30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Ryan Reynolds' 'expletive-laden rant' blew away Wrexham players in difficult moment
Ryan Reynolds' 'expletive-laden rant' blew away Wrexham players in difficult moment
Reynolds and co-owner Rob McElhenney played an important role as their side sealed promotion to the Championship
Reynolds reportedly launched into an X-rated rant to motivate the Wrexham squad
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's genuine love for Wrexham AFC has been laid bare once again, with the club's co-owners revealed to have delivered their own impassioned speeches to players at crucial stages of the season.
The two Hollywood actors watched on as their side sealed unprecedented back-to-back-to-back promotions, with their 3-0 win over Charlton on Saturday sealing their place in the Championship next season. While they were languishing in non-league when Reynolds and McElhenney bought the club in 2021, they now found themselves just one tier down from the Premier League after a whirlwind four years.
Having overseen an incredible rise through the ranks, the pair have been credited with transforming a struggling football club and the city as a whole, but have also faced their fair share of criticism.
Over the past few years, they have been accused of cheerleading from afar, pumping money into the club but only turning up for moments of celebration rather than darker points in the season.
However, as the weekend's promotion party starts to settle down, details of Reynolds and McElhenney's crucial interventions at key points in the campaign have emerged, with the actors launching into remarkable speeches in an effort to try and rally their squad.
While they may not have known much about football before joining the club, instead leaving Phil Parkinson and his coaching team run things from that side, it has been revealed that they both played a key part in turning around results that had a big impact in their fight for promotion.
Article continues below
In the wake of Saturday's celebrations, players revealed to Mail Sport that, earlier in the month, Reynolds had delivered an "expletive-laden rant" to the squad as he looked to motivate them to bounce back from a disappointing result.
After being held to a 2-2 draw away to now-relegated Cambridge United at the start of April, the Deadpool star is said to have "gathered the players in a huddle" in the changing rooms ahead of their next match against Burton Albion and launched into the rant.
Ultimately, it worked as Wrexham thumped Burton 3-0 and were able to take control of their own destiny again in the race for automatic promotion.
But when that was taken out of their hands again less than two weeks later, after another draw against Bristol Rovers - who have also now been relegated - it was McElhenney's time to step in.
In what has been described by players as the "lightning rod" that helped pushed them over the line and seal promotion to the Championship, the Always Sunny actor is said to have delivered a passionate 10-minute speech to the squad, 24 hours before facing Blackpool in a must-win match on Easter Monday.
With the squad left in awe, Wrexham midfielder George Dobson told Mail Sport that the moment was "unbelievable, really".
Article continues below
"He just said there's no pressure, go back to that 12-year-old boy and just play as you would as a kid with your friends," he added.
"It was just along those lines but a really inspirational, motivational speech and the whole group bought into it.
'You can really sense in the way he was talking how much it meant to him. It was a really enjoyable 10 minutes or so and I really do think it helped the group."
