When Wrexham's Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took control of the club in February 2021, few could have imagined where the story would lead. Five years on, the Welsh side has just completed a Championship season that saw them achieve their highest-ever league finish — finishing above storied clubs like Leicester City, Birmingham City, and Watford in the process.
Manager Phil Parkinson, who has guided Wrexham through three successive promotions, said finishing above those established names represents something remarkable for a club that spent 15 years in exile from the Football League. "When we look back, the integration of new players, players adapting to a new division, all those things, we've left a lot of very good clubs behind us this season," he said. "There's teams like Leicester that are falling out of the division who could easily have been a top six team. There's Watford, there's Birmingham and lots of clubs who by right would expect to be where we are."
The journey back to relevance hasn't been without heartbreak. The club suffered an agonising 5-4 National League play-off semi-final loss to Grimsby Town at the end of their first full season under the new ownership — a defeat that, paradoxically, may have forged the resilience now propelling them toward the Premier League. "The club had been stuck in that division for so long and I think these lads who lived through that with us coming to the final stages of that season, that was intense," Parkinson recalled.
What stands out in conversations with Parkinson is the patience shown by Reynolds and McElhenney — something he describes as remarkable in the high-stakes world of football ownership. "There's never been that pressure from Rob and Ryan to say 'you have to do this' or 'you've got to do that'. They're appreciative of where we've taken the club together. Everybody's played the part in getting this club onto the brink of the play-offs."
As Wrexham prepares for their crucial play-off clash against Middlesbrough, there's reason for cautious optimism. Midfielder Ben Sheaf is set to return after damaging medial ligaments in February, while Liberato Cacace is available despite being on the bench during Sunday's loss to champions Coventry City. Defender Zak Vyner remains sidelined with a groin injury.
For a club that once seemed destined to drift in English football's lower tiers, the transformation has been nothing short of extraordinary. And while director Shaun Harvey has stressed the 2025-26 season will be viewed as a success regardless of promotion, the hunger to take "that next step" burns brighter than ever.