Wrexham seals 3rd straight promotion, will play in English soccer's 2nd tier

Wrexham fans ignored the warnings. They were always going to.

By the time the final whistle blew on Saturday to confirm promotion to English soccer's second tier, thousands were ready and waiting to storm the field in celebration.

Flares were lit, red smoke filled the air, Welsh flags were waved proudly and songs sung raucously.

Wrexham was one step from the Premier League and nothing was going to stop this party.

There were warnings of police action for pitch invaders before kickoff. And as a 3-0 win against Charlton reached its final moments, an announcement over the loudspeaker told fans the game could be stopped if they didn't move back behind barricades.

But everyone inside the club's historic Racecourse Ground knew what was coming, and within seconds of the whistle the field was a sea of red as Wrexham supporters celebrated wildly.

The Welsh soccer team's remarkable rise under Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney hit a new high as it ensured it would go up as the third division runner-up behind champion Birmingham, and co-owner Ryan Reynolds reflected on their third promotion in three seasons.

"It just seemed like an impossible dream," the movie star said. "We said five years ago our goal was to make it to the Premier League. There were understandably a lot of laughs, but it feels like a thing that could make it to fruition right now."

It means that from next season it will be playing one level below the Premier League, something that was unthinkable just four years ago when it was a struggling non-league team.

Reynolds and McElhenney were part of a full house of nearly 13,000 fans packed into the stadium to celebrate a third consecutive promotion.

Who knows what's next for a team that has defied the