Wrexham sealed promotion back to the Football League for the first time in 15 years with their 3-1 win over Boreham Wood on Saturday. Two spectacular goals from Paul Mullin after Elliot Lee’s equaliser sealed the win over the visitors and secured the National League title - the first trophy of the Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney era - with the celebrations only just beginning.
Since the takeover by the stars in February 2021, the club has received significant investment. The men’s playing squad has seen the likes of Mullin and Ollie Palmer make the step down from League One football for big money, while the Hollywood pair have supported the women's side’s journey to Tier 1 status and promotion to the top flight Genera Adran Premier. There are also plans to develop the Racecourse's Kop stand.
On the pitch, following the takeover, the Dragons have been knocking on the door of League Two football as well as nearly winning silverware. The club finished runners-up in the National League last season, before losing in the play-off semi-final to eventual winners Grimsby Town in a 5-4 defeat worthy of any Tinseltown script.
That season also saw them lose 1-0 to Bromley in a surprise defeat in the FA Trophy final at Wembley, in front of a raft of Reynolds’ and McElhenney's A-list pals which included David Beckham and Will Ferrell. The loss added to the drama of that season’s play-off heartache and meant that season one of FX’s ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ fly-on-the-wall documentary proved to be box-office viewing for the neutral.
With a league trophy and EFL football secured for next season, last year’s misery is firmly forgotten, and while the celebrations carried on into a second night on Sunday, many will be looking ahead to see how Deadpool-star Reynolds and It's Always Sunny’s McElhenney reward their squad, as well as any other plans for the city of Wrexham to pay homage to their stars’ achievements.
The hefty bonus Ryan Reynolds will pay Wrexham's players
It was recently revealed that Reynolds and McElhenney offered to reward their players with a six-figure bonus if the club were to gain promotion this season.
Executive director, and familiar face from ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Humphrey Ker told the club’s website shortly after the takeover that the celebrity pair had implemented a bonus scheme after reaching an agreement with then-captain Shaun Pearson.
The agreement meant that players would receive a bonus of £250,000 to share among themselves after promotion from the National League, something which they achieved on Saturday.
“Rob and Ryan wanted to recognise the players’ confidence that they can reach this season’s play-offs and provide an added financial incentive to achieve this,” Ker said.
“There was no obligation to address this, but it felt like the right thing to do in order to support the existing playing squad who are all playing for their futures at the club.”
Promotion doesn’t just mean a healthy windfall for the players either. Clubs in League Two receive a central payment from the EFL of around £1.1 million which covers their share of TV income/sponsorship and the annual Premier League solidarity payment.
This will be a seven-figure increase on what they currently receive in the National League while the club would also make more money if their matches are shown live on Sky Sports. It’s almost certain that Wrexham would be chosen for regular TV coverage throughout the season, due to the international interest in the side, and this comes with a £20,000 fee for the home side and a £10,000 fee for the away team.
In what division will Wrexham being playing in in five years' time? Vote below or click here
Imminent Vegas trip
After winning promotion and then receiving a hefty bonus, Wrexham players might be forgiven for feeling lucky. So the next logical step, one might think, would be to try that luck - in Las Vegas perhaps?
Speaking on CBS Sports show Morning Footy, Dragons keeper Ben Foster revealed that after the side’s epic 3-2 win over Notts County on Easter Monday, the players were not treated to a big celebration - but instead, co-owners Reynolds and McElhenney promised them a “monster” summer trip if the team achieved promotion.
“They’ve promised us a monster one at the end of the season. If we get promoted, they’re going to take us away somewhere with a lot of flashing lights,” Foster revealed.
Flashing lights, you say? Well, where better than the bright lights of the strip in the Nevada desert and hotbed for footballers’ end-of-season trips, Las Vegas. Foster himself even hinted at this being the location, when the Morning Footy pundit suggested “Vegas!” the former Watford keeper seemed to agree, with a beaming smile across his face.
Parade plans
Before any thoughts of roulette and blackjack tables, or beers by the pool, can cross the players’ minds, there’s the small matter of celebrating with the supporters, who Foster himself recognises got the side over the line on Saturday.
Speaking at the end of the game on the stadium tannoy, Foster said: “Every single home game, 10,000 fans turn up and you make THE biggest noise. And I knew for a fact, even though we let a goal in after about 40 seconds today, that second half you would see us through, we would win the game, simple as that, and that’s exactly how it turned out.”
With the Racecourse regularly selling out home matches and the new Kop stand likely to go the same way, there’s going to be a heck of a lot more than 10,000 people lining the streets of Wrexham when the inevitable trophy parade does take place.
A spokesperson for Wrexham Council wasn’t giving much away in regards to when this might be, saying to WalesOnline: “Obviously this is a fantastic moment for Wrexham, and we’ll liaise with the club to see how we can support any plans to celebrate its phenomenal success.”
Any details around open-top bus parades are likely to emerge once the season is actually over. It’s easy to forget in the celebrations that there’s still one game left and a slim chance of further drama with Saturday's visit to their final opponents, Torquay, who are in need of a seven-goal swing to have any chance of avoiding relegation.
If this were to happen, then The Gulls may well be after a bus of their own.
READ MORE:
Wrexham's odds to get promoted next season as Ben Foster tells Ryan Reynolds 'we'll do it again'
Video shows Wrexham players singing 'F*** the Tories' in McDonalds following historic win
Everyone missed another Hollywood celebrity at the Wrexham game with Paul Rudd
I spent the night at the Turf pub as Wrexham won the league and it was awesome as fans partied away
