Hollywood stars complete takeover of Welsh club Wrexham
Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought one of the world’s oldest soccer teams on Monday and plan to document their first foray into the sport in a fly- on- the- wall TV show.
In a pinch- yourself moment for success- starved fans of Welsh club Wrexham, Reynolds and McElhenney completed a $ 2.5 million takeover of a team that plays in the fifth tier of the English game.
“This is really happening,” Reynolds, a Canadianborn actor best known for starring in the “Deadpool” movies, said at the end of a short video announcing the purchase of the 156- year- old club.
In a recent call with members of the club’s supporters’ trust, Reynolds and McElhenney described Wrexham as a “sleeping giant” and outlined their vision to make the team a “global force”.
“You may have never heard of Wrexham, the Racecourse Ground or ( sponsor) Ifor Williams,” Reynolds said during Monday’s announcement, putting on a Welsh accent, “but you will.”
To increase the exposure of a club which is languishing in 14th place in the National League and has been outside English soccer’s four main pro leagues since 2008, the new owners are ready to use Wrexham in a behind- the- scenes TV series similar to those which have documented Manchester City and Tottenham in recent years.
“That’s happened. We’re documenting it,” McElhenney, an American actor and director who was the creator of TV show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” told supporters.
“We should be thinking about Wrexham the way Man U ( Manchester United) thinks about Man U. Engage in club, communities. What a great way to do it,” McElhenney said.
Amazon Prime was among the first to reply to Wrexham’s takeover announcement on Twitter.
Wrexham, which has been a fan- owned club since 2011, said the “RR McReynolds Company” will take 100% control — subject to confirmation by soccer authorities — following a vote among supporters in which more than 98% were in favor of the purchase by Reynolds and McElhenney.
“The Gang Buys A North Walian Football Club,” read a tweet from Wrexham, a club from a town of about 65,000 people located near the northwest English border.
Chris Jones, a member of the supporters’ trust, was on the recent call with Reynolds and McElhenney and said the actors knew all about the history of Wrexham — from the time in the 1970s when there were attendances of
20,000 spectators, to the 1990s when the team had some big wins in the FA Cup, including over then-English champion Arsenal at the Racecourse.