What Rob McElhenney said about Ryan Reynolds speaks volumes for Wrexham after Tom Brady meeting
Rob McElhenney has lifted the lid on a secret to his and Ryan Reynolds' success as Wrexham owners. The Hollywood stars took over the historic club from the Wrexham Supporters' Trust in 2020, embarking on a four-year journey that's been nothing short of cinematic.
After a tough battle to break free from the National League, Wrexham then clinched the League Two title in 2023, ending a 15-year drought, and followed it up with back-to-back promotions to League One last season. Their remarkable journey has been documented in the 'Welcome to Wrexham' TV series, earning the club a worldwide fanbase, thanks in part to the star power of Deadpool actor Reynolds and It's Always Sunny in Philadelpia's McElhenney.
On the field, Phil Parkinson's squad are vying for a third consecutive promotion but currently trail league leaders Birmingham City, who boast their own celebrity stakeholder in NFL legend Tom Brady. Brady has held a minority stake in Blues since 2023 and will be hoping his side can bounce back to the Championship at the first attempt.
A recent clash between the two promotion hopefuls saw a host of celebrities, including David Beckham, flock to St. Andrew's. As has been common at the Racecourse Ground in Wales, Wrexham's home, the two sides attract plenty of attention and high-profile figures.
Prior to Birmingham's 3-1 victory, McElhenney revealed to Brady that he and Reynolds deliberately keep their distance from the dressing room due to their limited football knowledge. "Ryan and I very specifically stay out of the locker room," McElhenney shared with Brady, reports the Mirror.
"I mean, we go in and talk to the guys but we don't have pep talks but we try and stay away from all football operations." The seven-time Super Bowl champion Brady also opened up to McElhenney about how walking into any locker room with his experience grants him a unique edge.
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McElhenney offered his own advice back. "That's got to be a competitive advantage for [Brady] to walk into those rooms and when you talk to those guys, you're one of five people probably on planet earth that everybody in every locker room will listen to."
Brady recognized that sharing his breadth of sporting know-how with the Blues squad is perhaps his most invaluable contribution. On the topic of absorbing football culture, McElhenney offered some invaluable words of wisdom while acknowledging the sport's deep-rooted history and its devoted fans.
"For sure, listen more than you talk. Ryan and I, who talk for a living, we recognise that this is all about the community. It's all about the people that come to the stadiums and have been filling these stadiums for hundreds of years," he said.
Highlighting the contrast between American football's relatively short history and the long-standing legacies of UK football clubs, McElhenney remarked on the origins of Wrexham during the civil war period. "The NFL was founded in the 1920s and [Birmingham City] have been around 150 years.
"Wrexham was founded in 1864. While the US was in the middle of a civil war, they founded a football club over here."
Post defeat at St. Andrew's, Wrexham have still garnered four points from the past two games, while Birmingham City’s winning streak in the league surged to a formidable seven matches following triumphs over Rotherham and Peterborough.
With just two points separating these promotion-hopeful sides, albeit Wrexham having played an extra match, McElhenney eagerly anticipates the next encounter at the Racecourse Ground. "Thanks Tom Brady and Birmingham City for being such great hosts" he wrote on Twitter/X. "You've got a hell of a side. See you in January."