Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are trying to buy a Welsh football team
Hollywood A-listers look set to be swapping the red carpet for National League football as Ryan Reynold and Rob McElhenney have reportedly put in a surprise bid to invest in Wrexham AFC.
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Hide AdDeadpool star Reynolds and co-creator of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia McElhenney now have the opportunity to “put forward their vision” for the club after the Wrexham Supporters Trust Board voted in favour of the pair’s bid to progress.
Who is Wrexham AFC?
Wrexham AFC currently play in the fifth tier of football in England and Wales, and when crowds are allowed to attend matches, have an average crowd size of 5,000. The football club is community owned.
Wrexham AFC boasts the oldest international football stadium in the world. The ground was built in 1864 and is still in use to this day. In 1992 the team eliminated reigning FA Cup holder, Arsenal, from the cup the next season.
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Speaking on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, trust director Spencer Harris, said the club is in a position to get into discussions with the pair.
He commented, “We started talking through representatives of theirs, talking about the club, and we're now in a position where we are able, following the SGM on Tuesday night, to get into detailed discussions about what a takeover deal could look like.
"There is some way to go and at the end of the day it will be the supporters who decide what the future direction of the club will be."
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Hide AdHarris added that he has been impressed by the actors’ enthusiasm and approach to the possible take over of the club.
He added, “They are very serious, professional and successful people, not just as actors but in the business world as well and this is a very serious endeavour for them and they'll set out their vision in due course, but I know they are very passionate about this and have gone into a lot of depth to understand about the football club."
If the bid is a success it would not be the first time Hollywood has shown interest in the Welsh sporting scene. In 2016, TV star Mindy Kaling was revealed to be among the stakeholders in an American consortium that bought a controlling stake in Swansea City football team.
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Ryan Reynolds was one of the highest paid actors this year, appearing in Netflix's 6 Underground and Red Notice. The Canadian actor has played the starring role in the Deadpool franchise and also recently featured in Detective Pikachu.
Adding to the mystery of why the duo decided to put in a bid, on Twitter last night (23 September) Reynolds posted a cryptic tweet replying to a comment from 2012 which said, “You never know when Ryan Reynolds is going to turn up in Wrexham.”
Reynolds responded, “Yep, you never know.”
He added at the bottom of the tweet, “I’ve waited 8 years to respond to this tweet.”