IAmid the cheers of thousands of AFC Wrexham fans, Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds snatched the silver trophy for a kiss. “Everything I wear smells like champagne, beer and weed,” wrote the 46-year-old about the little Welsh football fairy tale, feeling “still somewhere between giggles and sobs”. A good two years after Reynolds and his acting buddy Rob McElhenney took over the traditional club, Wrexham rose to the fourth English division on Saturday.
“This city and this sport is one of the most romantic things in the world,” Reynolds (“Deadpool”) wrote on social media on Sunday. The 3-1 win against FC Boreham on the penultimate day of the National League, which made promotion perfect, was followed emotionally by the two club owners from North America in the stadium. “In the Hollywood world of illusion, all that glitters is not gold,” wrote the BBC – in small Wrexham, so the conclusion, but yes.
“You have made Wales proud”
Founded in 1864, the north-east Wales club has come through tough times, and the arrival of world-renowned investors came at the right time. Reynolds and McElhenney (“It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”) had declared the project a matter of the heart – contrary to the rather anonymous donor habit in great English football. There was even royal praise for this on Saturday.
“Congratulations,” wrote Prince William and Princess Kate on Twitter to the club “with such an amazing history looking forward to an exciting future in the Football League.” The heir to the throne concluded with: “You have made Wales proud.”
The football club from the small town with almost 70,000 inhabitants describes itself as the third oldest in the world and clearly benefits from the glamor and investments of the two film stars. On Saturday, buddy Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man”) was there. “I’m not entirely sure I’ve processed what happened tonight,” Reynolds told BT Sport. “I’m still a bit speechless.”
The fourth division, League Two, is part of professional football in England, and a 15-year dry spell ended for Wrexham on Saturday. But there is still a long way to go before the Premier League with the giants from London and Manchester. “What’s going through my head right now is people kept asking at the beginning: why Wrexham, why Wrexham? What’s happening right now is exactly why,” Reynolds said. The wild ascension celebration was already raging on the lawn. Which fifth division professional can claim that pictures of him go around the (soccer) world like this.
“We can hear what it means for this city,” McElhenney said to the cheers of the fans. “The fact that we can experience this and be part of this community is the honor of life for me.” Wrexham can no longer be knocked out of first place in the National League with one game left. The Hollywood club has 110 points, four more than second-placed Notts County.
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