McElhenney reflects on 'magical' Wrexham season
Wrexham co-chairman Rob McElhenney says the club are taking things “one step at a time” following back-to-back promotions.
Always Sunny star McElhenney was at the Racecourse as already-promoted Wrexham celebrated their move into League One with a win over champions Stockport.
It comes 12 months after returning to the Football League, with fellow owner Ryan Reynolds posting his delight on social media at “an incredible finish to another season and another promotion.”
The Hollywood pair completed their takeover in February 2021 with Reynolds insisting the long-term dream was the Premier League.
“It’s been a magical season,” McElhenney told BBC Sport Wales. “It’s been an incredible year and this was just the icing on the cake.”
McElhenney said he kept in contact with Reynolds during the game and that the Deadpool star was disappointed to be unable to make the trip as Phil Parkinson’s side secured runners-up spot.
With huge overseas interest in the club as a result of their celebrity owner involvement and access-all-areas documentary helping Wrexham to record turnover in recent accounts, McElhenney was asked whether the predictions of reaching the top-flight were now being taken seriously, but he said: “It’s just one step at a time.”
He added: “We didn’t expect promotion to come so quickly. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t expect that we would be up there - and that’s just based on conversations we’d had with Phil (Parkinson) throughout the off season, even as we stumbled at the beginning he had steady hand and he felt we’d be up there near the top, if not the top three then in play-off contention so we felt pretty confident, but you never know with football.”
Wrexham’s slow start to the season – and midtable stumble – had seen some criticism of Parkinson before he silenced doubters in steering the club to the third tier for the first time since 2005.
It was Parkinson’s fifth promotion of his career, and McElhenney praised his achievement saying: “The man has done nothing but deliver constantly and consistently.”
