How does that famous expression go? You wait an age for one bus and then two show up…
Well fans of the football team Wrexham AFC could potentially be enjoying a second open-top bus parade in as many years, after the club, which made global headlines after undergoing a celebrity takeover in 2021, won a second successive promotion in a row.
Wrexham’s men's team debut season in League Two (which, somewhat confusingly, is actually the fourth tier of the professional football league system in the United Kingdom) has ended with the club securing enough points to seal automatic promotion to League One (the third tier of the football league system in the UK).
Having dropped down into the National League (the fifth tier of the football league system) in 2008, fans of the club had to wait over a decade to gain promotion back into League Two, a feat feverishly celebrated with an open-top bus tour around the city last summer. Few supporters would have expected another promotion the very next year!
The achievement was sealed after Wrexham thrashed league strugglers Forest Green Rovers 6-0 at their home stadium, the Stok Racecourse, sparking jubilant scenes that saw home fans rushing onto the pitch to celebrate.
This shift in fortune for the club, based in the North Wales city of Wrexham, has coincided with a – somewhat surreal – turn of events that saw American actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney successfully purchase Wrexham in 2021. Though the bid from the Hollywood stars took many by surprise, the duo’s short tenure as owners has so far proven a resounding triumph.
However, Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson believes the team can go on to achieve even greater things.
Speaking to the BBC after the promotion to League One was confirmed, Parkinson said, ‘Last year when we got promotion [to League Two] I felt there were a lot more chapters to be written,’ Parkinson said. ‘I firmly believe that's still [the case] now.’
Parkinson also thanked both the “absolutely magnificent” Wrexham fans and the club’s celebrity owners for their ongoing support, noting that he’d already spoken to Rob McElhenney on the phone.
‘They [the owners] deserve a lot of credit obviously because of the support they've given myself and all the staff and all the players as well,’ said Parkinson. ‘They deserve this and I'm sure they will be celebrating wherever they are in the US.’
While the Hollywood takeover has coincided with improved results on the pitch, Wrexham’s stock has also risen dramatically off it, with the team’s new-found fame attracting major new sponsors (like social media app TikTok) and seeing the club take centre stage in a globally-streamed documentary, Welcome to Wrexham. As a result, the Welsh club now has a whole new legion of fans – of both the regular and celebrity variety – from all across the world.
Read more about the story of Wrexham AFC’s unlikely rise to stardom.