How Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Wrexham sealed back-to-back promotions: Seven-figure sponsorship deals, an in-demand Premier League goalkeeper thriving on loan, best in the league at home and finishing the season with a flourish

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are now within two steps of achieving their Premier League dream after Wrexham sealed back-to-back promotions with a 6-0 thrashing of Forest Green on Saturday.

The Hollywood pair pitched up at then-non-league Wrexham in 2021 with a bold vision to make the Dragons a ‘global force’ en route to eventually taking a seat at English football’s top table in the Premier League.

After a record-setting National League title win a year ago, Phil Parkinson’s side have thrived in League Two and have now sealed their promotion to League One at the first time of asking.

Here, Mail Sport looks at how the Welsh side pulled it off…

Ryan Reynolds (left) and Rob McElhenney (right) have delivered two promotions in three years

STAYED DOMINANT AT HOME

This was absolutely essential to Wrexham’s promotion back into the football league.

Parkinson and his team went unbeaten at home in 2022-23 and have followed that up by having the best home form in all of League Two this season.

Following their US Tour – which was far from ideal preparation for the new season and is being revised this time around to include fewer far-flung destinations – things started poorly, with Wrexham losing their season opener at home 5-3 to MK Dons.

Reynolds, who was at that game with Hollywood star Hugh Jackman, was shell-shocked, as were supporters, but things have picked up massively since.

Wrexham headed into Saturday’s clash with Forest Green Rovers with just three defeats from their 21 home league games, giving them a league best 48 points at home and a league best +30 goal difference.

For Wrexham, home is really where the heart is.

Sell-out crowds have helped Wrexham produce the best home form in League Two all season

RETURNED TO FOUR SIDES

Part of the success at home has been the chairmen’s decision to restore the Racecourse to a four-sided ground.

Plans to deliver a 5,500-capacity Kop by the end of the season hit some logistical road-blocks and with McElhenney and Reynolds eager to capitalise on the club’s popularity and boost home advantage, a temporary 2,289-capacity structure was erected just before Christmas.

With delays on the permanent Kop, McElhenney pushed club director Humphrey Ker to make headway with getting the temporary end up and it’s proven hugely beneficial.

That end has been where they have scored crucial goals en route to promotion, scoring at that end in narrow 1-0 wins over Newport County and Notts County, as well as scoring the opener in their top-of-the-table clash with Mansfield Town last month.

‘To attack that end with our fans there will make it some place to come,’ Elliot Lee told the Athletic back in December.

A temporary Kop end was put up at McElhenney’s request – and it has boosted the atmosphere

‘I’ve always said that we love attacking the end where our fans are because they suck the ball in. The atmosphere is rocking.

‘To have that at the other end as well will make this a good place to play.’

With Ker explaining that the temporary end was losing money left and right, McElhenney’s Four Walls Irish American Whiskey company, which he holds with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-stars Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day, stepped up as stand sponsor.

The aim now is to break ground once the season ends to begin the 11-month build on a permanent Kop – but it would be remiss to not acknowledge the importance of a four-sided SToK Racecourse in the run-in.

KEPT HOLD OF THEIR KEY PLAYERS

There is an argument right now that Wrexham is one of the most attractive contract offers outside of the Premier League now, almost certainly top of players’ wish lists in divisions three and four.

And so while many of their non-league promotion heroes were not rushing to get out the door, the club have done well to largely with the group that took them up.

Paul Mullin and Lee have been tied down to new long-term contracts, through to 2027, following interest from Saudi Arabia and the Championship respectively, while key pieces such as Ollie Palmer and Andy Cannon have again proven key.

‘It takes a strong unity from top to bottom,’ Lee told the Men In Blazers podcast earlier this season.

Insiders speak so highly of the team spirit at Wrexham after they kept hold of key players

Elliot Lee (left) and Andy Cannon (right) stayed and are both Player of the Season contenders 

‘At Luton, it was a very well-run club; good owners, good manager, good staff, good lads and the fans are all on board together. And I’ve said it since day one, I truly believe we have that here [at Wrexham] if not better.

‘From the owners to the manager, to the staff, the lads, and the fans all being on one page is so important to any success because I cannot speak highly enough of everyone around the club. All the lads in the dressing room, everyone gets on so well. We just have a laugh but we work so hard in training and I think you need the best of both.

‘We will push each other but then have a laugh in the dressing room. You need that because when you are winning it is great but when you are losing that’s when you see how much of a team you are and how together you are from top to bottom.’

The onus this summer will be keeping star centre back Max Cleworth from the clutches of those Championship clubs who have been scouting him for a number of months.

The 21-year-old is entering the final year of his contract and his future will be a priority for Reynolds and McElhenney.

BUT ALSO UTILISED PREMIER LEAGUE EXPERIENCE

A 111-point National League title win was unprecedented – but Wrexham still needed to add to their team, specifically with experience.

Parkinson acted quickly to bring in former Stoke City and Sunderland pair James McClean and Steven Fletcher, while also convincing Arsenal to allow young shot-stopper Arthur Okonkwo to join on loan.

One of the most noticeable things about McClean is his conditioning. He is tireless in the gym and sources at Wrexham have praised his incredible work ethic, something which has raised the levels of team-mates.

‘He’s a very good player,’ Parkinson said of the former Republic of Ireland international in January.

James McClean was recruited and his Premier League experience has helped in close games

‘I think his career tells everything you need to know, but the biggest thing with James is his mentality and his desire to win and be at his best every week and that can be infectious around the group.’

Fletcher, who arrived on a free until the end of the season after leaving Dundee, has won similar praise for the example he has helped set during this arduous promotion race.

After Fletcher scored the winning goal in the 1-0 win over Notts County, Parkinson said of the 36-year-old: ‘He’s been immense for us. You don’t play at the level he has without being the consummate professional and that’s what he is.

‘He looks after himself, he trains well, he does all his extra work and he’s enjoying playing and that’s great.

‘He’s got a great enthusiasm to play and I love that. It’s great to see and it’s a great example for our younger players.’

At the other end of the scale is 22-year-old goalkeeper Okonkwo, who arrived on loan until the end of the season.

Parkinson stressed last season that loans were not in his thinking as he wanted to build for the longer term, but he stepped away from that to pick up Okonkwo amid fierce competition.

Steven Fletcher has also been a valuable addition, using his experience to help team-mates

Wrexham took Arthur Okonkwo on loan from Arsenal and the 22-year-old has been a revelation

Ben Foster decided to retire for a second time just five games into the season after a disastrous start and Parkinson is wise enough to know a strong goalkeeper is the bedrock to a promotion campaign.

The young Arsenal goalkeeper has been a revelation and, heading into the Forest Green game, boasted the best save percentage of any goalkeeper in England’s top four divisions. He is a contender to be the club’s Player of the Season.

Okonkwo is out of contract in the summer and while Wrexham will be desperate to keep him, Mail Sport understands he is already inundated with offers from right across the pyramid, as well as in Europe.

Three players at different ends of the experience scale, but all three have been crucial in key moments across the season.

COME ALIVE IN THE RUN-IN

The key to any promotion is finishing with a flourish and Wrexham have picked up speed in the closing weeks to get themselves over the line.

Mullin is a good case study for this.

The Liverpudlian striker suffered a punctured lung and broken ribs during the pre-season tour of the US when Wrexham beat a young Man United side.

Mullin’s injuries were so serious that he was not able to fly home with his team-mates and instead remained in California for a number of weeks.

When he was cleared to play he looked a shadow of himself and not at the potential many knew he could be at.

But Mullin has been the division’s best player through the last two months and pulled himself from obscurity to the top three scorers in the division, having played significantly fewer games.

Paul Mullin started the season injured but has been the league’s best player in recent months

He has scored for fun in the final weeks and served up some key goals in the biggest matches

Phil Parkinson deserves huge amount of credit for handling the external pressure on Wrexham

He scored crucial goals at Grimsby Town and Colchester – that one his 100th Wrexham goal – and also bagged a hat-trick at home to Accrington Stanley.

‘Life-threatening tension and gut wrenching suspense as we come to the close of another WTF-bonkers season,’ Reynolds wrote on IG after the come-from-behind win at Colchester.

Just two defeats in their last 10 games prior to Forest Green saw Wrexham take control of a promotion race that had rivals dropping points left, right and centre.

A 4-1 win over Crawley Town, then one of the most in-form teams in the division, was a statement sent to the entire league that nothing was stopping Wrexham from going back to back.

LEVELLED UP SPONSORSHIPS

Wrexham set themselves up for success off the pitch by levelling up their various sponsorship deals.

Reynolds and McElhenney have used their platforms to help elevate Wrexham into a commercial beast.

There is a growing expectation internally that turnover for this second promotion season could hit £20million.

A mixture of seven-figure sponsorship deals and the payback from their first US tour, it is a turnover that would surpass even some of the bigger Championship clubs.

United Airlines were brought on as new front of shirt sponsor, while the stadium naming rights were sold to Stok Cold Brew Coffee.

Doc series Welcome to Wrexham has helped transform the club into a commercial beast

The show won multiple Emmy awards and allowed McElhenney and Co to land huge sponsors

Vista Print came on board, too, and the Emmy award-winning documentary series is returning for a third season, with the first two episodes of season three airing on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US on May 2.

The Hollywood pair’s backing of the club and desire to transform its fortunes in a bid to take it to the very top is undeniable.

Wrexham’s turnover in 2021-22 came in at £5.97m, four times better than the £1.47m revenue earned in 2021, the year Reynolds and McElhenney’s takeover was rubber-stamped.

Fast forward to 2022-23 and turnover rose to £10.478m, up from £5.97m, and that is expected to almost double by the time this season’s accounts land next April.

Wrexham lost £5.1m last season en route to promotion, making it a little over £8m lost in two full seasons.

United’s front of shirt sponsor deal is said to be worth seven figures to the lower-league team

But the chairmen have realised that they needed to spend now to elevate through the leagues and land more and more lucrative commercial partners. Insiders at the club are convinced this season’s set of accounts will look incredibly healthy.

A second US tour on the season is already on the cards, playing Chelsea at San Francisco 49ers’ Levi Field in July, as well as two as-yet unannounced games.

Things are going up and up and up and Wrexham – and we’re not just talking about promotions.