Ryan Reynolds shares his 'mission' for Wrexham
He could have been at the Met Gala in New York, as befits a Hollywood star of his status, but instead Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney were riding high on an open-top double decker bus celebrating their club’s record-breaking season.
At $50,000 (£40,000) per ticket, the Met Gala may have been a good night out, but nothing was going to top Wrexham’s historic return to the Football League after a 15-year lapse.
It seemed as though the whole of the newly appointed city had come out to support the players and owners as they wound their way through the heart of Wrexham along a 3.5-mile route to and from The Racecourse ground.
Reynolds' wife, Blake Lively, was not on board the bus. Her own absence from the Met Gala had been a talking point, with some speculation that she might have joined her husband in the UK instead. However, she posted a picture on Instagram showing her using a breast pump and confirmed that she skipped the Met Gala for childcare reasons, not because a Welsh football team got promoted.
With both the men’s and women’s teams present, Reynolds said that the parade did not mean it was a case of "job done" for the Hollywood A-listers.
“Ultimately, like any business you want it to self-perpetuate and continue growing. You don’t want to lose money but I don’t think either of us are in this to make money either. So it’s just about growing the best possible club and finding value in any place we can, whether that’s financial or emotional: sometimes that’s indistinguishable.”
Where do they plan for that growth to take them? The Premier League is “100 per cent” possible, Reynolds insisted. “Of course our goal is to get to the Premier League – why wouldn’t it be, if we can do that? Whether it takes five years, whether it takes 20 years, that’s the goal, that’s the mission.”
The crowds were so big the three buses were also an hour late returning to their home venue. Among the throng were Becki and Sonny Hendricks from Yorktown, Virginia, who came over from the United States specifically to watch the parade.
They initially travelled to the UK after watching the Welcome to Wrexham show on Netflix and watched the Notts County game. They made friends here and as soon as Wrexham secured promotion, they bought their tickets for a second trip to join in the celebrations.
“We love it here. We got our picture with [manager] Phil Parkinson, so that was kind of cool,” Mrs Hendricks said. Her husband added: “We wanted to celebrate with the awesome people of Wrexham.”
There were cheers all round for "Super Paul Mullin", who scored an amazing 47 goals during the season, the majority in the league, as the Red Dragons reached 111 points to pip Notts County to the title.
But the biggest cheers as the players and officials got onto the buses were saved for the owners.
An initial £2 million investment from Reynolds and McElhenney looked to have gone sour last season when Wrexham fell at the final hurdle twice at Wembley and were forced to play out another season in the non-League.
But there was no stopping them this time. Mullin’s goals, and that one great penalty save from former England goalkeeper Ben Foster in the crucial title decider against Notts County, sealed the deal.
Whenever Reynolds was asked, "Why Wrexham?" he has always responded by saying, "Because of this". The reaction from the fans said it all.
They were even more delighted at the news doing the rounds that Reynolds is allegedly poised to buy a £1.5 million mansion on the outskirts of the city.
