Wrexham secures promotion in Season 2 under Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney

The second season of “Welcome to Wrexham” will have a happy ending.

Wrexham, the fifth-tier Welsh football team who gained rare notoriety at their level thanks to their purchase by American actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, clinched promotion and the National title with a 3-1 win over Boreham Wood on Saturday league. The club’s record currently stands at 34-8-3, four points ahead of second-placed Notts County with just one game remaining in the season.

The club are now on their way to fourth-tier League Two and will rejoin the English Football League.

Boreham Wood started quickly with a first-minute goal, but Wrexham responded with goals in the 16th, 52nd and 72nd minutes.

Paul Mullin scored the final two goals to defeat Wrexham.

Promotion ends a 15-year stint in the fifth division for Wrexham, who only competed in the second division in 2002. The club had endured tough times over the past decade and was pushed to the financial brink by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Many Hulu subscribers know what happened next. McElhenney, a well-known Philadelphia sports fan, reportedly became interested in owning a football team after watching the Sunderland ‘Til I Die docuseries, and brought in Reynolds as a partner.

Reynolds and McElhenney bought the team for a reported $2.5 million and documented the experience on the Hulu series Welcome to Wrexham, which immediately raised the club’s profile and financial resources.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are promoted

Together, Wrexham’s new owners and existing leadership overhauled the club, hiring manager Phil Parkinson and signing players such as Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer with the stated intent of achieving rapid promotion and the financial resources that would accompany it.

This investment did not pay off immediately, as Wrexham finished their first season under new ownership as runners-up in a league where only first place guarantees promotion, then fell to Grimsby Town in the semi-finals of the playoffs.

The story goes on

Reynolds and McElhenney’s second season was much more successful, but they competed with Notts County at the top of the table all season. Disaster struck last month when goalkeeper Rob Lainton was out with a knee injury, but Wrexham managed to lure former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster, a former Wrexham player, out of retirement.

While promotion was decided on Saturday, the season was decided in a crucial game against Notts County on April 10. The winner of that game was given the inside lane for promotion, and a 3–2 win resulted in a last-minute penalty save from Foster.

Wrexham is now in the second tier, while the producers of Welcome to Wrexham can breathe a sigh of relief that their second season will not be a repeat of the first.