Wrexham club’s joy at Sheen donation

HOLLYWOOD star Michael Sheen has donated £5,000 to an amateur football and futsal club in Wrexham, which has left the community “over the moon”.

Andrew Ruscoe, 37, the chairman, co-founder and manager at FC United of Wrexham, said the club had been struggling financially and the donation had “basically given us a lifeline for the next 12 months”.

The Newport-born actor, pictured, is the latest celebrity to support the club, which has previously received donations from actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who both own Wrexham AFC.

Mr Sheen made the donation through the club’s GoFundMe page, which is now close to achieving its goal of raising £12,000.

Mr Ruscoe said: “We’ve been heavily trying to raise funds and last night, out of the blue, we checked the donations page because we were getting quite a few notifications.

“We haven’t talked to Michael or nothing so we were absolutely so grateful to him. He posted the donations page on his Twitter page and he donated £5,000 to the club which is like, wow, it’s amazing.

“Hopefully we can send (a shirt) out to him with his name on the back, with the club as well. Hopefully, with this money now, we will be getting the women and the under-13s a new kit as well which is what they need at this moment in time.”

The donation is particularly “meaningful” as the club – which is an area of multiple deprivation – has been struggling financially and lost a sponsor in January when it received a donation from controversial social media personality Tristan Tate, which the club swiftly returned, Mr Ruscoe said.

Tristan Tate and his brother Andrew were charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women in Romania after being arrested in the country’s capital in December 2022 and are set to be extradited to the UK.

“Tristan donated the money but in the midst of everything that was happening, our sponsor pulled out but we weren’t aware of what his values were and principles,” Mr Ruscoe said.

“We realised that he didn’t match what we believe in and we don’t agree or condone his values, so we made the decision that very day to return the donation, which was the right thing to do.”