Hollywood duo open new Premier League funded stand
Film stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney brought a touch of Hollywood glamour to Wrexham AFC at the weekend as they cut the ribbon on refurbishments at the club they co-own in North Wales. This is the first visit to the Racecourse Ground for the pair since they took ownership of the National League club in February.
The refurbishment of the WrexRent stand concourse is a result of a grant from the Premier League through the Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF). The £400,000 FSIF grant which is 50 per cent of the total project cost, has enabled the club to improve the stadium experience for spectators by providing significantly increased toilet and catering facilities, as well as having access to two new viewing platforms for disabled fans.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney cutting the ribbon on Wrexham AFC's new WrexRent stand
Bill Bush, Advisor to the Chief Executive at the Premier League said:
“Fans deserve to have a better, more comfortable and safer environment and it’s a real pleasure to work with the Premier League in getting the money to clubs like Wrexham.
“It’s absolutely vital the Premier League supports the rest of the pyramid - we do it in all sorts of ways and we are going to keep on doing this sort of thing as long as clubs like Wrexham need it.”
Kerry Evans, Disability Liaison Officer, Wrexham AFC said: “To have an impact of money that we’ve now been able to start making a difference at Wrexham Football Club. We’ve now been able to make great strides at Wrexham for disability.
“We’ve now got two accessible platforms which gives fans the opportunity to actually watch from different areas and that’s massive!”
Fleur Robinson, CEO Wrexham AFC said: “We want to be inclusive for everybody and with this stand particularly we are able to accommodate people with wheelchairs or ambulant disabled so having the funding has been tremendous.”
Funded by the Premier League, the FSIF awards capital grants to eligible English Football League, English National League, Women's Pyramid and Welsh Premier League clubs to improve stadium safety and enable clubs to satisfy The FA’s ground grading requirements, without which many clubs would be unable to achieve the necessary criteria to achieve promotion.
As sister organisation of the Football Foundation, the FSIF are the largest funders of non-league football in the country.