A Wrexham cult figure has admitted he felt scepticism over the club’s Hollywood takeover
A Wrexham fan who has commentated on the club’s matches for 37 years has admitted he was strongly opposed to the team’s Hollywood takeover when it was first announce.
Mark Griffiths has become a well known figure since Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac bought the Red Dragons in February 2021. The retired teacher’s commentary has featured prominently on the hit Welcome to Wrexham documentary.
However, he has now confessed he was initially against the idea of the two actors buying the club from the Wrexham Supporters Trust. Griffiths said his doubts stemmed from the fact Wrexham nearly went out of existence on several occasions under private ownership in the past.
He said it wasn’t until he was contacted personally by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Mac that he realised the pair’s intentions were genuine.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Griffiths said: “I wasn’t just sceptical [about the takeover], I was dead set against it to be honest. I’d seen us nearly go out of business twice in the 2010s and call me unambitious, but I liked the security of the [supporters] trust running the club.
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“Yeah, okay, we were in non-league, but I knew there’d be a game next Saturday. For a long time, we kept thinking that any day now we could be shut down and it happened to us twice.
“I didn’t like the idea of the trust selling up to anybody. When I heard who it was, I thought, ‘Okay, they’re going to take a hell of a lot of reputational damage if it goes badly.’
“When I actually looked into what they were like, and was fortunate enough that Rob got in touch with me, I sort of realised, ‘Oh, hang on a second. We’ve absolutely hit the jackpot here.’ They are so genuine and the impact on Wrexham as a place is jaw dropping.”
Griffiths was speaking after a clip of his commentary on Wrexham’s dramatic last minute winner against QPR on Saturday went viral on social media. The North Wales outfit were 2-1 down in the latter stages of the Championship fixture until injury time goals from Josh Windass and Ollie Rathbone secured a remarkable comeback.
The result saw Phil Parkinson’s side climb up to sixth in the table, just inside the play-off places. Griffiths hailed the huge impact Reynolds and Mac have had on the pitch, with Wrexham achieving three consecutive promotions since they bought the club.
He also praised the transformative impact the takeover has had on the city itself, which has witnessed a significant influx of visitors off the back of the documentary.
Griffiths said: “The whole place is different on a very basic level and it’s busier. On the high street, an awful lot of it was shuttered up. Now, all of those empty shop fronts and the temporary shops are full of actual businesses.
“There are entrepreneurs who said that 15 years ago, they couldn’t possibly take the risk of opening a business in Wrexham because it would be dead within a year. Now, they’ve all got their own businesses and there’s lots more bespoke businesses, rather than just high street chains.”
He added: “We get an astounding amount of international visitors. They started off just coming to pop in for an afternoon out of curiosity when they’re already in Britain. It’s now got to the point where people are coming here to Wrexham for a fortnight.
“I’ve yet to come across anyone who hasn’t really enjoyed themselves in Wrexham and the warm welcome they see on the TV show is exactly what they get.”
