Ryan Reynolds And Rob McElhenney "Don't Know Anything About Football" But Wrexham Documentary Is About Community More Than Comedy

By their own admission actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney "don't know anything" about the sport that most of the world calls football.

Yet since February 2021 the Hollywood duo have owned the third-oldest soccer club on the planet.

Reynolds and McElhenney are best known for their comedy roles but purchasing Wrexham Association Football Club was not intended to be funny.

The duo are deadly serious about taking Wrexham back into the English Football League for the first time since the club's relegation in 2008.

But their mission at Wrexham is about more than on-field success.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated this week, Reynolds stressed the importance of immersing himself into the Wrexham community.

Discussing his and McElhenney's relationships with the players and supporters, he said: "We're very close to the players. I mean, we speak to the players, text with the players and we're very close to the community.

"They've always been inextricably linked. I mean, especially a club at this level, for a town like this, third-oldest professional football club on Earth, with the oldest international stadium on Earth.

"They have lived and died by this club for so long, so much longer than you can even imagine... over 150 years.

"So you know, really understanding that you can't really grow the club unless you're growing the community and you can't really grow the community unless you're going the club... they're very linked and we've been respectful of that."

McElhenney was friends with a number of pro athletes before his involvement at Wrexham, including Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and former Phillies second baseman Chase Utley.

He revealed that he reached out to Kelce and Utley for advice on how to build healthy player-owner relationships.

Reynolds and McElhenney have since found that their lack of soccer knowledge has actually helped them.

Wrexham AFC co-owners Rob McElhenney (left) and Ryan Reynolds pictured during a press conference at the Racecourse Ground after buying the club in 2021

IMAGO/PA Images/Peter Byrne

Describing his conversations with Kelce and Utley, McElhenney said: "I asked them: 'What kind of relationship did you expect with the chairman or the owners?' 

"And they said: 'Get as close as possible.'

"Our fear was that you get so close to people and then you have to make these business decisions.

"The good news is that we don't know anything about football. So it's not really up to us to make personnel decisions. We just hire the people who do."

Reynolds added that having a tier of management under himself and McElhenney has allowed them to have a "great relationship with everyone at the club."

Although Reynolds and McElhenney are not calling all the shots on a daily basis, their investment in Wrexham is as emotional as it is financial.

That emotion is clear to see in the new FX documentary series 'Welcome to Wrexham'.

Series one, which starts at the very beginning with Reynolds and McElhenney's attempts to buy the club, premiered on Wednesday.

Spoiler alert! The eight-episode series does not end with Wrexham clinching promotion to League Two.

Reynolds and McElhenney's first season in soccer had an even more spectacular ending as Wrexham lost 5-4 in extra-time to Grimsby Town in May's play-off semi-final.