WREXHAM OWNERS RYAN REYNOLDS AND ROB MCELHENNEY HANDED REMARKABLE WELSH HONOUR

All aboard and welcome to Wrexham - via Vancouver and Philadelphia.

Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have relished plenty of accolades in the three years since their takeover of the recently promoted Welsh club. They've won successive promotions in the English football pyramid, ended a 15-year exile from league football, laid siege to the latest Emmy Awards and introduced Ant Man and Elf to north Wales.

One of them has a ginormous air-borne blimp brandished with his face in his honour. The other boasts a commemorative stadium urinal and has been drawn like one of those French girls. How do you top any of this? Apparently with two giant locomotives.

Transport for Wales, the train company operated by the Welsh government, announced in a video posted to social media that it was naming two of its TFW trains running to Wrexham after the respective hometowns of the Hollywood duo Reynolds and McElhenney: Ddraig Goch Vancouver (Red Dragon Vancouver) and Ddraig Goch Philadelphia (Red Dragon Philadelphia).

There's a Deadpool joke to be made here. And far too many It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia references (C'mon N' ride the train. Our cargo is pain, our conductor's insane. Take your pick).

While some critics have dubbed the gesture sycophantic, the train company insists that the action is a bid to pay tribute to the club co-owners impact on the club and the surrounding community with Wrexham "put on the map". The former Welsh mining town has become a major point of interest for tourists around the world from the award-winning "Welcome to Wrexham" docuseries, while sponsors such as United Airlines, TikTok and HP have only supercharged its fame. The trainline has relished an uptick in demand heading north as an upshot.

Indeed, the duo have had a global and lucrative effect on the area. Last year, Jim Jones, the chief executive of North Wales Tourism, said the publicity generated by Wrexham's international renown is worth "more than £1billion".

“It’s impossible to accurately calculate the precise value of the profile created by their special brand of magic," Jones said. "But the Rob and Ryan factor would undoubtedly be worth more than £1 billion if you had to pay for the equivalent coverage in advertising.”

The club's most recent accounts reflect the "Rob and Ryan effect" and the subsequent surge in attention. Revenue soared 75 per cent to more than £10million for the year ending June 30, 2023. Before their pair's arrival, annual revenue typically ranged from £1.5million to just £3million. Retail merchandise was the biggest category at £3.4million and up nearly 200 per cent.

Wrexham won promotion to League One after finishing second in League Two behind Stockport County, representing the first time in the club's history that back-to-back promotions were achieved.

The Red Dragons face the League Two champions on Saturday to mark the end of the season. While no promotion is parade for the occasion as was last year, Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson said that the occasion will be a "celebration" for both sides after attaining a berth in the third tier.

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2024-04-26T14:42:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd