'Have my children!' - Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds finds hilarious way to show support for Red Dragons star Ollie Rathbone

Rathbone has come back from a serious ankle injury, after missing the entirety of the 2023/24 season. He has made 10 Championship appearances since his comeback and already has four goals, with Reynolds showing his support for the midfielder with a hilarious hoodie. The Deadpool star attended their clash with Millwall in Wales, and was pictured by an X user wearing a red hooded sweatshirt that read "Ollie Rathbone, have my children."

Rathbone scored a brilliant volley for Wrexham against Blackburn Rovers to help Parkinson's side to a 2-0 win on New Year's Day. He also scored against QPR, with the club now sitting sixth, in the final play-off place as they bid to win their fourth successive promotion in a remarkable story.

Rathbone could well be cast as the underdog of the story, having revealed that his parents had to talk him out of retirement as he went through his injury hell. 

He said:  "There are 150 days between the two photos below. The picture on the left is me limping off the pitch in pre-season with a serious ankle injury. The picture on the right is me scoring a 90th-minute equaliser two minutes after coming on in my first league appearance of the season.

"The time in between has been by far the most difficult period of my career, getting back to full fitness, set back after set back and finding myself out the team. I hated the situation I found myself in, I felt sorry for myself, wallowed in self pity and moaned to anybody who would listen about how hard done by I had been."

He added on his parents' role in lifting him out of a dark period in his career: "I told my parents one afternoon how fed up I was and how I was close to completely sacking it off, they looked at me and said, 'Oliver that's not you and it's definitely not us.'

"They made me promise that no matter what I would stay positive, give my all and make sure I was ready for my chance when it came. The fact they were there to see that goal made it even more special, it only happened because of them."

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Rathbone won Player of the Year for Wrexham at the end of the 2024/25 season but he has revealed how difficult he has found it to fight his way back into the XI. 

He said: "I didn't think when I was getting player of the year on that pitch in May that my next minutes would be in December. So it's been really tough. I had the big injury in pre-season, so I missed all of pre-season. Then I had a couple of little niggles that have set me back even more so I felt a million miles away at times. But I've worked really hard and kept myself ultra professional and just got on with things. I've not kicked up a fuss and just worked really hard and backed myself."

He added: "I think you need to have resilience and I think when you get to this point in your career you have to have that to play as many games as I have. The support of my family has been incredible because it has been really, really difficult. I won't downplay it, it's been a really tough period for me and I felt like the forgotten man at times. But hopefully I can kick on from here. All I want is to feel like a part of this team and to try and help us be successful."

Wrexham play Ipswich Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday, before taking on Bristol City in the Championship next week.