Wrexham: From scepticism of Hollywood owners to promotion glory

In the Hollywood world of make-believe all that glitters is not gold.

It all sounded a bit too good to be true in a UK football world in which takeovers from across the pond appear to harvest more grumbles than gratitude.

Even among the members of the Wrexham Supporters Trust, who had steered the club through the roughest of waters away from near oblivion, there was a tiny bit of dissent.

As a fan-owned club some 2,000 Trust members had a vote on the scarcely believable takeover. The result was a massive thumbs up – 26 fans voted against, nine abstained… a penny for their thoughts now.

Courtesy of two of the most famous owners in football, Wrexham AFC have become a global brand.

As it transpires, the Hollywood stardust has been an incredible force for good, not just for the club, but the city of Wrexham.

And, appropriately, the quest to turn Wrexham back into a Football League club paralleled a classic Disney storyline.

Think Simba’s troubled journey to become The Lion King. Remember Cinderella’s rough childhood before finding her handsome Prince.

The first series of Welcome to Wrexham charted the entire takeover, but in football terms it chronicled disappointment. Wrexham missed out on promotion and were beaten in the FA Trophy Final.

But just like with Toy Story series, the second offering will be an even better watch – at least on the football front.

Wrexham are back in the Football League for the first time since 2008, shaking off the dubious title of the longest serving club in the fifth tier.

Yes, their success has garnered some bitterness from fans of their rivals; understandably, maybe, given the financial resources at their disposal.

But let’s get this right. Wrexham are no nouveau riche, plastic club. Many of the fans who joyously celebrate now, were prepared to put their own financial wellbeing at stake to save the oldest club in Wales and the third oldest professional football team in the world.

This is the same club which took on Anderlecht in the European Cup Winners Cup quarter-finals in the 70s and beat Porto nearly a decade later.

Wrexham has had its brushes with possible extinction, but their relegation to the fifth tier ended an 87-year stay in the Football League.

This is a club with history. It’s the club which lauds Wales legend and Liverpool’s double European Cup winner Joey Jones as a favourite son. It’s the club of Mickey Thomas, Arfon Griffiths and John Neal. A sometime Championship club.

And now, with the help of two unlikely owners, they are making new history.

For all the stardust, the global fame and influx of transatlantic tourists who flock to the Racecourse and the Turf pub, the football principles have endured.

They may not always be aesthetically pleasing to the football purists, even in the National League.

But, with Notts County, they have contributed to a captivating, goal-laden, record-breaking title tussle.

And amid all the lenses, microphones and spotlights which accompany a Tinseltown presence on matchday, manager Phil Parkinson has coped with everything in characteristically phlegmatic style.

Inside the dressing room, Welcome to Wrexham revealed his sometimes fiery temperament.

But in the glare of the cameras he has been nothing but cool and collected, with a laser-like focus on the job in hand.

Yes, financial resources have been a help. But his signings – notably Ben Tozer, Aaron Hayden and, of course, Paul Mullen – have been gilt-edged acquisitions. All have played at a higher level, but showed no arrogance or complacency about dropping down to the National League.

Wrexham have been given a turbo boost of momentum which will ensure expectations are high for 2023-24 as they complete a four-Welsh-club complement in the Football League for the first time since 1988.

Yet this takeover has been deeper than just first-team success. Reynolds and McElhenney have ensured the eyes of the world are on this part of north Wales. As tourist chiefs admit, it’s the sort of promotion they could not buy for the area.

And perhaps we should have realised these movie moguls’ commitment would not wear off with the greasepaint.

In their mission statement on arrival they pledged to make a “positive difference to the wider community in participation with Wrexham Football Club”.

At half-time in the 3-0 win over Yeovil, the Wrexham women’s team proudly soaked up the cheers of the Racecourse faithful having been promoted to the Adran Premier, another part of the club transformed.

How far the club can go now remains to be seen. Financial Fair Play rules must be adhered to in the EFL and the higher you go the greater the financial resources required.

But just as McElhenney would contend it’s always sunny in Philadelphia, so Wrexham AFC will return with optimism to the bright, sunlit uplands of the Football League with a superhero in Reynolds to the fore.

As the promotion parties commence under the spotlight of the world’s media, the Hollywood razzmatazz shows no sign of losing its lustre.