Ryan Reynolds described football as a “soul-deadening, evil and gorgeous game” after watching his Wrexham team play live for the first time.
Reynolds and his fellow actor and co-owner Rob McElhenney swapped the glamour of Hollywood for an autumnal evening in Berkshire on Tuesday.
However, the match did not follow the script as the stars may have hoped, as 10-man Wrexham were beaten 3-2 by Maidenhead United at the York Road Stadium.
Despite the result, Deadpool actor Reynolds, 45, appeared to enjoy his first taste of British football, sharing pictures from the National League game with his more than 39 million Instagram followers.
They included snaps of him and McElhenney smiling in the stands.
He wrote alongside the pictures: “Football is a beautiful, heartbreaking, soul-deadening, evil and gorgeous game and I’m never sleeping again.”
He tagged both Wrexham’s official account and that of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator McElhenney.
Reynolds and McElhenney, 44, made headlines after taking 100 per cent ownership of the fifth-tier Red Dragons in February this year.
They took over from the Wrexham Supporters Trust and made a £2 million ($2.75m) investment under the terms of the deal.
Tuesday’s game was the first Wrexham fixture the duo have attended since taking over as owners of the club.
Wrexham fan Andy Gilpin said he was “gobsmacked” to see the Hollywood owners at York Road and that their appearance had “given supporters a boost”.
“We had an inkling that they may have shown up today, but we didn’t actually think that might happen until we saw them in the stand,” Gilpin told the PA news agency.
“Obviously that gave everyone a big boost – they’re there, you can see them, they were waving to the fans.
“We knew they were in the area and we knew they’d landed about six hours ago but we thought this probably would be a game too far for them, then we saw a lot of stewards rushing around just before the kick-off and then the rumour came round that ‘yeah they’re here’.
“There’s media hype and then there’s showing up at Maidenhead away which isn’t the sort of Hollywood entrance really, it’s a very low-key ground, and to see two Hollywood stars there in the middle of the home stand, we were just gobsmacked you know.
“It’s quite a statement to come here to Maidenhead away and fair play to them for doing that.
“For them to come here – it shows that they mean business.
“I didn’t expect them to be here, I thought they would keep it for Torquay where they’d have a red carpet entrance and to see them here was just amazing.
“I went down and took a very blurry photo of two people waving to someone and to be honest it gave us all a great boost, it was really great to see them.”
Test series fixtures
(All matches start at 2pm UAE)
1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday
2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18
3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31
4th Test Manchester from August 4-8
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
ALRAWABI%20SCHOOL%20FOR%20GIRLS
%3Cp%3ECreator%3A%20Tima%20Shomali%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%C2%A0Tara%20Abboud%2C%C2%A0Kira%20Yaghnam%2C%20Tara%20Atalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
UNSC Elections 2022-23
Seats open:
- Two for Africa Group
- One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
- One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
- One for Eastern Europe Group
Countries so far running:
More coverage from the Future Forum
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Tips for avoiding trouble online
- Do not post incorrect information and beware of fake news
- Do not publish or repost racist or hate speech, yours or anyone else’s
- Do not incite violence and be careful how to phrase what you want to say
- Do not defame anyone. Have a difference of opinion with someone? Don’t attack them on social media
- Do not forget your children and monitor their online activities
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Destroyer
Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan
Rating: 3/5
UAE release: January 31
ENGLAND SQUAD
Team: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Maro Itoje, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Sam Simmonds
Replacements 16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Jack Nowell
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
