10 June 2024 , 04:00
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Rob McElhenney has doubled down on his unprecedented optimism, believing that his Wrexham squad will become the first club to achieve three successive promotions in the English football pyramid.
The iconic 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' star co-owns the historic Welsh football club with fellow Hollywood legend Ryan Reynolds and delivered his bold prediction while watching his hometown Phillies in the MLB London Series.
“It's never been done before," McElhenney said. "We hope so, I think it's only been done 18 times when a team has gone back-to-back, but never in the history of English football has a team ever gone back-to-back-to-back. We'll see.”
McElhenney was slated to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Game 2 of the series Sunday, completing a long-running gag on the show in which his character Mac wishes to play catch with Phillies legend Chase Utley. Fellow star Bryce Harper joined the festivities as well, however, and the trio teamed up to complete an unorthodox "first double play."
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Wrexham is the third-oldest professional club in world football, established in 1864 along the northwesternmost reaches of Wales, but plummeted into the fifth tier in 2008 after an 87-year stint in the football league.
The Dragons lingered in the semi-professional division for more than a decade, but the arrival of Reynolds and McElhenney immediately changed Wrexham's fortunes, finishing second in the duo's first full season and earning consecutive promotions in 2023 and 2024.
The storied club will now prepare for their first season of League One football in more than 20 years, pitted against comparatively massive clubs with recent Premier League experience in Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town and Wigan Athletic. McElhenney's defiant optimism is hardly new, however, revealing that his confidence for the third-tier extends to key figures in the clubhouse in an interview with talkSPORT.
Wrexham seek a third-successive promotion in 2024-25 (Getty Images)"But I was just with Phil [Parkinson] and then just with the boys in [Las] Vegas, and they seem to think we have a shot at being there are at the top again," McElhenney said. "I don't see why the club can't [go up again]. But at the same time, let's just enjoy this one while it's here and take the next one as it comes."
In 2022, the ownership pair brought their Hollywood savvy to Wales, launching the 'Welcome to Wrexham' programme on Netflix that offers fans a behind-the-scenes look at the club's rapid ascent, which has earned five Primetime Emmy awards. Along with the television exposure, McElhenney and Reynolds have lifted the Dragons' roster above the more modest standards of lower-tier football, inviting the squad to Las Vegas to celebrate promotion.
Wrexham management have taken cold-blooded steps to ensure the club's viability against this heightened competition, however, as club captain Ben Tozer was among eight players cut from the squad while they partied in Sin City. McElhenney, meanwhile, has openly courted the services of aging Welsh superstar Gareth Bale.