the times | Wednesday November 18 2020 1GT 9

times

What the

new owners

can expect —

a fan’s view

I

wonder if Ryan Reynolds and

Rob McElhenney are really ready

for the emotional toll of being

Wrexham fans? I watched my

first game 29 years ago at the

age of 11, and I can tell you that

until you’ve been 4-0 down at

home to Telford United within the

first ten minutes, you don’t know

true misery. My years as a supporter

have been an epic journey across

the emotional buttresses of ennui,

misery, anger and boredom.

Here’s a quick guide to what else

they can expect when they make it

over to north Wales for a match:

6 Before leaving for the Racecourse

Ground (the oldest stadium in the

world to have hosted an international

match), Reynolds and McElhenney

must drink a bottle of Wrexham

Lager. It’s so beloved by the

fans that a regular anthem is to

change the words of Bread of

Heaven to “Wrexham Lager,

Wrexham Lager, feed me till I want

no more.”

6 As early as possible in

proceedings, some form of

anti-Chester FC sentiment must

be expressed. The Wrexham-

Chester derby is the only

“international” derby in the

UK, and there is absolutely no

sense whatsoever of grudging

fraternity between the two. It’s

outright hatred, and the more

abuse Reynolds and McElhenney

can pile upon the loathed team

from the Roman city 15 miles

away, the more popular they will be.

6 When things get really bad,

Reynolds and McElhenney should,

with the help of supporters sitting

near by, close their eyes and sink

into a reverie about the events of

January 4, 1992, when the

reigning league champions

Arsenal came to the

Racecourse

for an FA Cup

third-round

game and

were beaten 2-

in what is,

arguably, still

the greatest

cup shock.

6 And finally, no amount

of Hollywood stardust will

help with the contempt that

Reynolds and McElhenney will

receive if they can’t sing, with

gusto, the unofficial anthem of

the club. All together now:

Oh fluffy sheep, oh fluffy

sheep

Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful

They’re white, fluffy

and Welsh

Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful.

Rob Crossan

O

n Monday, after the

announcement that

the supporters of

Wrexham AFC

had voted for a

Hollywood takeover

of their beloved

club, the owners-

elect had their first experience of the

way that buying a football club opens

doors to the people in power.

Ryan Reynolds, the star of the

Deadpool superhero films, and Rob

McElhenney, best known for the TV

show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,

picked up the phone and went into

a series of calls with the leader of

Wrexham county borough council,

its chief executive, the manager of

their new team and the club’s most

prominent sponsor.

That afternoon the club posted

a video the pair had made that began

like a spoof advert for the products

manufactured by the sponsor and

recommended them as holiday gifts.

“Nothing says I’m thinking about

you — and your horse — like Ifor

Williams Trailers,” Reynolds said.

After explaining their proposed new

relationship to Wrexham and its niche

sponsor, they turned serious and

thanked the fans. “We are humbled

and we are already getting to work,”

Reynolds continued. “Oh [bleep] this

is really happening.”

As takeover announcements go it

was unconventional. But then even

by the standards of the sport, this is

a very unusual union.

Canadian-American Reynolds, 44,

known for playing the foul-mouthed

Marvel anti-hero title role in the

Deadpool films, is a staple of celebrity

magazines, in part because he is

married to Blake Lively, the actress

who made her name in the TV series

Gossip Girl. They have three daughters.

He was previously married for three

years to Scarlett Johansson and was

once engaged to Alanis Morissette.

Worth more than $100 million, he is

a shrewd businessman who in August

received a windfall after Aviation

American, the gin brand he co-owned,

was bought by Diageo.

McElhenney, 43, stars in and

developed It’s Always Sunny in

Philadelphia, which after 15 years is

claimed to be the longest-running live-

action comedy series. He is married to

Kaitlin Olson, who stars in the series

with him, and they have two sons.

The team the actors have bought are

14th in the National League, the fifth

tier of English football. The third-

oldest professional side in the world

were responsible for one of the

greatest upsets in FA Cup history,

beating Arsenal in the third round in

1992, but they dropped out of the

Football League in 2008 and have

been community-owned since 2011.

Reynolds and McElhenney will pay

a peppercorn figure for the club and

invest £2 million. Americans own

Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal

and several other clubs. But Wrexham?

The extraordinary new chapter

began in May when Spencer Harris,

a director of Wrexham AFC and one

of their community owners, received

a call from the chief executive of

Portsmouth, who also have a rather

surprising American owner: Michael

Eisner, the former boss of Disney.

Harris was connected to Inner

Circle Sports, the company that

helped Fenway Sports Group to buy

Liverpool a decade ago. He was not

told the identity of the potential

buyers for several weeks, but

eventually, after signing a non-

disclosure agreement, was introduced

by video call to Reynolds and

McElhenney. Was he surprised?

“I tend to be fairly grounded in

these things,” Harris says coolly.

“These are highly talented people

doing extraordinary jobs, but

genuinely nice ordinary people when

you scrape beneath that.”

The stars met the community owner

fans by Zoom and issued a “mission

statement”. “We’re two people who’ve

made a career of never taking

ourselves too seriously,” they wrote.

“However, we realise taking

stewardship of this great and storied

club is an incredibly serious matter and

DAVID FISHER/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

The A-listers and Wrexham AFC

Why would two

Hollywood stars

buy a struggling

football club, asks

DamianWhitworth

Ryan Reynolds with his wife, Blake Lively. Right: Wrexham

in league action against Eastleigh. Below: Rob McElhenney

something we don’t take

lightly.”

They said their goal

was to grow the team so

that they could return

to the Football League in an improved

stadium and make a positive difference

to the community. “Why can’t the

third-oldest club in the world have

a global appeal?” they asked. As part

of the wooing, bottles of Aviation

American were sent to local pubs.

The actors also told the community

group that owns the club that they

wanted to make some sort of

documentary. Some observers

have suggested that a Netflix deal

could enable the actors to turn

a profit on their investment.

Harris insists that, while a

documentary is going to happen,

it’s not their prime motivation.

The actors plan to visit as soon as

pandemic travel restrictions allow. In

Reynolds the town may get its first

in-the-flesh sighting of a former People

magazine “sexiest man alive”. In their

mission statement Reynolds and

McElhenney said: “We want to be part

of Wrexham’s story, not drag the club

into ours.” However it turns out, their

attempt to give the “Red Dragons”

back some of their fire should be

essential viewing — and ensure the

club attract sponsors beyond those

specialising in horseboxes and

beavertail trailers.

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