A Wrexham super fan recorded her reaction to the promotion-sealing game with her 87-year-old grandad, and Ryan Reynolds has been moved by the truly heartwarming moment.
Wrexham secured their return to the Football League with victory over Boreham Wood on Saturday night. Co-owners Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were in the stands alongside Hollywood star Paul Rudd to watch an historic night unfold.
Emma Roberts and her family are season ticket holders at Wrexham. She has been supporting the team for 30 years, and her grandad Tony has been doing so since 1946. He claims to have been to every home game since.
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Emma explained she hasn't slept properly for four days, with the anxiety around promotion and whether it was going to happen coupled with the sheer ecstasy after winning the match.
A video of Emma and Tony has gone viral on social media, picking up over 390,000 views and prompting a reaction from Reynolds himself, who commented by simply saying: "Says it all (heart emojis)".
Emma said that even at 3-1 with 15 minutes to go, her anxiety was through the roof. She filmed herself and her grandfather in the final moments as history was about to be made, struggling to find any words as the emotion became too much.
She said: "You want to believe, but you don't because you've been there before. You know things can happen in just a split second. The anxious wait when we've got it but we haven't yet because the whistle hasn't gone. The emotion, I didn't know whether to cry or just be so happy. All the emotions came into one. As soon as they blew that whistle, I just didn't know what to do with myself," she said.
Tony always used to take granddaughter Emma with him to the matches when she was little, because she always wanted to go with him. They now go as a group; Emma, grandad Tony, brother Andrew, partner Eric and son Kai (who now goes with his mates instead, as "he's too embarrassed" to sit with the family now!).
Emma and Tony have a "brilliant relationship". He was the first person who came to see her when she was born and the first person to speak Welsh to her.
"He will never let me forget it, but he bought a pint on Boxing Day and he couldn't drink it because he had to come and see me in the hospital," she said.
"I've always thought of him as a father figure, he's always been there in my life. We lost my nan a couple of years ago, they were like my second Mum and Dad. Anything I ever wanted, even when I had children, they were there. They would do anything for anybody, that's the kind of people they are.
Tony's last away game was at Wembley last year when Wrexham got to the final of the FA Trophy, but he now just goes to the home matches due to his age. Back in his younger days, he was the only football-mad member of the family, and went on to captain his under 15 team, play for Wrexham Schoolboys and Brymbo Steelworks 1st team, before joining the army, aged 18.
Tony shared a lovely moment with a younger fan sat in front of him at the full-time whistle. The 87-year-old revealed: "When the final whistle blew, he was that emotional, he put his hands around my face and said: 'This victory is for you, because you've kept this club going all these years. You used to pay an extra 20 quid as a service charge to give the club money to carry on'," said Tony.
"I try to compare teams but nowadays they play on snooker tables," the colourful pensioner added. "When I played there was hardly any grass on the bloody pitch! The ball had a lace in it, it was leather and it was heavier. I used to play on the outside left for Brymbo Steel, so when I was taking a corner, in the first half I'd whack it smack into the penalty area, in the second half I couldn't get it there!
"It is lovely to see it all happening today. All these children enjoying themselves, wonderful it is. I'm trying to stay alive."
Emma says Reynolds and McElhenney have been transformative since stepping in.
"This team, since Ryan and Rob have taken over, it needed a new injection into the club. When they took over it just transformed the club, the community. What they said they were going to do, they've done."
Emma said that she spent some time in the Wrexham Lager Club establishment on promotion day, where the Welcome to Wrexham documentary was filming for its forthcoming second season.
"They were following the American people," she added. "A lot didn't even have tickets, they just came over because they wanted to experience the atmosphere of the club.
"It's been, well, it has been on everything. From day time telly to news, everything. It has just been fantastic to show Wrexham back in a good light again.
"It's brought a lot of people to the town, to the economy. After the whistle when everyone was on the pitch celebrating with the players, it was just fantastic to see. To get back in that league, it's just brilliant."
Read next:
- Celebrate Wrexham's promotion back to the Football League with our 48-page special edition
- Wrexham superfan Bootlegger parties with topless players as brilliant pub celebration footage emerges
- Paul Rudd filmed the moment Ryan Reynolds 'blacked out' amid tears from Rob McElhenney as Wrexham promoted
- I spent the night at the Turf pub as Wrexham won the league and it was awesome as fans partied away
