Wrexham: 'Ryan Reynolds was on Zoom and I couldn't tell my kids'

By Peter Shuttleworth

BBC News

Just imagine your dad is on a Zoom call with two of Hollywood’s biggest stars downstairs and he doesn’t tell you.

To make matters worse, he’s sent you upstairs to do college work, gaming or tidy your room while he secretly speaks to Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Then weeks later, you find out at the same time as the rest of the world that this acting royalty is taking over the football club your dad was running.

Well, those superstars have now taken Wrexham AFC to the brink of promotion.

Acting A-lister Will Ferrell and football icon David Beckham have since been to Wrexham games, actress Blake Lively has accompanied her husband Reynolds to matches, and Hugh Jackman and now fighting superstar Conor McGregor are on the bandwagon.

Wrexham are four points clear at the top of the National League with two games to play: so beat Boreham Wood at home on Saturday evening and they’re back in the Football League after an agonising 15-year absence.

Oh, and spoiler alert… Wrexham will get promoted without kicking a ball if their only title rivals Notts County lose to bottom side Maidstone earlier on Saturday afternoon.

It seems that if everyone wasn’t talking about the world’s third oldest professional football club in the immediate aftermath of Rob and Ryan’s Disney+ We are Wrexham documentary… they are now.

Yet it wasn’t long ago that only a select few knew these celebrity names were about to take over a relatively unknown club. Lifelong Wrexham fan Spencer Harris was one of them.

“That first Zoom call that I had with Rob and Ryan together was quite surreal,” recalled Spencer. He was chairman of the supporters trust that ran the club when the call came in the first Covid lockdown of 2020.

“The difficult thing with lockdown is you had your family around the house and I’d ban people from the room and, in some cases, the surrounding rooms, to make sure it remained private.

“So I was in my living room and everyone else was banned so they’re upstairs, keeping out the way while I’m dealing with what is classed as Wrexham business.

“Little did they know that Ryan Reynolds is talking to me downstairs.”

Confidentiality agreements meant Spencer couldn’t tell his wife Jeni or three children Emyr, Megan and Mali of his meetings with any prospective owners – but when they found out who dad had been chatting to downstairs, the family couldn’t believe it.

“There was a bit of “why didn’t you tell me dad?” but I think they ultimately understood,” said Spencer.

“I tried to be uber professional about football club matters and they were never my secrets, they were the football club’s secret – so I didn’t tell anyone who didn’t need to know.

“So my wife and my kids found out at the same time as everybody. But when Rob and Ryan came to my house that made up for me being so secretive.”

Spencer remembered showing Deadpool star Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia comedian McElhenney Powerpoint presentations highlighting Wrexham’s potential, despite the club’s non-league position in English football’s fifth tier.

“I was sharing everything great about the club, like we play at the world’s oldest international football ground,” added Spencer.

“We represent half a nation being the only club in north Wales – in the same way Norwich represents Norfolk. I didn’t think there was a club in the UK with the same headroom for growth as Wrexham.”

Wrexham Association Football Club dates back to 1864; the team played in English football’s second tier in the 1970s and even beat Portuguese giants Porto on one of their many European adventures.

But the club’s decline and subsequent rise is something that even Hollywood’s most ambitious scriptwriters might not have dreamt up.

It was just over 10 years ago when one die-hard fan offered the deeds of his house as supporters raised £90,000 in just 24 hours so Wrexham could guarantee a bond to play in the league or face expulsion and probable oblivion.

Lifelong fan Richard Ulrich had just been made redundant from his job as contracts administrator but gave his pay-out and life savings of £500 to the club to help out.

“It was my birthday too but we thought this could be the end of the club and that made me feel numb,” recalled Richard, 45.

“I had to do something to help as Wrexham AFC is a huge part of my life.”

The club has also survived winding-up orders, multi-million pound debts and had a failed takeover bid by the star of fly-on-the-wall TV show Hotel Stephanie.

Wrexham’s fans took over and began to stabilise the club in December 2011 – so when the happily ever after storyline could be written three years ago, the club was debt-free and its stadium and training ground were owned by a trusted landlord.

The fairytale finale began when the then Portsmouth chief executive Mark Catlin, who had also led a fan-run club, called Wrexham to advise of potential takeover interest.

Pompey had been bought by former Disney boss Michael Eisner, and Catlin called Wrexham to ask if the firm that had eased Portsmouth’s buyout could talk to Wrexham’s board.

“We’d had lots of takeover enquiries, ranging from a prince of some far-flung land, which felt very much like a scam, to other unsuitable local approaches,” said Harris. “But this felt different.”

The call was with a New York-based firm that specialises in the acquisition of professional sports teams and had overseen takeovers at major clubs like Liverpool and Crystal Palace and American football giants Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons.

“From day one we knew it to be a serious inquiry due to the calibre of people that I was talking to,” said Harris.

“But it did take maybe 10 weeks before we actually knew who was behind the bid. We did know it was very famous people with high net worth and very serious about what they wanted to do.”

However, Spencer did inadvertently discuss the takeover early on with McElhenney on a transatlantic conference call before the big-name backers revealed themselves – but the actor kept his identity secret.

“One of the people on the line was a guy name Rob,” recalled Harris.

“He had a thick American accent, he didn’t reveal his second name but he talked passionately about his love of sport, where he was from in Philadelphia, so it didn’t take me long to figure out that this was one of the prospective owners.

“After a but of Googling afterwards going on the clues he gave me, I was pretty sure it was Rob McElhenney – then a few weeks later, my guess was confirmed correct.”

Even then, Spencer couldn’t tell his fellow supporters because of those confidentiality clauses, but the directors had to make sure the members of Wrexham’s Supporters Trust were happy for them to discuss a £2m takeover with potential investors.

Eventually, it was revealed who the mystery shoppers were.

But not everyone was happy with two North American TV makers coming in to run their club. Some fans had been scarred by previous turmoil and with BBC’s Big Ron Manager documentary in mind, worried how these things could go.

“If there hadn’t been any scepticism among our fan base, then they were not doing their jobs properly,” added Spencer.

“They wanted assurances because it is the fans’ football club and they needed to hold any new owners to account and ensure they’re looking after the community’s crown jewel.

“My personal view was people in the public eye like these trade on their reputations and with their business acumen, their charitable giving and where they’ve come from, I felt these were as safe a pair of hands as you will ever find to run a club.”

While 26 supporters voted against, and nine abstained, from the takeover, trust members overwhelmingly backed the buyout to the tune of 98.6%

Fast forward almost three years. Rob and Ryan haven’t just help energised a club but a community, a league and specifically a town which has since become a city – with a team many may never of heard of a few years ago.

“The club has been through such a lot and very nearly went out of business,” said lifelong fan Flo Bitchell, 92, whose first Wrexham game was with her brothers in 1949.

“They could have come in and built houses on the ground, but we survived and that’s why promotion would be so great for everyone who has waited a long time for a bit of success.”

Wrexham’s owners have spent big in non-league football terms with their latest figures showing they lost £3m. They pay some of the division’s biggest earners – with a few players paid more than three times the league average – as they have had to encourage players to drop divisions to join Wrexham.

“This club was going nowhere and now everyone in football is talking about Wrexham,” said former Wales, Manchester United and Chelsea player Mickey Thomas, who was in the only Wrexham side to win a title – so far – in 1978.

“It’s gone beyond everyone’s dreams and you’re now talking Wrexham in the same breath as Manchester United and Liverpool. I work with Manchester United, one of the biggest teams in the world, and all people want to talk to me about is Wrexham.

“I’m sure if anyone landed on the moon, the first thing the aliens will ask is how are Wrexham doing? They’re now everyone’s second favourite team.”

He’s hardly exaggerating. Wrexham’s tweet on the final whistle for their recent late win over promotion rivals Notts County had 10.5m impressions – almost four times more than Premier League giants Arsenal and Liverpool had for their games.

To add to that, Wrexham have secured prestigious US friendly games with two of the biggest teams in the world – Manchester United and Chelsea – this summer.

“If you asked someone who went up to the Conference in recent years I’m not sure many people will know,” added Thomas.

“But if Wrexham go up this year, I’m not sure anyone will be able to avoid not knowing.”

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