Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney encouraged to break key Wrexham takeover promise

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have been encouraged to break a pledge made when they first bought Wrexham by considering changes to the club’s crest.

The Hollywood actors published a lengthy list of “hard promises” when they set out to acquire the Red Dragons in November 2020.

The assurances were partly aimed at protecting the club’s heritage and included a guarantee that it would not be relocated, renamed or rebranded.

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However, the presenters of the popular Wrexham podcast RobRyanRed have called on the pair to reconsider their stance after suggesting redesigning the team’s badge.

Similar exercises at clubs such as Cardiff City have proved highly controversial, but lifelong Wrexham fan Nathan Salt believes the owners and fellow supporters should be open to a conversation.

The idea was raised after he praised efforts to modernise the badges of Premier League teams Liverpool and Aston Villa.

Speaking on the podcast, Salt said: “I know in the mission statement that Rob and Ryan said they wouldn't move Wrexham out of the stadium and they wouldn't rebrand, which was a hard promise.

“But it got me thinking, what would it take for people to be open to the conversation of changing the crest?”

He continued: “I would have to be honest and say that there are rebrands I've seen that look nice.

“For example, I think Bristol City's badge now is better than before. It looks cleaner.

“Aston Villa is another good example. Liverpool changed, and they got rid of everything but the liver bird.”

Wrexham’s current badge features a football held by two red dragons, a national symbol of Wales, with the club’s name and founding date below it.

The crest also has the same background colours of green and white as the Welsh flag.

Meanwhile, the top section includes the feathers of the Prince of Wales and the motto "ich dien" which is German for "I serve".

According to Salt’s co-presenter Rich Fay, this element has proved more controversial than other parts of the badge.

He said: “Initially when I was asked the question, I was very much of the view of ‘why change it’.

“But when I actually think about it, it's got the feathers on it, and it's got ‘ich dien’ or ‘I serve’.

“It's the Prince of Wales motto, and you then open a James McClean sort of can of worms, because there's lots of connotations to that.

“My personal opinion is that I don't stand for those two things, so why should that be on my club’s badge? There's certainly an argument to modernise it.”

He added: “Rob and Ryan's duty is fundamentally for them to always protect the club and act in the club's best interests, but sometimes we don't know what our best interests really are.”

Wrexham have not announced any current plans to change the crest, but a document published by the club in August outlines how it could be explored in future.

The fan engagement plan, which has been shared with the EFL and Football Supporters’ Association, states: “The club understands that certain aspects are crucial to the club history and identity and are committed to reflecting this by identifying ‘heritage assets’ which cannot be altered without consultation with supporters.

“The crest and colours have been identified as heritage assets and if the club wishes to make a material change to the club crest or the recognised home kits colours, they must undertake a thorough and extensive consultation process with supporters.”