The football fans who went to a World Cup and loved it so much, they stayed

A new documentary follows a group of Wolves fans who moved to the US after the Mexico World Cup. The Wolves fans who went to a World Cup and loved it so much, they stayed Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. A new documentary follows the adventures of a group of Wolves fans who went to the Mexico World Cup in 1986 and never came back to the UK A faded photograph of a group of men on a beach in swimming trunks, while some of them wear England T-shirts. The football fans who went to a World Cup and loved it so much, they stayed They were a group of Wolves fans who had lost their jobs and wanted the adventure of attending a World Cup, flying 5,000 miles to experience the 1986 tournament in Mexico. But instead of coming back to the Black Country afterwards, the place they had lived for all their lives, they decided not to return home to Stourbridge and Lye, and embarked on new lives in the US. These men are the focus of a new documentary, Lost Down Mexico Way, bringing the extraordinary story of these football fans to life, 40 years after it all started. The stars of the documentary are referred to by their nicknames: Adder (Gary Allen), Rabbithead (Garry Hardwicke), Batesy (Stuart Bates), Arnie (David Arnold), and Texas Steve (Steve Dawson) Jack Leigh, the director of the documentary, joked: "None of them ever get called by their first name for the duration of the film, but they all have about 20 different nicknames, so it's really hard to edit." The gang experienced a whole new world when they flew out to Mexico A faded photograph of fans in a football stadium holding an England fan which says 'Stourbridge' on it. Leigh, who works for production company Eight Engines, said he could not ignore an email pitching the documentary, sent by Gary Allen. "We get tons of people inquiring about stories, and normally we kind of fob them off a bit," he said. "But this one sort of stuck with me and I just emailed him back and said, 'it's very hard to get documentaries made but I think it's a great story and if it did ever get made, I'd watch it'." Three months later, they were filming a taster for the documentary on location in Mexico. The pitch for a documentary about the group's exploits in Mexico and the US stood out to director Jack Leigh A close-up short of a man with silver hair and black glasses sitting in a bar. Gary Allen now lives in Atlanta, having retired from running his own company last year. "In 1986, Margaret Thatcher was in power, a few of us had lost our jobs, so we planned to go to the World Cup in Mexico," Allen told the BBC. The group flew over to Houston, Texas, making their way down to Monterrey in Mexico, where Allen said the group was hit by "insane" heat. In the documentary, David Arnold said: "Mexico was one of those countries I had to look up on the map, it sounded so exotic. "We thought it would be the ultimate cool thing to go to a World Cup on the other side of the world." Arnold joked that the group did not even know which language was spoken in Mexico, with none of them speaking Spanish. The group had to adjust to the rules of the new country, getting arrested at one stage for being shirtless, having also drunk beer in the streets. The men thought it would be the "ultimate cool thing" to go to the World Cup in Mexico A photograph of five men around a pool in their swimming trunks. One of the men stands up wearing Union Jack swimming trunks. "It was the best thing we'd ever seen," Allen said. "At this point, we're all thinking 'this is the life, this is a lot better than what we were doing back in England'." After the World Cup and a brief jaunt to Belize, the gang flew to Dallas, Texas. "America was a different kettle of fish – the opportunity was the biggest thing for us," Allen said. "You could get a job anywhere. I had three jobs in the first three or four weeks. "Your accents got you the women, you played on that. We didn't want to leave." In the documentary, Dawson said: "It was the funnest summer of my life." The men found new lives abroad, setting up businesses and meeting their wives in the US An old photo showing a group of men with a drum outside a football stadium draped in flags. The documentary follows the men's adventures over the years, and their friendship that has endured through four decades. "Batesy lives in Houston and Steve in Dallas, I go see them once or twice a year and we still talk on the landlines," Allen said. While he admitted he had periods of feeling homesick over the first few years, he never regretted the move. "The jobs were here, the money was here, we all got wives here," he said. "Everything here was 10 times better than we had in Stourbridge, but I miss Stourbridge like I wouldn't believe." When asked what attracted him to Allen's email out of all the documentary pitches he received, Leigh said there was a genuine kindness to the group, who were all good storytellers. "I just think there's such a level of charm to the guys, and they're so relatable," he told the BBC. "They're just working-class lads, going on this truly incredible adventure." Tell us which stories we should cover in Wolverhampton Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: email:  newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. 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