‘Eyes swollen up like a prizefighter’ - Why Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney looked like he had gone 12 rounds with Tyson Fury during record-breaking promotion push

The Red Dragons enjoyed a season to remember last time out as they swept their way to the National League title. They collected more than 100 points and scored a century of goals, but were pushed all the way to the finish by Notts County.

The stress of a dramatic fight for honours took its toll on all concerned, with hearts racing in North Wales on a regular basis. McElhenney and fellow co-chairman Ryan Reynolds were dragged along for the ride, with the Hollywood duo losing their cool despite being accustomed to performing under intense pressure.

McElhenney was left looking like he had gone 12 rounds with world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury when attending a meeting with County that saw Ben Foster save a stoppage-time penalty in a 3-2 win, with the ‘It’s Always in Sunny in Philadelphia’ actor admitting to feeling dazed and confused as what was supposed to be a fun sporting project began to impact his health.

McElhenney has told The Athletic while casting his mind back to the epic win that carried the Red Dragons a long way towards their eventual coronation – with the events of that day being captured on camera in the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary: “You, intellectually, know what happened. But you emotionally, almost forget. With my nervous system, I still feel the anxiety from the end of the Notts County game. I’ve mentioned in one of the episodes that I had a massive double stye. You can see them in the documentary. My eyes are swollen up like I’m a prizefighter. That was simply due to the stress. In watching some of the footage, I felt a lot of those things coming back, even though I knew it was a happy ending.”

Reynolds and McElhenney have continued to ride a roller coaster at SToK Racecourse, with more memorable matches taken in this season. Phil Parkinson has his side in another promotion race, with Wrexham’s co-owners making no secret of the fact that they want to guide the club towards the Premier League.