Former Chelsea and Arsenal star Emmanuel Petit has praised Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney for “doing things properly” as owners of Wrexham after transforming the fortunes of the club.

The Hollywood duo have masterminded the rise of the Welsh outfit through the EFL pyramid with two promotions since staging a takeover back in 2020. In just under four years, the Red Dragons have gone from being an unfashionable non-league club to boasting a cult following across the globe as a result of their A-List ties.

Competing in League One for the first time in two decades, Phil Parkinson’s men have continued their charge so far this season and they sit in second place in the division at this early stage. Now, former Premier League stalwart Petit has lavished praise upon Reynolds and McElhenney for their efforts at the Racecourse Ground.

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Speaking to Prime Casino, he made a comparison between their achievements in contrast with that of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital at his old club Chelsea. The outspoken Frenchman said: “Wrexham’s owners are in a completely different world to Chelsea’s owners.”

“I’m a huge fan of Ryan Reynolds as an actor and a person but also as a club owner now,” he continued, as he described his admiration for the project at Wrexham. “He has good values alongside Rob McElhenney and they’ve already had two promotions and are even competing to get into the Championship thanks to them.

“They are doing things properly, step by step, they have the money and the ambition, it’s a dream for their fans and I’m actually quite jealous! They have done great things already and the fans just look delighted. Maybe one day they will sell the club if they get to the Premier League, but it’s been a great story so far.”

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After eight games played, the Dragons occupy the final automatic promotion slot in the EFL’s third tier, with their latest result a 0-0 draw against Leyton Orient. Head coach Parkinson spoke positively about the point gained on the road, as he reflected: “I don’t think you can ever devalue a point on your travels.

“It is a great point for us with their recent form. Orient have had a really good run – they beat Stockport, I came down on Tuesday and they were really good against Peterborough – and they are a decent team, they finished in the top half of this division last year but we stayed in there.”

Parkinson added: “On your travels, you have got to be resilient. At times, we could have got that extra pass in just to take the sting out of them because when we started doing that, we stretched the pitch and we really looked like the team who could go and win the game.”