Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney see reality but will chase Premier League dream

It's your average Tuesday night non-league match.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney experience reality check amid Premier League dream

Bovril flowing, extra layers on and a battle between two mid-table National League teams minutes away.

But Maidenhead United's clash with Welsh side Wrexham AFC had a twist, one of Hollywood proportions.

The unexpected story came when actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney stepped foot into York Road to watch their first match as co-owners of the visiting side, having sensationally taken over at the Racecourse Ground in February.

It was over the next 90 minutes that they'd witness the narrative unfold, as their Red Dragons were slayed 3-2.

The result leaves Phil Parkinson's men six points adrift of the play-off places, but their season won't be short of twists and turns - just like their story under Reynolds and McElhenney.

Reynolds and Elhenney watched their first Wrexham match on Tuesday ( Image:

@RMcElhenney Twitter)

Fast forward 36 hours and Reynolds, enthused by his first football match, was thinking big.

"We'd be lying if the dream wasn't Premier League," he declared, facing press back at the Racecourse Ground for the first time.

Reynolds knew it would generate headlines given Wrexham's current spot in the fifth tier. But buoyed by English football's system of promotion and relegation - something unusual to a pair of American sports fans - they're ready to invest to progress.

"No one has gone from our league all the way up to the Premier League but some clubs have gone from the National League to the Championship," McElhenney said.

"So we're obviously going to try and go above that - maybe this is just my own naivety.

"[But] we clearly have the structure and system potentially to allow us to grow at that scale. Why not dream big?"

Owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at a press conference at the Racecourse Ground ( Image:

Hadyn Iball / North Wales Live)

In September 2020, a year when hardly anything was able to surprise us given the context of the global pandemic, Wrexham director Spencer Harris revealed to supporters that there'd been an approach for a potential takeover, despite them not being up for sale.

The club, founded in 1864, had been fan-owned since 2011, so Harris informed his fellow supporters and board members.

Over 95% vote that the hierarchy should sit down and discuss what Reynolds - who portrays wise-cracking, R-rated Marvel comics character Deadpool - and McElhenney - creator of the acclaimed 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - had to say.

Fast forward five months and the duo had invested £2million into the club, outlining their aims to make Wrexham a "global force" and even releasing a spoof advert for trailer company Ifor Williams - who make real trailers, not the ones for films.

At the time, the Red Dragons were chasing success via the play-offs but eventually missed out by one point and one place thanks to drawing on the final day.

The Racecourse Ground is one of British football's most famous stadiums

So, it was full stream ahead for 2021-22 and the North Wales club - to no one's surprise - splashed the cash in the summer transfer market.

Not only were they able to lure Carlisle United captain Aaron Hayden from the division above for a reported £150,000 fee, they also signed League Two's top goalscorer from the past term, Paul Mullin, even after he fired Cambridge to promotion with 32 strikes.

Add to that more seasoned English Football League journeymen Shaun Brisley and Ben Tozer, Wrexham were going for glory under Parkinson, who himself is established in the higher echelons of the pyramid.

Their expenditure has seen them branded 'Oil Money Xrexham' by rivals - at least on social media - and McElhenney has since responded in typical humorous fashion.

"Why not dream big?," he posed. "I read that 'Oil Money' was coming into Wrexham. I can confirm I have no stocks in oil."

Hayden and Mullin were two of League Two's standout players last season

But the fifth tier isn't easy, with fellow big spenders Stockport County recently sacking manager Simon Rusk due to poor results and other sleeping giants of the English game dwelling down there in the form of Notts County, Chesterfield and Grimsby Town.

Of course, those in Wales knew the task ahead of them after the 87-year stay in the Football League ended in 2008 and Wrexham have languished there since.

Two wins and three draws to start was relatively decent with their much-changed squad, but three losses in their first five games have hammered home that Reynolds and McElhenney could well be watching their team in the National League for a lot longer than possibly first anticipated.

Flying over from the United States off the back of a 3-0 win at Barnet - in which Hayden, Mullin and Brisley scored - the American pair would have been relishing seeing their side taken on Maidenhead, who'd just got over a eight-game winless streak.

Within 31 minutes at York Road, the Red Dragons were two goals down and had had summer signing Bryce Hosannah sent off - but hope was not lost.

A goal from Mullin, his seventh of the campaign, on the stroke of half-time made it 2-1 and midway through the second half, Jordan Davies struck to equalise.

However, Maidenhead regrouped and backed by the crowd, Josh Kelly's goal 13 minutes from time handed the hosts all three points but McElhenney described the spirit to come back as "inspiring."

"We didn't want our first win to be away anyway," he wrote on Twitter post-match.

"Congrats to @MUFCYorkRoad on a tough game. See you at Y Cae Ras [the Racecourse]."

That'll be when Torquay United come to town, with Wrexham bidding to get back to winning ways.

To mark the occasion, Thursday saw the owners lay out their ambitions and reveal how Tuesday's five-goal thriller was for them - on and off the pitch.

Can the Hollywood pair take Wrexham into the Premier League? ( Image:

Hadyn Iball / North Wales Live)

Will Wrexham make it to the Premier League within the next 15 years? Give us your verdict here.

"Normally, I'm only heckled in my own home," Reynolds laughed. "So this was sort of weird for me and weirdly thrilling.

"I loved watching the club out there, obviously for moment it was really exciting and it felt like they really showed their stuff, particularly in the second half.

"I just can't wait for Saturday, it's gonna be so exciting."

The star of recent hit film 'Free Guy' went on to make his grandiose declaration - but, smartly, was quick to temper raising expectations too much: "We'd be lying if the dream wasn't Premier League. It won't be overnight, that's impossible.

"Look, our goal is to get back in the [Football] League and continue our way upwards. The perfect ending for this season is promotion.

"We have a goal for the end of this club as well as this season and hopefully it's a story to be told for years to come."

If his Premier League dream does come true, it certainly will be.