“Got some things wrong” - Wrexham AFC: Rob McElhenney, Ryan Reynolds ownership claim made | OneFootball

There are some unsurprisingly happy customers in the Wrexham stands

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s purchase of Wrexham AFC in 2021 transformed the club forever.

Almost overnight, press attention swarmed around the Racecourse Ground to see why two Hollywood stars had travelled across the Atlantic to take control of a non-league Welsh football club.

Fast-forward a few years, and it’s a story that every football fan is now well aware of, thanks in part to their Disney+ documentary, Welcome to Wrexham.

Wrexham are now known worldwide, in a far cry from their days languishing for multiple years in the National League, and they're on a mission to make it three promotions on the spin and to make it to the Championship later on in 2025.

Wrexham AFC owners Rob McElhenney & Ryan Reynolds are getting much more right than wrong

We asked FLW's Red Dragons fan pundit, Liam Grice, whether he thinks the club's Hollywood owners are transparent enough about the way they run the club.

Speaking to Football League World, Liam responded: “I couldn’t ask for more transparency from the owners to be honest with you.

“They're right on top of that and I don't think it's because they feel like they need to be, I think it's because they want to be, and that's a really big difference to make.

“I mean, I've met them loads of times now and they just seem like normal people. They don't seem like they're these Hollywood superstars that are in it for the money.

“They really seem, to me anyway, and a lot of Wrexham fans, like they’re just enjoying the ride as much as us and really not taking for granted what they've created at Wrexham.

“Don’t get me wrong, they've got some things wrong, but what football club owners don't.

"I'm sure if we were in their shoes, we'd be getting things wrong as well, but they're really good at seeing the problem and rectifying it and making sure they do change it in the end.

“So yeah, I couldn't ask for more from them.”

Few clubs within the EFL are as transparent as Wrexham AFC

It’s little surprise to hear a Wrexham fan happy with the tenure of Reynolds and McElhenney: they have quite literally transformed the club in just a few years.

The Red Dragons were perennial nearly-men in the fifth tier before the takeover, never quite showing enough to climb back out of non-league.

In just a few years, the Hollywood owners have managed to complete that task, launch them into League One and are now staring down promotion into the Championship.

As a marker of just how far the club has come in a short space of time, a recent report by Fortune notes that the pair bought Wrexham for £2m, before revealing that the value of recently bought shares suggests a current total-club value of £100m.

But, as Liam notes, it doesn’t feel like a money-spinning scheme for the movie stars – they have plenty of that from their other investments.

Furthermore, not only are Reynolds and McElhenney routinely visible at games and other club events, they’ve also subjected themselves to a much-increased level of scrutiny than most club owners through their Disney+ series.

The warts-and-all documentary charts the good, the bad and the ugly from behind the scenes at the club, including mistakes made by the owners themselves.

Far from a shady money-making scheme, the A-list duo would struggle to be any more transparent with fans about their ownership of Wrexham.