A real Hollywood ending for the British football club Wrexham. Two years after Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the club, Wrexham is promoted to League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league.
The actors saw the team win their home game against Boreham Wood with 10,000 other fans. That was exciting at first: Wrexham fell behind 0-1 after 44 seconds, but eventually managed to win 3-1. Fans poured onto the field afterwards to celebrate the promotion.
The discharge was great:
“In the beginning people kept asking ‘Why Wrexham?’, ‘Why Wrexham?’, Reynolds said afterwards, referring to his curious purchase of the club. “Well, exactly because of this.”
“We feel what it means to the city. This is a cathartic moment, celebration,” McElhenney added. “The community has embraced us. To be part of it is the honor of my life.”
Wrexham is now at rung four of the English football pyramid:
Wrexham was founded in 1864, making it one of the oldest professional football clubs in the world. In recent years, the club has been living in the lower echelons of English professional football and financially it has been getting worse.
The situation seemed hopeless, until the club was bought out of the blue in February 2021 by Reynolds and McElhenney, known respectively for the Deadpool films and the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia series. Since then everything has changed at Wrexham.
TikTok became a shirt sponsor, the club debuted in the popular game FIFA and a documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham, was launched. In addition, things were also getting better with Wrexham in terms of sport. It all led to congratulations last night from Crown Prince William, chairman of the English Football Association FA. “A club with such a special history, I look forward to an exciting future back in the league.”
Hand in shirt
Immediately after the final whistle, Reynolds and McElhenney were filmed in the stands enthusiastically receiving congratulations. Soon after, the two could be seen emotionally as they silently soaked in the performance.
Looking for souvenirs, Reynolds later interrupted Wrekham keeper Ben Foster’s press conference. “Do you have a shirt on? Give me your shirt,” the owner demanded. “He texted me before,” Foster acknowledged. “He really set his sights on it. He wrote: ‘don’t you dare throw your shirt in the audience’.”
When asked if he planned to sell the kit online, the actor replied with a laugh: “I work in show business. It’s been a bit of a hit there lately.”
Watch the moment here:
- How two Hollywood stars score with Wrexham in the fifth tier of English football
