Wrexham star highlights one space Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney should improv
Wrexham’s star Mark Howard has praised Hollywood A-listers Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney for their hands on approach – but he’s named one thing they must change
Wrexham star Mark Howard has highlighted one area the club’s Hollywood owners must improve if they want to achieve their Premier League ambitions.
The Welsh side have enjoyed a fast rise through the divisions thanks to the investment of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, gaining back-to-back promotions from the National League to League One.
Phil Parkinson’s team are currently second in the third tier this season, putting them in a strong position to pull off an astonishing third successive promotion to the Championship.
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Reynolds and McElhenney have ambitious plans to capitalise on the popularity of the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary, with the pair previously revealing their goal of making it all the way to the Premier League.
Despite singing the A-listers’ praises for their “hands on” approach, goalkeeper Mark Howard thinks there is one ingredient missing to get to the top tier. The veteran stopper identified the lack of a dedicated training facility for their first team stars as the main stumbling block.
Howard said: “It’s been talked about publicly that the training ground is the one aspect that the club is missing, because that then becomes a great pathway. You can improve the academy and they’ll start producing more and more players, because the catchment area around Wrexham is huge.
“That’s one thing that we’ve all talked about, including the players, staff and owners. It’s something that the club knows is going to have to change moving forward.
“We’ve fast tracked our progress with a couple of promotions to push us up the leagues, so there are areas where the club is playing catch up. These sort of things are part and parcel of the club evolving.”
Reynolds and McElhenney made investing in a permanent training facility that is “worthy of an EFL club” one of their main priorities when they first bought the club in February 2021.
However, more than three years down the line, Parkinson and his players are still having to make use of several temporary bases to prepare for matches.
They include Colliers Park in the nearby village of Gresford, which is owned by the Football Association of Wales, along with the Carden Park Hotel in neighbouring Cheshire and the Racecourse Ground itself.
Speaking during an appearance on Howard’s ‘Yours, Mine, Away’ podcast in February, Deadpool star Reynolds admitted there was an urgent need for a new training ground, but blamed planning red tape for the delays.
He said: “We need a training ground badly. There’s a bunch of different options we’re looking at but yeah it is huge, not just huge for the club but huge for everybody.
“We want it to be something that is experienced by everyone who lives in Wrexham as well so there’s a lot of careful planning going into it.
“It’s the same where I grew up in Canada, there’s a lot of bureaucracy, it’s not just as easy as saying let’s build this thing or grow this thing you have to get 800 permits before you’re allowed to.”
Howard was speaking ahead of a sportsman’s evening at Hotel Wrexham (formerly the Holt Lodge) on Thursday, December 19, where he will appear alongside goalkeeping legends John Achterberg and Neville Southall.
Tickets costing £25 for the Q&A session or £40 for meet and greet, both including food and live music, can be bought from the Skiddle website .
