Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney react to Wrexham promotion
Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney called it the ‘honour’ of his life following the club’s promotion back to the EFL for the first time in 15 years on Saturday.
The Red Dragons, bought by McElhenney and fellow actor Ryan Reynolds in late 2020, moved to within touching distance of the National League title earlier this month with a thrilling win over promotion rivals Notts County – including a stoppage time penalty save from Ben Foster.
They dropped points away to Barnet a few days later but then beat Yeovil to set up the visit of Boreham Wood as the game to take them into League Two for next season.
Despite going behind in the first minute, Wrexham eventually prevailed 3-1, largely thanks to two more goals from Paul Mullin – his 45th and 46th goals of the season across all competitions. Mullin dropped down from League Two to join the club, becoming an internationally recognised name in the process thanks to being heavily featured in Welcome to Wrexham on Disney+.
“We can hear how it feels to the town and that is what is important to us,” McElhenney, who was inspired to buy the club by his own upbringing in a working class part of Philadelphia, said.
“This is a moment of catharsis for them and celebration and for us to be welcomed into their community and have this experience has been the honour of my life.”
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There is famously only one automatic promotion out of the National League and into the EFL, something which has drawn renewed criticism this season given that Notts County, who will now have to try and win the play-offs, are 25 points clear of the next best team. For comparison, League Two has three automatic promotions spots up, with two each in League One and the Championship.
Reynolds spoke of his admiration for Notts County and pledged his and McElhenney’s support behind them now as they aim to now pick themselves and go again.
“This entire story and the reason we are sitting on the edge of our seats right now is because Notts County are so damn good as well and they deserve to go up,” the Deadpool star said.
“That is something that Rob and I feel very strongly about. We are rooting for them to go up so we can face them next season. They are incredible.”
Wrexham narrowly missed out on the National League play-offs in the first season that Reynolds and McElhenney owned the club in 2020/21. They were then beaten to automatic promotion in 2021/22 by Stockport County and were knocked out of in the play-offs semi-finals.
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