When Hollywood movie star Ryan Reynolds and Always Sunny comedy series star Rob McElhenney took over an extremely small and obscure British football team, it was met with a lot of understandable confusion. Was it a tax right-off? A vanity project? However, the team and their supporters have been impressed with the commitment and involvement that the two Hollywood outsiders (who barely knew the rules of the game) have brought to the table.
As revealed in the Welcome to Wrexham Disney Plus series, the club’s fortunes have been turned around by the investment and the attention that Reynolds and McElhenney have brought to the small Welsh city with a population of around 60,000. Wrexham AFC is now doing so well, they could be promoted and goalkeeper Ben Foster told CBS Sports that the players have been promised a big party if that comes to pass.
“They promised us a big day out. They promised us a monster one. If we get promoted, they promised us somewhere with a lot of fashion life.” Could they be going from AFC Wrexham to AC Milan? It could be the kind of fairytale ending worthy of the best sports movie.
Foster praised Deadpool star Reynolds and McElhenney for how they’ve transformed the club; “With the new owners coming in, Rob and Ryan, they’ve done it professionally. They’ve built everything up. If you’ve watched the documentary, little things like, when they first walked in and saw the gym, it was a shambles. There was basically a medicine ball on the floor and that’s about it. Now, it’s a fully-functioning professional gym. The lads are in there everyday giving everything they’ve got.”
Foster concluded; “It’s so cool and it’s so weird. They’re there quite a lot. Rob is based over here for the next month or two weeks. He’s in there every day with the lads. Ryan makes it to about one in every three games. But, they’re always there in the text messages, the WhatsApp with a; ‘Well done today, we needed that. Fantastic performance.’ That’s the cool bit.” It’s good that Reynolds makes the time while also preparing for Deadpool 3, Red Notice 2 and more action movie sequels.
While we wait for Welcome to Wrexham season 2, check out our guide to the best Netflix documentaries.