Rob McElhenney may have graced Hollywood and become an American television star, but it seems few things mean more to him than the hallowed turf of lower league football grounds.
McElhenney, 47, became co-owner of Wrexham in February 2021 along with fellow actor Ryan Reynolds, and has overseen instant success at the Welsh club.
Under the pair, the Dragons have surged from the National League to League One in consecutive seasons, ensuring the pair are already cult heroes among the fans.
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Both McElhenney and Reynolds regularly jet over for games, and famously paraded the trophy on the pitch after Wrexham sealed the National League title in April last year.
And now, the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor has revealed he makes sure he never forgets any game he attends. However, it’s not video footage or player shirts he possesses to remind him of Racecourse occasions, but rather bits of dirt and grass.
Speaking on the Men in Blazers podcast, he told host Roger Bennett “This is a gift that Kaitlyn (his wife) got me,” before picking up a frame containing several bits of turf. “Every game I take a little piece of the pitch with me.
“This marks all of the special games, so most recently, League One promotion, Wrexham 6-0 Forest Green. I actually wasn’t there for that game because we weren’t sure that was going to be the clincher.
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“So I had Humphrey Ker (executive director) grab me a bunch of grass and he put it in a plastic bag for me. Every other game I’ve been to, and it goes all the way back to our first home win, Wrexham 5-0 Maidstone, August 20, 2022 - that’s this one here (points).”
Struggling to contain his laughter, Bennett replied: “That is incredible. That’s like a Rupert Brooke poem. There is some corner of a foreign field that is forever north Wales. That is beautiful. A bit of north Wales in California.”
McElhenney is continuing to ride the crest of a wave in Wrexham with the team currently top of League One having taken 13 points from their first five games. Indeed, a third successive promotion suddenly looks a distinctive possibility.
And the co-owner recently took to X to underline his faith in manager Phil Parkinson. McElhenney responded to a post on X that pointed out that Wrexham have accumulated more points since the start of the 2022/23 season than any other club in the top five divisions of English football.
"And it’s all because of this man,” the celebrity replied, with a ‘quote-tweet’. He then added: “In Phil we trust," prompting a favourable reaction from fans online.
