my face every day and all I want to do is just keep building on what we’ve already built.’
Elliot Lee has been Wrexham’s best player so far this season – but he delivering off the pitch too
The midfielder has become an ambassador for Dom’s Food Mission, a surplus food charity
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Lee has been Wrexham’s best player so far this season and goes into Saturday’s heavyweight clash against Stockport County with seven goals from the opening eight league games.
Watching Lee, son of former Newcastle and England star Rob, this season is to see a player in his element. He has shouldered the scoring burden with star striker Paul Mullin sidelined until recently with a punctured lung suffered against Manchester United in pre-season, and he looks to have taken a big step forward in his game.
Last season he scored 12 goals en route to a 111-point record-breaking promotion from the National League – but given he is on pace for 40 goals right now (he scoffs at that very idea), what, if anything, has pushed him to even greater heights?
‘I’m not sure there’s any rhyme or reason to it,’ he says.
‘In the last year or so, I’ve worked a lot on the mental side of my game. I worked with a guy called Rob Blackburne. He works at a company called Inner Game Academy and he’s been incredible for me in changing my perspective on the football pitch and off the football pitch.
‘If I had to attribute my improvement on the pitch, it would probably be a lot to Rob because he sort of changed the way I see the game and I go into games and also away from football.
For all his success on the pitch – he has seven league goals in eight games – much of his targets lay off it, and he is keen to give back to the community when it comes to food poverty
Many of Lee’s (right) long-time friends came down to see him in a recent match against Doncaster Rovers, where they also met Wrexham’s co-chairman Ryan Reynolds (middle)
‘I’m much happier in myself and I absolutely love going into training every day at Wrexham. I love playing in front of the fans. I love stepping out on the field every weekend. I don’t know if that’s more of a part of why I’m doing well because I enjoy it so much.’
Wrexham fans have really taken to Lee and many would like to see a mural of him painted in town, adding to the popular Paul Mullin design which sits on the side of the Fat Boar pub and restaurant.
Lee has always been popular wherever he’s been, particularly at Luton Town and at Charlton Athletic, but when asked how to categorise the football fever he is experiencing in Wrexham he has one particular club in mind for a comparison.
‘[My family] always describe Wrexham as sort of a smaller scale on Newcastle because the fan base is so passionate,’ he says.
‘The community is so passionate that when the football club is doing well, everything’s going well, everyone’s happy and when it’s down everyone’s a bit down. The whole town revolves around the football and that’s such a great thing.
‘It was exactly the same with Newcastle. The support you get from all the people around Newcastle is so similar to at Wrexham. They live and breathe football and the football club is the heart of the community and I think that’s what’s been so special as well for my family to see.
‘It’s sort of like when my dad got all the support from all the Newcastle fans and now I’m sort of getting that with Wrexham. They’re very similar clubs in that respect.’
Things could not be better for Lee right now and it’s telling, too, that much of the happiness he is playing with right now is stemming from his work in the community.
As well as choosing No 38 when he walked through the door at Wrexham – he has long chosen this number to honour his former West Ham team-mate Dylan Tombides, who died aged 20 in 2014 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, and to raise awareness of the disease – battling food poverty is also high on Lee’s list of things to put all of his energy into.
Lee told Mail Sport he was approached to get involved after winning promotion last season
The motto to ‘Boot Hunger Out’ ties in with football and now he wants to get Wrexham’s co-chairmen Reynolds and Rob McElhenney involved to help spread the charity’s word
Lee, by his own admission, never had to worry about where his next meal was coming from as a young child growing up with a dad who was thriving in professional football, but the stark reality for many, in places such as Wrexham, does not need spelling out.
After sealing promotion back to the Football League in May, Lee was approached by Dom Warren, who founded the surplus food charity, Dom’s Food Mission, about whether he would come on board as an ambassador.
‘He got in touch through my dad and he just asked if I’d be interested and straight away I was like “yeah”,’ Lee said.
‘We had a few chats about how I could help and what I could do. And it’s a really great thing to be part of. It is something that I’m hoping will get even bigger and bigger.’
In the last two years, Dom’s Food Mission has prevented 200 metric tons of food from going to landfill, instead redirecting it to within communities. Laid out, this equates to 500,000 meals salvaged.
‘It’s something that I feel really strongly about,’ the Wrexham midfielder added.
‘They’re trying to promote this through football as well, so through the football communities. And they have a slogan called Boot Hunger Out. It’s really great.’
There is a buzz when Lee reflects on the early work he has done with Warren, and about what Wrexham as a squad can do, from signed balls for auction to even loftier goals such as getting co-chairmen Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney on board.
‘I think I’ll be forcing it on them soon,’ Lee jokes, with that infectious smile so often seen in North Wales this season. ‘I’m just trying to bide my time.’
On the pitch Lee is flying and he reveals he has been working on the mental side of the game
And for all the pressure heaped on Wrexham – they went into the season as promotion favourites with bookmakers alongside Saturday’s opponent Stockport County – it is the talk of charity and the community that dominates dressing room discourse.
Mullin has worked tirelessly with Your Space to fundraise and raise awareness for autism, while club captain Ben Tozer is campaigning on behalf of Leukaemia UK following the death of his dad.
‘The world has become such a negative place sometimes,’ Lee continues. ‘People should try and help people and yeah, I’m a firm believer in that. We should all help each other.’
Delivering on and off the pitch, things could not be much sweeter for Lee right now.
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