HE is used to being adored as a Hollywood hero, but Ryan Reynolds was terrified his takeover of Wrexham FC would see him branded a villain.
The struggle is painted on his face as the Deadpool actor stands on the empty pitch at the Racehorse Ground alongside his co-chairman, fellow actor Rob McElhenney.
Ryan’s new role as co-chairman of the tiny North Wales football team is his toughest role to date — and the club’s fans are his harshest critics.
He muses: “There is a version of the story where we are villains. It doesn’t work, we have to sell it, and we’re the bad guys.”
For a second, Ryan looks genuinely terrified, before regaining his composure and saying: “F*** that. It’s gonna work.”
Ryan and his buddy Rob — who stars in smash-hit US sitcom It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia — shook the football world when they announced their intention to buy Wrexham FC in 2020.
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But fans were optimistic, and season ticket sales more than doubled on the 2019/2020 season’s 2,609, with 5,892 sold — while the new season’s tally is up to 6,800. Shirt sales have also boomed to 14,000, far out-stripping the previous record of 3,896.
And this year the stadium — the world’s oldest international football ground still in use — saw a National League record crowd of 10,118 for Wrexham’s 3-0 win over League title rivals Stockport County.
GLOBAL FORCE
The club’s standing in the National League means they are one tier below the top four divisions of English football. Now, with a full season under their belts, Ryan and Rob, both 45, are the subjects of a Disney+ documentary series as they try to turn the team into a Premier League force to be reckoned with.
Last season Wrexham were two goals away from promotion, losing the play-off semi-final 5–4 to Grimsby Town after extra time and finishing second in the League.
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The six-part documentary series, Welcome To Wrexham, reaches TV screens this week. In one candid moment before their first season as chairmen, Ryan says to Rob: “I want to get there soon before anything’s even happened, because everyone likes us still.
“If s**t goes south all of a sudden, hopefully it’s in 25 years and they’re in the Premier League.”
And he adds: “Neither of us are in it for the money. We want to build something sustainable.
“We love sports. We love storytelling through sports. You have to run it as a business, but mostly with business like this, you are just trying to get them into the black.
“I believe this is a club that can go a very long way, hopefully in a short time. We do feel Wrexham can be a global force.”
It’s the kind of optimism Ryan needs. After handing over some £2million, the men watch Wrexham lose their first match.
Ryan glumly concedes: “Our investment just took a hit.”
So as one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men, why did he decide to take a chance on a lowly British football club?
The motivation was deeply personal. Getting emotional, he says: “The main place I got validation from my father was when I was good at sports.
“So I played sports long past the point where I was really driven to play sports.
“My dad has been dead for years, but this stuff doesn’t really go away.
Neither of us are in it for the money. We want to build something sustainable.
Ryan Reynolds
“It’s easy to think of him the way I’m describing him as a hard-ass. He would have thought all this was wild, he didn’t really see any of this stuff — Deadpool forward — so he would have thought it was pretty crazy.”
“Crazy” is a word that many used to describe the duo’s dream of taking Wrexham to the big leagues.
In never-before-seen footage in the documentary, the stars hold a Zoom call with Wrexham FC to make their early pitch to buy the club.
Ryan explains: “It is about putting Wrexham on the world stage. It is an underdog story, and that is a story I love.” Later, he paces his New York mansion, waiting to hear if their bid has been successful.
He says: “I don’t care if you’re a movie star or you’re driving a forklift, when you’re in a situation when you’re seeking approval from other people, your brain is going, ‘They’re going to say no’. Impostor syndrome is in full effect.”
After getting the nod, the lads swiftly become swept up in the day-to-day running of the club.
The series follows their ambitious signing of Paul Mullin, who was the 2020–21 EFL League Two top scorer with Cambridge United. And it covers Rob’s vigorous and ultimately successful bid to get Phil Parkinson — who transformed Bradford FC — as Wrexham’s star manager.
But there have been low points. The documentary also sees the Hollywood duo having to cut some players from the team.
Ryan, dad to Inez, Betty and James, says: “A lot of these players are playing for their lives.
“They don’t have these Premier League contracts to fall back on where they can retire tomorrow.”
And when Wrexham fail to make the play-offs for promotion in the 2020/2021 season, the stark reality of owning a football club hits.
I don’t care if you’re a movie star or you’re driving a forklift, when you’re in a situation when you’re seeking approval from other people, your brain is going, ‘They’re going to say no’. Impostor syndrome is in full effect.
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan says to Rob: “I hate this. But we’re gonna have to rebuild.”
A less optimistic Rob asks: “There’s so much riding on a team’s promotion or relegation. If we don’t win, what are we going to do?”
FINANCIALLY IDIOTIC
Ryan insists: “Or goal is to get the f*** out of this league, that’s it. If you don’t get promoted, this is our fault.”
Despite the pressure, it’s clear the gamble has paid off. In a moment of self-reflection, Ryan says: “I’ve only been owner of a football club for a short time.
“But so far I’ve found it to be very time-consuming, emotionally exhausting, financially idiotic and utterly addictive.”
Yesterday Ryan shared an update on Radio 4’s Today programme.
He said: “I’m obsessed with Wrexham now. I will admit that at the beginning I wasn’t sceptical, but I wasn’t hooked in the way I am now.
“Part of me wishes I hadn’t found football, I feel it’s legal poison. My joy lives and dies on the Saturdays when the club is playing.
“I try not to get totally wrapped up in it, but I do feel it chews my organs and spits them out each week, win or lose.
“It’s a hell of a ride.”
And while Ryan’s actress wife Blake Lively doesn’t feature in the documentary, he says she is just as enthralled with the rollercoaster.
He adds: “We all went to the FA trophy match with David Beckham and it was wild to watch it through his eyes. It was interesting to hear his analysis. Blake is obsessed with it now as well. After the match we were lying in bed and she said, ‘I get it’.”
In a sign of its confidence in the documentary, Disney+ has already given the go-ahead for a second series of Welcome To Wrexham, before the first has even begun.
So how long will Ryan and Rob’s saga run?
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Ryan says: “I am in it as long as I can be meaningful. Hopefully one day when they are in the Championship or Premier League.”
- Welcome To Wrexham is on Disney+ each Thursday, starting this week.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
