Wrexham are on a wild ride under Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds with another promotion the target for Phil Parkinson.
Wrexham had been languishing in the National League for far too long before Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds swooped in.
McElhenney and Reynolds bought Wrexham back in 2021 and have changed the club’s fortunes to an incredible degree.
Wrexham have won two promotions in a row, rapidly rising from the National League to League One under Phil Parkinson.
Now sitting second, Wrexham beat Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 over the weekend to move another step closer to the Championship.
McElhenney fancies another promotion and Wrexham are in a great position with just nine games to play.
Kaitlin Olson on Rob McElhenney’s Wrexham pitch
The Hollywood story may not be to everybody’s taste but their decision-making has been exemplary for the most part so far.
McElhenney and Reynolds have not only taken the team forward but also brought more eyes on Wrexham as a community thanks to the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ series.
McElhenney’s wife and ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ co-star Kaitlin Olson has now commented on the takeover back in 2021.
Speaking on Lorraine, Olson noted that the people of Wrexham are just ‘wonderful’ and she has fallen in love with everything round Wrexham.
Olson added that McElhenney’s pitch was to buy Wrexham and use money from the documentary series to help fund the club, something Reynolds considered to be a ‘great idea’.
Olson is hoping to witness another promotion this season too with Wrexham tantalisingly close to the Championship.
“We love it over there so much, it’s just so much fun and we’ve really fallen in love, obviously with the football club but with the town as well,” said Olson.
“The people are so wonderful and we go over as often as possible.
“I mean, honestly, I thought it was amazing, because this was during Covid and, if you know my husband, you know, we were all on lockdown and we couldn’t work or do anything… you tell Rob he can’t do something, he’s like, ‘Yes I can’, so he just needed to come up with an idea of something that he could do.
“And he said ‘I have this idea if I buy a football club and I take it to FX and then we make a television show out of it, the money that we get paid for the show, we could just put into the club, and it’s a win-win. And then he brought it up with Ryan, and he thought it was a great idea.
“It’s amazing, I mean, they’ve been promoted twice and fingers crossed it happens again this year,” he added.
Shaun Harvey on Welcome to Wrexham
McElhenney’s initial idea sounds great but it seemingly isn’t actually happening.
Minutes from a Club Advisory Board Meeting in April 2024 show that questions were asked about just how much Wrexham receive for each episode of the documentary.
Director Shaun Harvey confirmed that the club receives nothing directly from the series, but it serves as a platform to increase exposure and potential sponsorship deals.
‘SH confirmed the Club does not gain any direct financial benefit from the series. What the Club does receive is a marketing platform to increase the value of all our sponsorship investors and greater exposure of the Club which is driving retail sales,’ they wrote.
Wrexham have certainly generated interest from all over the world off the back of this series with fans flocking to the STōK Cae Ras.
The original plan may have changed a little, but Wrexham are still thriving with McElhenney and Reynolds hoping to celebrate another promotion very soon.