Wrexham have been on an incredible journey in the last few years but some players haven’t been on the full Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds experience.
Wrexham were essentially going nowhere in the National League.
Relegation from League Two in 2008 saw Wrexham spend far, far too long in non-league.
A fourth-placed finish in 2019 was about as good as it got before Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds came in to put the club on an entirely different path in the 2020-21 season.
Wrexham have become the ‘Hollywood club’ in recent years, picking up fans from all over the world thanks to the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ series.
We can’t pretend that everything around Wrexham is suddenly perfect and there remain some off-field issues, but Wrexham are just over a week away from starting a League One campaign.
Few Wrexham fans could have predicted that just a few years ago.
Shaun Pearson on Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds
The Wrexham squad looks completely different from the one McElhenney and Reynolds saw upon arrival.
The departures of Rob Lainton and Luke Young this summer means that Max Cleworth, Jordan Davies and Jake Bickerstaff are the only remaining members of the Wrexham squad from the arrival of McElhenney and Reynolds.
To go on this incredible journey, Wrexham have allowed many players to move on and seek experiences elsewhere.
Shaun Pearson is a perfect example; a defender who joined the club back in 2017 from Grimsby Town.
Pearson was a fan favourite at Grimsby and built up a similar reputation at Wrexham with more than 100 appearances for the club.
Pearson left Wrexham in 2021, departing in the first summer window of the McElhenney and Reynolds era.
The defender returned to Grimsby Town and, after a loan spell with Boston United, retired in 2023.
Ryan Reynolds shared his love for Pearson upon leaving the club, branding him as ‘one of the best’.
Now part of Grimsby’s coaching staff, Pearson is looking to match Wrexham’s achievement in terms of winning promotion to League One.
Pearson has now spoken to Sky Sports about Wrexham and has moved to praise both McElhenney and Reynolds.
The Grimsby man admitted that he couldn’t priase the duo any more, praising both as ‘really good people’.
Pearson noted that he was open to being filmed whenever for ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, but so much footage didn’t actually make the final cut.
Pearson added that his time at Wrexham was ‘wonderful’ and hopes the club goes to the ‘very top’ in this exciting era.
“I could not speak more highly of them,” said Pearson. “What you see is what you get. I don’t think it’s a charade. They are really good people.”
“I was one of the people who was right behind it from the start. They would film us walking the kids to school, days out with the family. When I was on an overnight trip, they would go and film with my family. They weren’t pushy, but we were open to that.”
“They never actually used much of the stuff from the first year for the series in the end. The guy who produced it sent me a message apologising for the amount of our time they had taken up. It was fine. I would have been more nervous if it had been used!”
“But I had a wonderful time there. My little boy was born in Wrexham. The one thing I like to think that I have done is immerse myself in the community at both of my full-time clubs. I think supporters appreciated that. I hope they end up getting to the very top,” he added.
Wrexham fans were left heartbroken by Grimsby just two years ago with John McAtee – now a Wrexham transfer target – frustrating McElhenney.
No longer rivals in the same division, Wrexham fans may just hope for the Mariners to have a successful season with Pearson so strongly involved.