Wrexham is at the halfway stage of its unlikely journey toward the Premier League.
Next stop: League One.
Wrexham hasn’t played at this level for 19 years, a sign of the progress made by the team since it was bought by Reynolds and another actor, Rob McElhenney, for $2.5 million in 2021.
Another sign is the success of “Welcome to Wrexham” — the Emmy Award-winning, fly-on-the-wall documentary chronicling the Hollywood stars’ first foray into soccer ownership that is into a third season, with the promise of a fourth.
Another is the sight of up to 35,000 spectators flocking to watch Wrexham’s exhibition matches on its North American tour, which started in California with draws against Premier League teams Chelsea (2-2) and Bournemouth (1-1) and ended in Reynolds’ home town of Vancouver. Wrexham beat Vancouver Whitecaps 4-1, with Reynolds in attendance soon after a whirlwind press tour for the movie “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
“How to watch Wrexham, Burnley, Leeds and Americans,” CBS stated in its statement.
Indeed, eyes from around the world are now on the team known as the Dragons, especially after back-to-back promotions from the National League to League One, which features eight clubs to have previously played in the Premier League — Barnsley, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bolton, Charlton, Huddersfield, Reading and Wigan.
It’s the Premier League, the most popular soccer league in the world, where Reynolds and McElhenney want to take Wrexham.
The Challenges Ahead
The really hard work starts here, though.
“There’s some huge clubs who’ve spent an awful lot of money already in this transfer window,” Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said, “whereas last year, we went to grounds and everybody wanted to beat us.
“We were the big team coming into town. It’s going to be different.”
Take Birmingham, a club which counts NFL great Tom Brady among its minority owners and has spent more than 10 million pounds ($12.75 million) on players this summer in its bid to return to the second-tier Championship.
George Dobson has arrived from Charlton, now a League One rival, and he has already noticed the Reynolds effect.
“(The owners) genuinely care a lot about every person,” Dobson told British newspaper The Daily Mirror. “The boys have all said they’re very interactive. Some owners are like that and some aren’t. But they are so invested in not just the club but the whole area, too.”
A Different Kind of Underdog
After the team’s sudden rise, consolidation might be the key for Wrexham this season
“We’re probably not the big team in the league anymore going into it, but I think that’s OK,” Wrexham defender Eoghan O’Connell said. “We’re happy to kind of have the underdog tag.”
A Community United
On Saturday, Wrexham return to League One after a 19-year absence. It’s been a long and winding road back for a club whose very survival owed everything to the sheer will and determination of their supporters.
Along the way, all manner of obstacles had to be overcome, including when served notice to quit their Racecourse Ground home by then owner Alex Hamilton, who would later be banned from being a director for seven years after a High Court Judge ruled he’d failed to act in the club’s best interests.
But then came a dramatic Hollywood twist, as a decade of fan-ownership was followed by a 2021 takeover involving Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney that has taken Wrexham from imperilled non-Leaguers to the third tier via back-to-back promotions and the global success of the Welcome to Wrexham documentary.
Ahead of the new season, five lifelong supporters who became breakout stars of the show reveal to The Athletic their thoughts ahead of the club’s return to League One.
The Landlord of The Turf Pub
The landlord of The Turf pub, which sits next door to Wrexham’s SToK Cae Ras home, has become hugely recognisable — supporters queued round the block to meet him on Wrexham’s recent North America tour.
“Returning to this level does feel like we’ve come full circle,” he says. “When I first started watching Wrexham, we were just missing out on the play-offs in League One. I’d say that’s maybe where we’ll be this season.
“Obviously, I’d love us to win the league and get promoted again, but you have to approach things with a degree of realism. If you could guarantee now we’d be pushing for the play-offs, that, to me, would represent a good season.
“I do still have those ‘pinch me’ moments, with what has happened to our football club since Rob and Ryan got involved. Last week, for instance, I had jet lag from a tour that saw little old Wrexham visit America and Canada with thousands of Wrexham fans in tow. Who could have predicted that just a few years ago?
“These overseas tours are great, of course. But all we really care about is 3pm on a Saturday and how Wrexham are going to do in our next fixture. I’d imagine it can be a tricky juggling act for Rob and Ryan, in that they have to grow the brand but also want to do everything within their power to keep it local and as community-based as possible.
“Basically, they need to maintain what makes Wrexham unique — in that, when the s*** did hit the fan, that’s when the real good side of Wrexham came out to keep this club going. They have to weigh so much up, including the need to follow the mission statement they put out at the very start.
“I know it’s easy to say this because Rob and Ryan are very good to me and the pub has never been busier thanks to what they’ve done, but, even if I lived 10 miles away, I’d be able to see the impact all this has had on the community. A real juggling act but I do believe they are absolutely nailing it, all the while with us enjoying success on the field.”
The Former Wrexham Supporters’ Trust Board Member
A board member throughout the Wrexham Supporters’ Trust’s 10 years in charge, Harris oversaw the sale of the club to Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020-21.
“Rob and Ryan have done everything they promised to do and more when buying the club from the trust,” he says. “The level of ambition they have for the club, based on what they’ve been able to achieve through the unique ownership model and the power of their personality, is higher than I expected it to be, and not just on the pitch, either.
“Forget the back-to-back promotions for a minute. Just look at how ambitious they are off the pitch, too. Currently, we’ve got a pause on the new Kop stand. Not because they couldn’t do what was originally planned (a 5,500-seat construction), but because they’re looking at a bolder vision.
“They have brought in the new CEO Michael Williamson, who has experience in that field, to help realise those ambitions. You have to take your hat off to them and say, ‘Great job and really well done’.
“Saturday at home to Wycombe Wanderers will be a special day. It’s been a long road to get back to where we were before all the club’s troubles began, but returning to League One sort of closes the chapter on those days.
“It also validates the fight that many, many people were involved in to keep the club alive. Some of those people are sadly no longer with us. On the opening day of the season, I’ll be thinking about some of those prominent supporters who passed away without seeing us get back to this level.
“When you look at the clubs in this division and the level of investment that is taking place, this seems likely to be one of the most competitive League Ones there’s been.”
The Long-Serving Match Commentator
The club’s long-serving match commentator has become a cult figure among Wrexham’s growing army of overseas supporters.
“There were a couple of specific points during the rubbish years where I remember waking up and thinking, ‘I can’t see my football club being around for more than a couple more days’. Genuinely, that’s how bad it felt.
“One of those was when the club had to find a £250,000 bond just to play the 2011-12 Conference season and the fans rallied round to raise the necessary funds in a couple of days. Without that, we’d have ceased to exist.
“The other time I genuinely feared for our future came under the Hamilton ownership when things looked totally hopeless. The heroics that went on off the pitch during that period to keep us alive were outstanding.
“That’s why I was always keen to support the Trust when they ran the club. I could live with a bad season or two, but I couldn’t live with having no season at all.
“What has happened since the takeover is remarkable and marvellously uplifting for the town. I’ve recently retired as a teacher. Not so long ago, the kids could be very down on the town. Some seemed almost ashamed to come from Wrexham and wanted to get out as quickly as possible.
“Now, that’s changed and there’s a pride that has been restored. I had a lovely email recently from the parent of a pupil who I’d been his head of year. This parent was explaining how he’d gone to university and was being treated like a minor celebrity due to coming from Wrexham. I loved that.”
The Declan Swans Lead Singer
The Declan Swans lead singer’s successful fight against cancer was featured in series one. Hett — his nickname comes from a love of scooters in his youth — penned the ‘Always Sunny in Wrexham’ song that co-chairman McElhenney once quipped “they’ll play at my funeral”.
“There’s no doubt our back-to-back promotions haven’t been universally popular among football fans. We’ve had quite a bit of hate, especially on social media where the ‘Hollywood’ stuff gets bandied about a lot. But I do believe most of those who have genuinely followed the wider story — and I’m going right back to losing our major industries, like the mines and steel — are happy for us.
“I think back to how we were the first club to get hit with a points deduction for going into administration, which saw us relegated from League One in 2005. Contrast that to Leicester City, who got no penalty for doing the same a couple of years earlier and went up to the Premier League as a result.
“That relegation started a decline that, without Covid shortening the Conference season in 2019-20, I do believe would have seen us go down to the sixth tier. And where would we be now if that had happened? Probably trapped there, forever, as I doubt Rob and Ryan would have wanted to look that low in the pyramid when choosing a club to buy.
“You can see the knock-on effect of the last few years across the whole town. Then, there’s all the tourists coming in. We must be one of the only towns where new pubs and bars are opening all the time.”
The Owner of DVD Shop Mad4Movies
The owner of DVD shop Mad4Movies is a lifelong fan who has featured in all three series of Welcome to Wrexham.
“I remember what I said to the documentary crew at the very start, after they’d asked me what the ultimate dream was. They suggested reaching the Premier League, but I just replied, ‘If we get back to League One with a four-sided ground and a training ground, I’ll be happy — anything else will be a bonus’.
“We still need the training ground and the Kop to be built and I did think at least one might have been sorted by now, but the owners have delivered us to League One and that’s brilliant.
“I’m quietly confident ahead of the new season. Much of that is down to Phil Parkinson. Him getting involved in the club changed everything. What I like about Parky is people clearly respect him. He has everyone’s ear in the dressing room. You can see that in the documentary.
“People keep questioning if he can do it at this level, but he already has by winning promotion in the past with Colchester United and Bolton Wanderers.
“The ghosts of what happened to us are still there, along with the pain. I doubt they’ll ever truly go. I honestly wouldn’t wish what happened to us on anyone. Even Chester, who I’d much rather be a league below us, rather than where they are in National League North.
“But by returning to League One, there’s a sense that justice has been done after all we had to go through to keep the club alive.”
(Top photo: Wrexham’s celebrations after promotion to League One in April; by Charlotte Tattersall via Getty Images)
