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Ryan Reynolds has expressed his desire to beat Birmingham minority owner Tom Brady in the ‘Hollywood Derby’ and revealed how his celebrity friends love to hang out at “unspoiled” Wrexham.
NFL great Brady’s Birmingham visit Wrexham on Thursday night with precious Sky Bet League One points at stake and revenge in the Welsh air after the Blues won the reverse fixture at St Andrew’s in September.
Brady was in the directors’ box that night alongside former England captain David Beckham and, as Wrexham slid to a 3-1 defeat, Reynolds said he jokingly texted the pair about “failing bone structure and age-related material”.
“There is definitely a lot of anticipation over this game,” Deadpool actor and Wrexham co-owner Reynolds said on the Men in Blazers podcast. “Would I love to beat Tom Brady at sports? Yes – an emphatic yes.
“Would Rob (McElhenney)? Maybe more. I think Rob has a skosh more rabies about it all. It’s the big one.”
It is almost four years since Reynolds and McElhenney completed their takeover of Wrexham, the pair having transformed a club which had spent more than a decade in the National League doldrums.
The Red Dragons, having won back-to-back promotions, are currently third in League One – five points behind leaders Birmingham – and the club and community now has a global profile through the award-winning ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary series.
Overseas visitors have flocked to the Racecourse since the February 2021 takeover, and Hollywood A-listers Channing Tatum, Eva Longoria, Hugh Jackman, Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell have also attended Wrexham games and mingled with fans.
Reynolds said: “I don’t have to pitch them anything. They’ve seen the show and they know ‘how the sausage gets made’ to a certain degree.
“The show doesn’t centre myself or Rob, it centres the community and the team and they want to experience that.
“They want to feel a bit of that Fields of Dream energy and walk into a place that is hallowed. A place that, despite the best efforts of Rob and myself, has remained unspoiled.
“Will Ferrell is a football nut and he just wanted to be there and see and experience the Racecourse Ground and all it has to offer. Hugh was the same way. I’m not very strong and needed Channing to carry things up to the suite!”
Reynolds also spoke of his relationship with football – “I love this sport so much I hate it” – and again stressed his determination to take Wrexham into the Premier League.
He said: “I mean, 10 years from now… we would be morons to not want to see this club in the Premier League but to also be unique in that everything about the place has stayed true to what it originally was. I mean, that’s kind of the perfect scenario.
“So, 10 years, I hope Wrexham is Wrexham and I hope the change that has taken place is for the better and that people are proud of it.
“I hope the change doesn’t feel like it was too big, too soon because there’s an underdog nature to the town.”
