Wrexham have enjoyed much success under Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds but another club has been similarly prolific.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds purchased Wrexham for £2m back in February 2021.
The Red Dragons were stuck in the National League for a total of 15 years but eventually ended their exile in 2022/23, winning the fifth tier with 111 points.
Wrexham made history this past season when they secured a third straight promotion, taking them from League One to the Championship.
Reynolds and McElhenney are now looking to sell a stake in the club, which they have completely transformed in the last four years.
But another side looked at by the North American duo have also fared very well over the same period.
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How Shamrock Rovers have fared since Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds interest
Humphrey Ker has revealed previously that McElhenney was interested in Shamrock Rovers.
He said earlier in 2025: “I don’t think I’ve ever brought this up before, initially, he wanted to do it in Ireland or Scotland, because he’s from Ireland, so he was like ‘what about Shamrock Rovers?’
“I was like, look… the League of Ireland has great clubs, historic clubs, it would be brilliant in many ways, but it would be like throwing a brick into a pond – if you put your time and energy and resources into a League of Ireland club, you win the League.”
While the Irish outfit did not get the benefit of two Hollywood megastars arriving at their club, they have fared pretty well since the Wrexham takeover.
They won the Ireland Premier Division in the same year Wrexham were bought by Rob and Ryan.
Shamrock went on to retain their crown in 2022 and 2023 but finished second in the Irish top flight in 2024 behind Shelbourne.
The 2025 season, which is still ongoing in Ireland, currently sees Shamrock sitting top of the division with 39 points from 20 games – six above second having played a game more.
Other clubs Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds looked at before Wrexham
The other sides the North American pair considered before settling on Wrexham were also shared by Ker, who said: “We looked at Aldershot because they are alphabetically the first team in the National League.
“I told him about the National League, and he was like ‘what is this Aldershot?’, and so I was like ‘we’ll look into Aldershot’.
“We looked at Hartlepool, I think lots of people know that, Carlisle United.
“Scotland is interesting, you could start with like an Arbroath or Queen of the South, down near the bottom and then build them up, but you will always have this thing where you probably get them into the Premiership, but you’re going to run into Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and then, obviously, Celtic and Rangers, we’ll get hammered every time we play them, we might beat other people, it’s going to be a bit strange.”
Hartlepool have experienced turmoil in the last couple of years after Rob and Ryan opted not to buy them.
Meanwhile, former Wrexham player Aaron Hayden was relegated from League Two with Carlisle United in 2024/25.