Wrexham friends become Leeds United fans after Ryan Reynolds show makes club ‘too popular’

A pair of friends from Wrexham have become Leeds fans after the Ryan Reynolds documentary made the Welsh club too popular, with too many new fans ‘jumping on the bandwagon’.

Mark ‘Bob’ Williams, who cares for blind friend Neal Tunnah, says the Welcome to Wrexham series has made it too hard for the pair to get tickets. He added that many loyal supporters were “not happy at all” with the club’s newfound global popularity.

Hollywood heavyweight Reynolds, known for playing Deadpool, and comedy star Rob McElhenney took over the North Wales club in 2021. The docuseries became a mega-hit after it began airing on Disney Plus and FX in following.

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It showed the club’s rise from the National League, League Two and will show their promotion to League One by the end of the show’s current third season.

Bob and Neal used to regularly attend Wrexham games together. Bob has been a keen Wrexham AFC fan since he was a child. Bob’s nickname even comes from his favorite Wrexham player, Bobby Shinton, a winger who helped the Dragons win the Football League Division Three title and was involved in a huge FA Cup killing spree.

But ever since the documentary, home tickets have been hard to come by. Bob said: “It’s really hard to get tickets for Wrexham because you’ve got all the new people coming on board now. A few years ago, before the takeover, we were getting two or three thousand per game, now we get 11,000 to 12,000 and it’s very difficult for the loyal fans to get anything.

“It’s a good thing, but it’s also bad because they have to think about the people who have supported them for 30 or 40 years. Some of them are not happy about it at all.”

Bob went on to say that may change with Reynolds and McElhenney’s plans to expand the stadium, which currently has a capacity of 12,600. However, in the meantime the pair have become big fans of Leeds United.

Their passion for Leeds dates back to the day Neal was taken to see Don Revie’s mighty Leeds side at Elland Road in 1972. He fell in love with the team ever since and had them as his second team.

Tired of missing football games, Neal asked Bob to take him to Leeds games this season. They said the Disability Liaison team were very helpful in getting tickets. Before each game, Bob, who lives in Chester, drives back to Wrexham each time to collect his friend Neal and they drive to Leeds the night before and stay in a hotel.

Bob said: “Neal asked me to take him to a game. I called them and spoke to the Disability Liaison Officer Nicola. We managed to go to about five home games.

“It’s good football at Leeds and I’ve seen them on TV so I was glad Neal asked me to take him, to be honest. I started watching Leeds this season, they are brilliant. They played some exciting football and have some good players.”

Bob also likes the fact that Leeds currently have four players playing for the Wales national team. “I feel sorry for Daniel James, he was brilliant when he played on Sunday,” he added, commenting on the Whites’ devastating 1-0 defeat to Southampton in the Championship play-off final.

“I was a bit upset but I had that watching Wrexham at Wembley. We will be renewing our season tickets at Leeds and hopefully we will be able to attend a few away games as well.”

Wrexham AFC have been approached for comment.

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