Wrexham AFC’s club owners have been Hollywood duo Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds since February 2021. The pair took control of the Red Dragons from their Supporters Trust.
Reynolds and McElhenney’s term as the owners of Wrexham AFC has also already seen the Racecourse Ground natives return to the English Football League in 2023. With manager Phil Parkinson, the club won the National League title to end their 15-year absence from the EFL.
Wrexham AFC’s Supporters Trust agreed to make McElhenney and Reynolds their owners via the pair’s joint-venture, the RR McReynolds Company. But the Red Dragons later announced in August 2023 that the shareholding in the club was now transferred to Wrexham Holdings.
The RR McReynolds Company, of which McElhenney and Reynolds are the 100% co-owners, owns Wrexham Holdings. It is a limited liability company that the Hollywood actors created. Reynolds has also trademarked Wrexham AFC’s name in the UK and USA since the takeover.
When did McElhenney and Reynolds become the owners of Wrexham AFC?
The Wrexham Supporters Trust unanimously voted to sell their team and make McElhenney and Reynolds the owners in November 2020. The actors received a staggering 98.6% of the votes cast. But the pair had to wait until February 2021 to finalise their takeover worth £2m.
Wrexham AFC had been owned by their Supporters Trust since 2011 after members grouped together to save their club. The Red Dragons had fallen on tough times once again and faced being kicked out of the league. But fans rallied to raise £100k over seven club-saving hours.
The Football Conference had issued Wrexham AFC’s previous owners an ultimatum to give a £250k bond to secure their future. It also rejected the club’s owners’ offer of £150k, causing supporters to create an SOS appeal on an online fans’ forum that would rescue their team.
Fans young and old descended on the Racecourse Ground in their droves to keep their club afloat. Now, Hollywood duo McElhenney and Reynolds are the owners of Wrexham AFC. The pair also aim to see the Red Dragons reach the Premier League, even if it takes 20 seasons.
Reynolds and McElhenney explored becoming the owners of Wrexham AFC when Humphrey Ker, a friend of McElhenney, suggested they buy the club. The pair had sent the British actor to identify a potential British club to purchase after deciding to invest in a UK football team.
The actors gave Ker strict criteria to work with such as the club’s facilities, fanbase, finance, history and narrative. He scored Wrexham AFC 38 out of 50 as the club had also hit financial problems in 2004. The Football League gave the Red Dragons its first-ever points deduction.
What have Wrexham AFC won since McElhenney and Reynolds become the owners?
McElhenney and Reynolds came close to seeing the first piece of silverware of their tenure as owners enter Wrexham AFC’s trophy history in May 2022. But Bromley would beat the Red Dragons 1-0 in the FA Trophy final at Wembley with Michael Cheek’s 64th-minute goal.
Wrexham AFC also came close to marking Reynolds and McElhenney’s time as their owners with promotion after one full season. They finished second to Stockport County by six points for the 2021/22 National League title. Grimsby Town then won 5-4 in the play-off semi-final.
But Parkinson remained their manager and would guide Wrexham AFC over the promotion hurdle in 2022/23. He led the club to the non-league title and their return to the EFL after 15 years in the wilderness. Wrexham AFC finished first by four points with 111 from 46 fixtures.
What other sports franchises do McElhenney and Reynolds own?
Along with being the owners of Wrexham AFC, McElhenny and Reynolds are shareholders in the Formula One team, Alpine. The Hollywood pair invested £172m in the Enstone-based outfit in June 2023 beside Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners for a 24% share.
The collective further features fellow Hollywood actor, Michael B Jordan, and its investment valued Alpine at around €900m (£774m). While McElhenny and Reynolds’ involvement in it comes through Maximum Effort Investments, one of the companies that Reynolds oversees.
Reynolds has a number of business interests outside of his acting career and being an owner of Wrexham AFC. Among his other recent ventures includes the Deadpool star also investing in a Canadian financial start-up, Wealthsimple, in March 2021 and Fubo TV in August 2022.
The Canadian-American actor also launched the production company, Maximum Effort, back in January 2018. While he also invested in Aviation American Gin in February 2018 and Mint Mobile in November 2019. Diageo later acquired Aviation American Gin for £490m.
McElhenney, meanwhile, was also among the consortium that launched the entertainment-tech company, Adim, in June 2022. He joined forces with Melissa Kaspers, Spencer Marell, Chase Rosenblatt and Richard Rosenblatt to create a company that mentors its members.
How much is Rob McElhenney worth? What is Ryan Reynolds’ net worth?
According to Forbes, Ryan Reynolds had a net worth of $71.5m (£57.5m) as of April 2020 in its most recent estimations. It listed the actor in 18th place in its Celebrity 100 list for 2020, too. But Celebrity Net Worth recently listed Reynolds’ at $350m (£281m) as of May 2023.
Additionally, Celebrity Net Worth listed fellow Wrexham AFC club owner Rob McElhenney’s at $50m (£40m) as of May 2023. Forbes does not claim a value for McElhenney’s net worth.