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Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman react to Wrexham's dream FA Cup draw versus Chelsea
Martin Macdonald
- 17 Feb 2026 04:30 CST
- 6 min read
News
It seems Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds is over the moon with the club's draw against Chelsea in the FA Cup.
Last Friday, Wrexham defeated fellow Championship side Ipswich 1-0 thanks to a goal from Josh Windass to send them to the fifth round for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The draw for the fifth round took place on Monday evening after Brentford defeated Macclesfield 1-0. There is one more tie left in the fourth round as Port Vale are yet to play Bristol City after their match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, but the winners of that game will face Sunderland.
Wrexham's fifth-round opponents Chelsea made it into the draw after comfortably defeating Hull 4-0 after a hat-trick from Pedro Neto and a strike from Estevao.
It's the glamour tie that Wrexham would have been dreaming of - and it's taking place at home, which will inject some serious broadcast money into the club.
Reynolds posted a clip on social media alongside pal Hugh Jackman with their reaction to the draw with the caption: "Holy crap..."
Chelsea at the Racecourse! Holy crap 🔴⚔️🔵 pic.twitter.com/aC8EnLCZEl
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) February 16, 2026
Wrexham's Premier League dream
Wrexham have been promoted in three successive seasons, backed by the Hollywood cash of Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
When the pair took over, they promised Premier League football somewhere down the line and that may happen as early as next season as the club is positioned well in the playoffs in the Championship.
More often than not, promoted sides struggle with the step-up in quality to the top-flight, only to go straight back down so Wrexham will need to prepare themselves for the change.
Former Premier League star Rob Earnshaw believes the club has the infrastructure to succeed and urged Reynolds and McElhenney to continue spending to bring in additional quality, akin to Nottingham Forest's splurge after gaining promotion.
“I think they will stay in the Premier League if they went up," the Welshman predicted.
"They are very open in terms of understanding what would be needed. That’s one of the hard things because sometimes you can go up to the Premier League and be a bit more rigid in terms of how you see things and don’t want seven/eight/nine new players, you only want four or five, or you don’t understand what is needed to stay in that league.
“I think they work in a way of being open to what is the best thing for the football club and the best thing to continue improving the quality. That is one of the biggest battles that you always find, the not understanding or being old-school in not being able to adapt or evolve with the times and with what the Premier League needs.
“Long story short, absolutely they can stay in the Premier League. Now they are starting to believe that there is an outside chance of them going up this season. At the beginning of the season I said ‘no chance, it’s too much for them’. Now, they have made the right signings and the team is starting to gel and get results, that belief is there, there is an outside chance. I don’t think it is at the level where it was six to eight months ago, where they weren't going to go up, now there is a chance.
“I would be very surprised if it isn’t this year, then next year they can compete to be in the top two. Right now they believe they can be in the top six, that’s their belief, but if they don’t go up this season, then by this time next year, they will believe that they can be in the top two.”
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