Hollywood stars change 5th division team level – 02/18/2023 – Sport

When a law firm informed the Wrexham Supporters Trust (Wrexham Supporters Association, in English) of the interest of two businessmen in buying the club, the speculation began: who would they be?

“Our hope was that it was someone with money and a real project,” says group president Barry Jones.

It failed to add that they were also movie stars. For about US$ 3.5 million (R$ 18.2 million, at current prices), the third oldest professional football team in the world, founded in 1886, was sold to actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021.

The Canadian Reynolds became known worldwide for the film “Deadpool” and receives about US$ 10 million per feature film in which he participates. (BRL 52 million). The American McElhenney is the creator of the series “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. Last year, he received US$ 50 million (R$ 260 million) for the rights to the project and for having acted in it.

The purchase of Wrexham was approved by 98.5% of the members of the association, which owned the association since, around 20 years ago, it managed to gather 100 thousand pounds sterling (R$ 624 thousand today) to prevent the club from went bankrupt.

“We put the community first. Every time we have to make a decision or take a direction, we always seek advice from people who know the club and think if it’s the best thing for the community. long term, not the short term,” McElhenney told the BBC, a UK channel.

“They’ve really done it. Wrexham is on the football map. We’ve had visitors from all over the world,” agreed Jones.

Despite paying salaries to players and having received from famous owners an unprecedented investment for the tournament in which it participates, Wrexham is not in a league considered professional. In the pyramid of English football, there are the Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two. Anything below that is considered amateur.

This is the case of the fifth division, the National League, in which Wrexham occupies second place, five points behind leader Notts County, but with two games in hand.

Moving up to League Two, professional, would change the technical and financial level.

It is unclear why the film and TV star duo from two countries with no football tradition decided to buy a semi-professional tournament team. Despite being Welsh, Wrexham is in the English national league pyramid.

There was the cinematic interest, of course. Their presence gave rise to the production of the serial documentary “Welcome to Wrexham”, available in Brazil on Disney+.

The episodes portray the experience of Reynolds and McElhenney as managers and the misadventures of the team in the unsuccessful attempt to access the fourth division last season. But their presence changed the team’s perspective.

She was included in FIFA 22. It was the first non-professional in the history of the game.

That in itself is a feat for an old club, but without significant achievements. His greatest glory was having won the Welsh Cup 23 times. In 1992, in the FA Cup, he caused one of the biggest upsets in the history of the competition by defeating the then national champion Arsenal, by 2 to 1. In the European Cup Winners’ Cup the following year, he beat Porto by 1 to 0.

It was results that Reynolds and McElhenney soon learned because there is little to celebrate. The region around the Racecourse Ground stadium, founded in 1807, was considered by the government as the third poorest in the country. The actors bought the land to make improvements for the community as well.

This season, McElhenney has had a taste of what it means to own a modest team and experience the Ferris wheel that is football. Wrexham hosted Sheffield United, from the third division, for the FA Cup, and were seconds away from qualifying for the round of 16. He took the tie and then lost in the extra game.

The match was shown by the BBC across the UK. The post-game broadcast booth was built next to the hamburger stand.

In case of access, the owners promised a prize of around US$ 400,000 (about R$ 2 million) to be shared by the cast. Players from higher divisions accept offers from Wrexham because of the good wages and media attention given to the club. Global brands such as the social network Tik Tok became sponsors.

The average audience for games is around 10,000 people, higher than some associations in Serie A of the Brazilian Championship.

“Over 25,000 shirts were sold in the last year. That’s incredible!”, marveled Barry Jones.

It is attention that the city of 61,000 inhabitants, which had its heyday with coal mines and steel production, has become unaccustomed to receiving. And the unexpected thing is that it arrived because of a pair of actors who, under normal circumstances, would never set foot in Wrexham.

“We’re going to improve. We’re going to be the best we can be and move up the division,” said Les Reed, head of development.