Wrexham earns promotion on wild journey to top

Ryan Reynolds held his head in his hands. Rob Mcelhenney leaned forward, took a deep breath and was soon wiping tears from his eyes, writes Steve Douglas of The Associated Press.

Below the Hollywood actors, thousands of Wrexham fans flooded onto the field at the Racecourse Ground, setting off red flares and waving Wales flags.

A previously down-on-its-luck Welsh soccer club thrust into the global spotlight because of its A-list owners was celebrating on Saturday after Wrexham secured promotion to the fourth tier of the English game.

Reynolds and Mcelhenney, along with actor friend Paul Rudd, were among a crowd of more than 10,000 at the Racecourse in north Wales to see Wrexham clinch the National League title with a 3-1 win over Boreham Wood.

Reynolds and Mcelhenney embraced in the directors’ box when the fulltime whistle sounded and, before long, were holding up a flag with the words: “Wrexham champions 2022-23.”

They seemingly have become soccer fanatics since completing their out-of-nowhere purchase of the club for $2.5 million in 2021. An offshoot of the takeover was the making of a fly-on-the-wall documentary — entitled “Welcome to Wrexham” — that has charted the journey of a team run by a couple of actors learning the ropes of sports club ownership.

The second season of the show will have a happy ending, with Wrexham heading back into the English Football League — the three divisions below the

Premier League — for the first time in 15 years.

“One thing that is running through my head over and over again,” Reynolds said, looking around at Wrexham’s jubilant players and fans, “is that people said at the beginning, ’Why Wrexham, why Wrexham?’ This is exactly why Wrexham.”

Wrexham is four points clear of second-placed Notts County with one round of games left, so is guaranteed the sole automatic promotion spot to League Two. After being greeted by Reynolds and Mcelhenney, Wrexham’s players lifted the league trophy in the middle of the field to the sound of “We are the Champions.”

It is Wrexham’s first league title at any level since the old Division Three — then the third tier in the English game — in 1977.

And, as has so often been the case with a club that does drama like no one else, the win was achieved the hard way after falling behind inside 44 seconds.

Wrexham equalized in the 15th minute then Paul Mullin, the

team’s star striker, earned victory with two superbly taken goals in the second half. Trivia question

On this date in 1952, future Hall of Fame pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm earned the win in his major league debut for the New York Giants. Wilhelm also homered in his first major league at-bat. How many more homers would he hit in his career?

He said it

From Angels manager Phil Nevin, on his pitcher, Shohei Ohtani: “I’m glad I don’t have to face him. I’m glad he’s on my side.”

Trivia answer

Wilhelm, a .088 hitter for his career, never hit another homer in his 21 seasons. He only had three doubles and one triple among his 38 hits in 431 at-bats.