Hardly ever has the promotion of a football team to England’s fourth highest league level been celebrated as big and spectacular as in the Welsh city of Wrexham.
Wrexham AFC is the third oldest professional club in the world and the oldest football club in Wales, but despite its storied history, few people outside the UK would know about it if it weren’t for its world-famous owners.
Two years ago in February Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney set their sights on the company and bought it from supporters. No one really seemed to know why the duo, who had no experience of owning a football club, wanted a financially struggling club. However, very quickly Wrexham’s representative team became both very popular and followed even among those who do not usually follow lower league football.
Famous owners brought headlines, global attention and big sponsors to the club. The team was, among other things, the first non-league team to qualify for the Fifa22 game, as it played fifth at the highest league level. In England, the top four league levels are counted in the league. In addition, a documentary series Welcome to Wrexham was filmed about the club, which was released on the streaming service in August 2022.
Hollywood stardust also landed on the pitch, as Wrexham got wind in their sails after the change of ownership. Before the change, the team was ranked 20th in the National League, but already at the point when the rumors about the change of ownership started, it had already risen to eighth.
When Reynolds and McElhenney took over the club, Wrexham was already looking for promotion. This season, the team already made headlines in January in the FA Cup when they knocked out Championship side Coventry City in the third round and in the fourth round Sheffield United needed a replay to knock Wrexham out of the playoffs.
In the National League, Wrexham finally got to fight for promotion to the Second League this season. On Saturday, several hours before the start of the decisive match, supporters singing and blowing horns had already taken over the area around the stadium. In the end, about 10,000 of them came to the match.
In the match, Wrexham beat Boreham Wood 3–1, although Boreham managed to score after only 43 seconds of play. Wrexham managed to equalize in the 15th minute and into the second half Paul Mullin wrote his name in the history books as he completed two goals for Wrexham. Thus promotion to the Second League was secured and Wrexham AFC returned to the league map after a 15-year break.
After the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the game, the spectators took over the pitch, lit red torches and celebrated with the players.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney followed their colleagues Paul Rudd with the match closely at the stadium. When it got up the two hugged each other with tears in their eyes. Reynolds told the BBC that he felt pure joy when the final whistle blew in the stadium.
– When you see the joy on the faces of the players and of course the whole stadium, that’s what this is all about, he said.
McElhenney stated that it is difficult for him to put his feelings into words and admitted that he even suffered from a small amnesia, as he did not remember the takeover of the field at all. According to McElhenney, winning is above all about the club and the city and what they mean to each other.
– They have spent 15 years in the National League, and it ends now. It comes into consciousness like a tsunami and takes a while to process, McElhenney said.
The acting duo managed to realize one dream of the club, the team and the supporters in just a couple of years. Wrexham’s next success story now a new chapter.
Sources: BBC, CNN, Insider