Two celebrities buy a 157-year-old Welsh football club. But what happens next?

It sounds like something out of a fairytale, or a blockbuster movie.

Wealthy celebrity buys ailing sports team and brings it to new heights of glory, revitalising a poor neighbourhood. But to Wrexham AFC, a fifth-tier football club in a north Wales market town, it is a dream come true. 

It was in February 2021 when Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney officially claimed ownership of the National League side, following their initial bid at the end of 2020 via RR McReynolds Company LLC.

With nearly 99 per cent of the Wrexham Supporters Trust (WST) members voting in favour of the sale, the deal was sealed after the pair reportedly told trust members that they wanted to make Wrexham ‘a global force’.

‘Our goal is to grow the team, return it to the English Football League in front of increased attendances at an improved stadium while making a positive difference to the wider community in Wrexham,’ they said in their mission statement following the takeover. 

However, with the Canadian and American actors becoming the proud owners of Wales’s oldest football club, it could only mean one thing: all eyes of the sporting – and showbiz- world suddenly fell on Wrexham – and what they planned to do next.  

Nearly two years on, they’ve still a way to go in becoming a global force – but there’s no doubt that Ryan, best known for starring in Deadpool, and Rob, of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame, have helped the team make their mark.

While Ryan called it ‘the role of a lifetime’, shirt sales shot up more than 259%.

Meanwhile, in another nod to the power of the takeover, Wrexham AFC became the first ever non-league team to appear in FIFA’s ‘Rest of the World’ annual round-up last year.

Not only that, under their new owners, they