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."

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'."