Ryan Reynolds will be feeling the pain of the Wrexham fanbase once again this week.
It’s fair to say that the Red Dragons have endured a pretty mixed 2025 so far.
Wrexham did beat Mansfield Town 2-1 in their last League One fixture, keeping pace with Wycombe Wanderers in the battle for second place.
Prior to that, however, Phil Parkinson set an unwanted record when he oversaw back-to-back defeats at the Racecourse Ground for the first time since he became manager in 2021.
More recently, Wrexham lost to Peterborough United in the semi-final of the EFL Trophy on Tuesday evening.
The Welsh side took a 2-0 lead thanks to Modou Faal and George Dobson before Peterborough brought it back to 2-2 and then won the ensuing shoot-out 4-2 after misses from Paul Mullin and Elliot Lee.
Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds was left crushed by Wrexham Wembley heartbreak
After going 2-0 up against The Posh, fans could be heard chanting ‘we are going to Wembley’.
This, of course, is no longer happening and it will instead be Darren Ferguson’s side looking to slay Birmingham City in the competition’s showpiece come April.
To blow a chance to play at Wembley was heartbreaking and is sure to tug at the heartstrings of Ryan Reynolds, who was left upset following a previous defeat back in 2022.
Wrexham made it to the FA Trophy final that year, meeting Bromley at Wembley. The Red Dragons fell to a 1-0 defeat and following the game, as captured on the ‘Welcome to Wrexham‘ documentary series in season one, episode 11, Reynolds made an upsetting admission.
He said: “When you see elementary school students singing songs about going to Wembley and seeing how much is riding on this.
“I mean, people travelling all the way down to London to see this match. I’m bummed for the community. And I take that super seriously.
“So that’s the thing that hurts the most. But, you know, I can handle the loss just objectively, no problem.
“It’s the community that I sort of feel the weight of.”
Phil Parkinson comments on Wrexham Wembley dream ending
Much like Reynolds in 2022, Parkinson was left frustrated when his side wasted a great chance to enjoy success at Wembley.
He said post-Peterborough: “We’ve thrown away a chance to go to Wembley tonight as far as I’m concerned.”
He added: “We’ve got to take the lessons from tonight and know that when you’re leading in a game, you’ve got to make sure you concentrate and that we’re diligent in all areas of our play.
“We’ve got to show a ruthlessness in our game to go and score the next goal or certainly make sure you don’t concede because we gave a team who were really out on their feet a lifeline.”
Should Wrexham get promoted from League One this season, it may be some time before they get another opportunity to line out at Wembley, given that clubs in the Championship do not compete in the EFL Trophy, and it’s very unlikely they will reach the FA Cup and Carabao Cup final.