Forest are Wrexham's first Premier League opponents of their Hollywood era: This is what it means
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Richard Sutcliffe
Wrexham have a chance to add to their storied FA Cup history when they take on top-flight side Nottingham Forest on Friday
“For as long as I live,” says Ryan Reynolds, clearly holding back the tears when addressing the Wrexham players following his first live taste of the FA Cup as a football club co-owner, “I will never forget that feeling out there. So, thank you, boys.
“I hope you feel good. I know you wanted the win, and we lost it in the last second and that f**king sucks. But, g*****mit, this town has something blowing through it like nothing else, and it’s because of each and every one of you guys right here.”
Almost three years have elapsed since Reynolds made this heartfelt speech in the home dressing room after Wrexham drew 3-3 with Sheffield United in a thrilling fourth-round tie broadcast live to millions across the UK and beyond by the BBC’s flagship show Match of the Day.
But, its power and emotion remain.
Even the Canadian actor’s mis-speaking in saying Wrexham had “lost” underlines the emotional wringer he and a capacity crowd at the Racecourse Ground had just been put through courtesy of a match that saw the then non-League hosts twice take the lead only to be denied a famous upset in the dying seconds when John Egan equalised for a United side flying high in the second-tier Championship at the time and on their way to Premier League promotion.
Phil Parkinson, the Wrexham manager then and now, certainly remembers the moment well.
“I was in the dressing room when Ryan came in to speak to the lads,” he tells The Athletic. “His reaction shows just what the FA Cup can do. It had been an emotionally-charged evening, and Ryan’s impromptu speech summed it up perfectly.”
Ryan Reynolds during that FA Cup thriller against Sheffield United in January 2023 (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
Wrexham will again be in the FA Cup spotlight on Friday, when Nottingham Forest become the first Premier League outfit to visit north Wales since Reynolds and Rob Mac (then McElhenney) bought the club a little under five years ago.
Parkinson, no stranger to an upset himself in the world’s oldest national football competition after masterminding third-tier Bradford City’s stunning 4-2 fourth-round defeat of Jose Mourinho’s title-bound Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in January 2015, is eagerly looking forward to a tie that will help kick off the third round — the stage where the Premier League big guns join the competition and traditionally a highlight of English football’s calendar.
“This has always been one of the great weekends of the season,” he says. “It starts with the draw. You always want to be in it, if (you are) a lower-division club. Obviously, this year we entered at this stage (as Wrexham are now in the top two divisions after a third straight promotion last season).
“That’s been fantastic, as this is a very prestigious stage of a prestigious competition. We are delighted to have landed a home draw against a Premier League club. That’s something we have been hoping for for a while — a bit of cup magic at The Racecourse.”
The FA Cup is not what it was in terms of prestige. Once seen as the ultimate prize to win by clubs up and down the land, now it feels like an afterthought to those big-club managers whose priority is qualifying for the Champions League, which can be achieved by finishing as far down the Premier League table as fifth.
Parkinson and Mourinho on the touchline during that Chelsea-Bradford game in 2015 (Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
It is, though, perhaps the previous round that season, when Bradford faced Millwall of the Championship, that best encapsulates the cup’s ability to get under the skin of both Parkinson and his long-time assistant Steve Parkin.
After a 3-3 draw in the original tie in south-east London, both were dismissed from the touchline by referee James Adcock during the first half of a stormy replay, which Bradford eventually won 4-0.
Like a little-and-large tag-team, the fuming pair had raced down the touchline to remonstrate with Millwall defender Alan Dunne after Bradford striker James Hanson had been barged over the pitchside advertising hoarding. TV footage later showed the coaching duo watching from an empty block of seats in Valley Parade’s main stand, both still with faces like thunder despite Bradford being well on their way to booking that money-spinning glamour trip to Stamford Bridge.
“The draw sending the winners of the tie to Chelsea meant the prize was suddenly huge,” explains Parkinson. “Not just for us, but Millwall as well. It probably explains why both me and Steve got sent off that night!”
Parkinson and Parkin have had their own cup moments to savour since joining Wrexham four-and-a-half years ago, not least the 4-3 third-round win at Coventry City, another Championship side, as a non-League club in January 2023.
Then came the 3-3 draw with Sheffield United three weeks later, which prompted Reynolds’ wife and fellow actor Blake Lively to take to social media to poke fun at her husband. “I bought ESPN+ today,” the Gossip Girl star wrote on Instagram above a screenshot of Reynolds sporting a pained expression at the third-round tie. “Just to watch my husband experience crippling anxiety live. Worth it!”
In the replay in Sheffield just over a week later, by which time the draw for the next round had taken place and the clubs knew a home tie against the Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur awaited if they went through, United won 3-1 — albeit two of their goals only came in second-half stoppage time.
The following year’s third-round win at Shrewsbury Town of League One, when Wrexham were a division below them in League Two, may not have had quite the same transatlantic impact, but beating such bitter local rivals meant the world to supporters (the clubs are just over 30 miles apart on either side of the border between England and Wales).
“The FA Cup is huge for Wrexham,” says Parkinson. “There’s been so many big days for this club. I found that out very quickly after coming here. So many fans would tell me their stories about the FA Cup.
“You don’t forget days like beating Arsenal. Even that Sheffield United tie from a couple of years ago fitted in with the history of the club.”
Like fellow co-owner Mac, the Deadpool star’s focus has been on the FA Cup this week.
A first meeting with Premier League opposition on their watch feels to have been a long time coming.
Reynolds with fans (Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Whether Friday’s third-round clash with Forest can live up to the thrillers of the past remains to be seen.
Both Parkinson and counterpart Sean Dyche will doubtless not field their strongest lineups, after a hectic period of league football where Wrexham played four times in 10 days and Forest four in 11, including edging past fellow strugglers West Ham United in a relegation scrap that ended less than 72 hours before this cup game will kick off.
Though usually seen these days as a sad indictment of the FA Cup’s fading allure, wholesale changes need not necessarily mean a scaling down of the entertainment levels. Ahead of that 3-3 epic, for instance, Sheffield United’s then manager Paul Heckingbottom replaced five of his 11 starters from the previous league match. Parkinson, meanwhile, had to re-jig things defensively mid-game after losing Jordan Tunnicliffe and Aaron Hayden to injury in the opening 11 minutes.
“A classic British cup tie,” is how the Wrexham manager describes a match that so captivated Reynolds. “Funnily enough, I used that game recently as an example to the current squad of how a team often has to play through adversity.
“On the day, we paid the price by losing a couple of players to injury, meaning I spent that night on the phone to managers and agents, trying to find a centre-half (to sign before the January transfer window closed two days later), when I should have been out enjoying a meal with family and friends.
“But, it was still a great day of cup football, between two teams who were hugely committed and going for the win.
