Wrexham’s Reynolds and McElhenney insist Bale offer ‘serious from our side’

The Wrexham co-chairmen, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, have insisted there is “seriousness” to their public offer for Gareth Bale to come out of retirement and play for their club, who have just been promoted back to the Football League.

The former Wales captain announced his retirement at the age of 33 in January after leading his country to their first World Cup finals appearance since 1958. McElhenney then tweeted Bale last month, after Wrexham had secured the National League title and a place in League Two for next season.

“Hey @GarethBale11 let’s play golf, where I totally won’t spend four hours trying to convince you to un-retire for one last magical season,” McElhenny wrote. Bale turned down the offer, saying he is “quite happy where I am. Spending a lot of time with my kids and my wife. Time that I’ve lost over the years, being committed to football.”

“I think I was looking more for a free round of golf off Rob,” Bale joked when asked about the offer by the presenter Laura Woods at the Sport Industry Awards last week.

In an interview for S4C broadcast on Tuesday, the Welsh journalist Maxine Hughes asked if there was “seriousness” to McElhenney and Reynolds’ offer on Twitter and if they are “actually trying to convince Gareth Bale to come and play?”

“I think there’s seriousness from our side, but I don’t know that there’s seriousness from his. I think he’s happy,” McElhenney replied, while Reynolds added: “I’m also weirdly happy for him to do exactly what he wants to do with his life.”

“He’s given up so much for a sport that he loves,” Reynolds continues. “It’s fun, though. I like that we can kind of do some stuff that’s a little outside the box of convention when it comes to goofing around.”

“I didn’t think