Wrexham have been on a wild ride in recent years and it isn’t just because of Hollywood duo Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.
McElhenney and Reynolds have been a driving force behind Wrexham’s rise and their arrival has completely changed the trajectory of the club.
The two have not only delivered a welcome boost to the club but also Wrexham as a whole.
Back-to-back promotions will now see Wrexham playing League One football for the first time in nearly 20 years.
McElhenney and Reynolds have been the driving force but we must also offer up praise to the man who set the wheels in motion – Humphrey Ker.
Ker’s connection to McElhenney comes through his marriage to Megan Ganz, who is a writer and executive producer on ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’.
Ker has featured in an episode of the show and was key to McElhenney and Reynolds buying Wrexham in the first place having told McElhenney to watch the ‘Sunderland ’Til I Die’ series.
McElhenney was inspired and wanted to buy a football club, sending Ker away to identify clubs to buy.
Ker picked out Wrexham, just ahead of Hartlepool United, and the rest is history with Wrexham now on a quite remarkable journey up the leagues.
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Humphrey Ker on Wrexham future
Ker – who now serves as an executive director at Wrexham – deserves so much praise too and he has now opened up on the difficulties around taking on such a key role at Wrexham.
Speaking to The Independent, Ker admits that being away from his wife and dog has been difficult, spending periods of time away from his home in Los Angeles.
Ker accepts that his duties with Wrexham have ‘taken a toll’ on him despite giving him some of the best moments of his life so far.
Ker does sometimes wonder just why he is in this position when he could have a much easier life, accepting that he won’t be in this role forever.
“I miss my wife and dog so much. Like crazy,” said Ker. “I don’t know that my involvement with Wrexham will last forever, so I need something to keep me going once that’s gone. I’m enjoying leading this strange double life but it has taken a toll on me.”
“It’s wonderful. And it’s given me some of the best moments of my life. But it’s also very difficult and stressful at times. And frustrating and infuriating, and I’ll have these instances where I’m on the other side of the globe from the woman and the dog I love most in the world, and I’ll have had a dispiriting exchange where I’ve just been left like, ‘Why are you doing this? Why aren’t you just at home?” he added.
Ker would be a big miss if and when he does leave Wrexham; he was key to the takeover happening in the first place and has been a popular figure throughout this rise.
It’s sometimes easy to forget that Ker has a career away from Wrexham having been a successful actor and comedian before his involvement at the STōK Cae Ras.
Few could really blame Ker for heading back to the States and focusing on that side his life again after a stressful few years at Wrexham.
This is a timely reminder that McElhenney, Reynolds and Ker should be appreciated whilst they are still at the club.
This era won’t last forever and whilst Wrexham are creating memories to last a lifetime, football is an intense and testing industry.
Ker will hopefully stick around for a while yet and Wrexham fans will certainly want to appreciate him and his work having admitted the stressful nature of his job.