Wrexham have become known as a ‘Hollywood club’ in recent years, something few supporters could have expected to happen.
After relegation from League Two back in 2008, Wrexham had been stuck in the National League.
There had been a couple of flirtations with promotion but Wrexham weren’t particularly going anywhere for more than a decade.
In came Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds as the Hollywood duo completed a shock takeover back in 2021.
Wrexham’s rise since then has been truly incredible and Phil Parkinson has masterminded back-to-back promotions from the National League to League One.
The dream at the STōK Cae Ras is for Wrexham to end up in the Premier League with Reynolds admitting that he wants to go for broke in a push for another promotion.
Wrexham will need big signings this summer and that will require more backing from McElhenney and Reynolds.
Rob McElhenney on Gareth Bale to Wrexham
Wrexham have mostly focused on signing experienced EFL performers since that high-profile takeover.
Yes, those players have been paid decent wages to make the move to Wrexham, but there have been no absolute headline, marquee additions to grab headlines.
The closest to that is probably Ben Foster, who came out of retirement to turn out for Wrexham in 2023.
McElhenney now seemingly wants a similar signing – and is back to talking about Gareth Bale once again.
The Welsh superstar retired in January 2023, hanging up his boots after a brief spell in Major League Soccer with LAFC.
The suggestion of Bale – Wales’ highest-scoring and most-capped player in history – coming out of retirement to play for Wrexham has been made repeatedly.
McElhenney has now told The Athletic that the ‘offer is still on the table’ for Bale if he fancies putting on his boots again.
McElhenney would love to see Bale in action for Wrexham and even suggested allowing Bale to go and play golf whenever he fancies.
The Wrexham co-chairman would just want Bale to give his all in training and make himself available for action, suggesting that Phil Parkinson and co would figure out just how he would feature in the side.
“Gareth Bale is still technically available! I made the plea last year and I’m just going to tell Gareth that the offer is still on the table,” said McElhenney. “We’ll let him play golf whenever he wants. Just as long he comes training and we’ll figure out how to get him in the team,” he added.
Bale return unlikely
McElhenney is talking up a move for Bale but probably knows himself that a deal is unlikely.
Bale has been out of the game for 18 months now and has shown no real desire to get involved again.
The 34-year-old was on punditry duty at the Champions League final last weekend, turning up to watch his former side Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0.
Punditry duties work well for Bale, who is able to play as much golf as he likes whilst still maintaining a profile in football.
Foster quickly realised that he wasn’t up to his previous levels and retired again just weeks into the 2023-24 season.
Bale’s highs were even higher than Foster’s but may find himself in a similar position in terms of just knowing that he can’t do himself justice anymore.
We wouldn’t anticipate Bale signing for Wrexham any time soon, even with McElhenney once again putting the call out to him.