After beating Boreham Wood on April 22nd, Wrexham FC were promoted to the EFL League Two for the first time in 15 years. But how did this happen?
In November of 2020, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, two American actors, bought the tiny football club Wrexham in Wales for about 2.5 million GBP. This was to film a TV series about the club, called “Welcome to Wrexham”. Since then, the team has attracted lots of new players, including ex-Premier League Goalkeeper Ben Foster, and Wrexham became second in the National League in the 2021-22 season. This season Wrexham finished first in the league and their striker, Paul Mullin, scored 38 goals. After going down 1-0 in less than a minute against Boreham Wood, the Red Dragons fought back at The Racecourse, their home stadium, to top the National League. The stadium filled with 10,000 fans erupted after the final whistle blew, including celebrities Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Paul Rudd.
Wrexham have always been famous, especially for being the third oldest football club in the world and owning the oldest international ground. They won the Welsh Cup a massive 23 times, and they knocked out one of the best Premier League clubs in the FA Cup in the early 90s. In their best times, the 1970s, they were in the second division in English football, compared to the fifth division today (fourth division after being promoted). But after being taken over by two famous actors, they have been put into the spotlight. After barely being able to fill their stadium because of relegation in the past few years, tickets have been impossible to get recently.
It is very rare for publicity to generate in the fifth division of English football, but this isn’t the case when Hollywood stars take over a club. Reynolds and McElhenney saw potential in the small club and thought that they could restore it to its former glory. The buy was approved on the terms to immediately invest 2 million GBP, build a new training facility and commitment from the Hollywood stars that Wrexham would always beat their fierce rivals, Chesterfield. Since the celebrity takeover, Wrexham’s stock values have exploded, TikTok have become their shirt sponsor and they have been included in the newest FIFA game, being the first fifth-tier side to do so.
After winning the league, the whole team went on an all-expense-paid team holiday to Las Vegas with McElhenney and his wife. Here’s wishing Wrexham good luck for the next season.