Ryan Reynolds was spotted handing Gary Lineker and the BBC pundits a Wrexham shirt before the non-league team kicked off in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The Deadpool and Detective Pikachu star serves as co-chairman of the non-league side after mounting a successful takeover bid with fellow actor Rob McElhenney. He has taken an active role in team affairs, and it was no surprise to see him at the Racecourse Ground for the fourth-round game against Sheffield United.
Reynolds joined Lineker and his fellow pundits in the studio before kick-off, leaving the pundits in stitches with his comments about the gulf in league position between the two sides. There was also a gift for Lineker and co, with the 46-year-old presenting them with the in-demand red home shirt.
In the lead-up to the game, Reynolds had spoken to Wrexham CEO Shaun Harvey on the Rob, Ryan, Red podcast, where it was revealed more than 24,000 replica shirts had been sold this season alone. “Next season, we're going to order a lot more shirts. We're looking at ordering 35,000 shirts next season across three kits," Harvey said.
“I’m still no wiser now to this day if that's the right number. We'll do better because there will be more shirts earlier. We can top up that order again when the first lot of orders come in.”
Reynolds repeated the number on the BBC's coverage, explaining how hard the shirts have become to get hold of. "In Canada where I am from people are obsessed with this club," he said.
"It's been pretty remarkable. We've sold something like 24,000 jerseys and so many of them went to North America. We can't get them anymore. I can't get one."
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Ahead of the game, Reynolds told the BBC panel he was nervous going into the game, with Sheffield United flying high three divisions above their opponents. Oli McBurnie fired the Championship side into an early lead, but the hosts kept it at 1-0 until half-time - despite losing defenders Jordan Tunnicliffe and Aaron Hayden to injury - and equalised early in the second half through James Jones.
A Tom O'Connor effort had Wrexham dreaming of the last 16, but their lead was short-lived as Ollie Norwood fired home in the 65th minute to bring the Championship side back level. Paul Mullin put the underdogs back in front five minutes from time after Daniel Jebbison was sent off for the visitors following an off-the-ball incident, and the hosts were on the verge of a huge victory only for John Egan to level things up in stoppage time.
"In 10 years’ time the plan has and always will be the Premier League," Reynolds said before kick-off. "If it’s theoretically possible to go from the fifth tier to the Premier League, why wouldn’t we try?
"Nobody has ever done anything great in this world thinking: ‘You know what, let’s go halfway’, so let’s go all the way and we believe we can do that. Call us crazy, but that's what we want to do."
