Having made no secret of his desire to one day join Wrexham’s travelling army of supporters on the road, Rob McElhenney picked a holiday town described in its heyday as “the great, roaring spangled beast” to deliver on that promise.
The American’s timing proved immaculate, as the League One promotion race took another turn via a precious victory for Phil Parkinson’s side over Blackpool on Easter Monday, while rivals Wycombe Wanderers stumbled.
Wrexham’s fate is now back in their own hands, after Wycombe’s 4-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic opened up the possibility of an unprecedented third consecutive promotion being clinched as early as next Saturday.
As the club he co-owns with Ryan Reynolds moved two points clear of third-placed Wycombe, no wonder the beaming smile on McElhenney’s face was as wide as Blackpool promenade itself.
He clearly had a great day among 2,100 day-trippers from north Wales, who throughout the afternoon brought to life author JB Priestley’s “roaring” description of a town that was once Britain’s number one holiday destination.
Parkinson was delighted for the actor, whose refusal to take ‘no’ for an answer when the then non-League club were looking for a manager in the summer of 2021 eventually persuaded the former Bradford City and Bolton Wanderers manager to drop down.
“I’ve always said this is a team effort,” he says. “Rob was with the lads (on Sunday) and he did a great talk with the lads about what his feeling was in this situation. The lads loved that. This is what I mean by the togetherness that has taken us this far.”
McElhenney’s arrival in the away seats shortly before kick-off had taken the Wrexham fans by surprise. But he clearly felt at home, immediately joining in with a chant in support of James McClean, the Wrexham captain whose every move was booed by the home fans in the 12,226 crowd.
Joining the travelling Reds @RMcElhenney 👋
— Wrexham AFC (@Wrexham_AFC) April 21, 2025
By forsaking the Bloomfield Road directors’ box for the afternoon, the actor delivered on a pledge to emulate Alan Shearer, who had joined the travelling Newcastle fans at Fulham in January, 2024.
“There’s nothing I’d like more,” McElhenney messaged to a Wrexham fan who had suggested he should do the same at a future away game.
Following on from Reynolds jetting in to lend his support for the 3-0 victory over Burton Albion earlier in the month, his co-chairman being at both Easter games suggests the Hollywood duo are determined there will be no repeat of 12 months ago when they were both on the other side of the Atlantic as promotion was clinched.
They could thank Humphrey Ker for being caught on the hop, the club’s executive director and the man who set the pair ultimately on the road to buying the Welsh club. Not only did Wrexham have to beat Forest Green Rovers that April afternoon, Ker had explained when there was talk of the duo flying in from the USA for the match, but other results had to go the club’s way too.
Better to attend the final game of the season a fortnight later, Reynolds and McElhenney were told. Which explains how, as the celebrations got under way in Wrexham after a 6-0 win over Forest Green and unexpected defeats for their two closest rivals, the pair could only celebrate from afar.
Friends tried to make up for their absence — Sir Kenneth Branagh handed Reynolds a greetings card with ‘Happy Birthday’ scrawled out and replaced by ‘Congratulations on promotion’ — while McElhenney also took a break from filming series four of the Apple TV+ show Mythic Quest to phone Parkinson not long after the team had finished a lap of honour on the pitch.
But there’s clearly no substitute for being there, hence why it now seems a racing certainty that Deadpool star Reynolds and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia co-creator McElhenney will be cheering the team on in person against Charlton this coming Saturday.
Should Wycombe fail to win at Leyton Orient at lunchtime, a Wrexham victory in the tea-time game will be enough to seal the runners-up spot behind champions Birmingham City.
A mouth-watering prospect, though not one goalscorer McClean will be taking for granted. “Hopefully that will be the case,” he said. “But that’s all talk at the minute. We have to go out and put that talk into action by delivering.
“Hopefully, come 5.30pm, The Racecourse will be absolutely bouncing and that can feed on to the players.”
As for McElhenney joining the away fans at Blackpool, McClean said: “Rob enjoyed himself today. It was his first away game in with the fans. Not a bad one to start with. It’s great for the club that he wants to do things like that.
“From the first day I came here, the owners have been brilliant. Totally involved in a good way, not in a pesky way. Absolutely full credit to him and it’s great to send Rob home happy.”
Wrexham are no strangers to the rollercoaster of emotions that Easter can bring, so perhaps it was appropriate that Blackpool, home to the world famous Pleasure Beach, should be their destination on Bank Holiday Monday.
After the huge disappointment of Good Friday’s draw at home to Bristol Rovers, goals from McClean and Ollie Rathbone capped a fine all-round team display.
Once 2-0 ahead, the party really got started with most of Wrexham’s extensive back catalogue of songs given an airing by the overjoyed travelling fans, including, just before the final whistle, a song by The Declan Swans that McElhenney once joked should be played at his funeral.
Tonight’s episode includes the song they’ll play at my funeral. This and “Whoomp! There It Is” #WrexhamFX pic.twitter.com/XKJatCkKvQ
— Rob McElhenney (@RMcElhenney) September 7, 2022
Less than a mile from the centre of town,
A famous old stadium crumbling down,
No one’s invested so much as a penny,
Bring on the Deadpool and Rob McElhenney
Surely it was the perfect way to end a near-perfect away ‘debut’ among the fans, potentially setting up Wrexham and their celebrity owners for a night to remember on Saturday.
(Top photo: Rob McElhenney at Bloomfield Road; by Richard Sellers/PA Images via Getty Images)
