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Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney can make Wrexham a Premier League side inside five years, claims ex-Red Dragons star Brett Ormerod.

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Welsh outfit back in the Football LeagueHollywood co-owners want to reach the topFunds able to make those dreams realityWHAT HAPPENED?

The ambitious Welsh outfit began their climb towards the top tier in 2022-23 when claiming the National League title in record-breaking style. They are now riding high in League Two, with Hollywood co-ownersmaking the funds available that are allowing the grandest of long-term plans to be pieced together.

AdvertisementGettyWHAT ORMEROD SAID ABOUT WREXHAM

Quizzed on whether Wrexham could be rubbing shoulders with the Premier League elite by 2028, Ormerod – who spent two years at the Racecourse between 2012 and 2014 – told : “Hopefully, I'd like to see them in the Championship or Premier League in five years. The owners are ambitious enough to get there. They've always had the right fanbase and now they have the might of the Americans. Where Wrexham end up depends on where the owners want to take it. I wish them all the best because the fans have been through a lot of pain. I remember being there when the bills weren't being paid and they were being threatened to be kicked out of the ground.”

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Wrexham have come a long way in a short space of time, with Ormerod adding on a remarkable sporting story that began when a stunning takeover of the club was completed in the spring of 2021: “Wrexham are very strong. Wrexham have always been a well-supported club and now they have the Hollywood glitz – it's a bit like the circus comes to town now with Wrexham. When I was there as a player, the club was on the brink of bankruptcy and only survived because of the fans so they deserve to be in the position they're in now.”

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FXWHAT NEXT FOR WREXHAM?

Reynolds and McElhenney have never shied away from the fact that they want to take Wrexham to the very top, with their bid to hit the loftiest of targets being captured on camera by the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary series.

The Belgian forward made his Premier League debut for the Blues in 2011 against Norwich City…

Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku will don Chelsea's blue shirt after a gap of seven seasons after leaving the club in 2014. The Blues roped him in for a club-record transfer fee of £98 million from Serie A champions Inter Milan this season.

Lukaku had joined Chelsea in 2011 from Anderlecht as a teenager and made his Premier League debut for the club on August 27, 2011. He came on as a substitute replacing Fernando Torres in the 83rd minute. Chelsea had won the tie 3-1 thanks to Jose Bosingwa, Frank Lampard and Juan Mata's strikes.

He played alongside some of the legends of the game on his Premier League debut like John Terry and Frank Lampard. Here, we take a look at who the teammates of Romelu Lukaku were in that particular match and where they are now. 

Getty Images1Romelu Lukaku – SubThe Belgian forward joined Chelsea the first time in 2011. After spending one year at the club, he moved to West Bromwich Albion and Everton on loan in the next two seasons. Lukaku played Manchester United from 2017 to 2019 and then at Inter Milan from 2019 to 2021. He returned to Chelsea in August 2021.AdvertisementGetty Images2Nicolas Anelka – Sub

The French forward played at Chelsea for four seasons from 2008-2012. Other than Blues, he has played for European giants like Real Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City and PSG.

Nicolas Anelka spent the final two seasons of his career at ISL side Mumbai City FC (2014 and 2015). In his final season, he had served the Indian club as their player-manager. Before Mumbai City, Anelka had worked as a player cum coach at Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua.

From 2018 to 2020, Anelka worked as a youth coach in French club Lille. In 2021, he joined French amateur club Hyeres FC as their sporting director.

Getty3Juan Mata – SubThe Spanish midfielder joined Chelsea in 2011 from Valencia and spent two and a half seasons at the club. He was sold to Manchester United in January 2014 where he is still playing. In July 2021, Mata signed a new one-year contract with the Red Devils.ENJOYED THIS STORY?

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Getty Images4Fernando Torres – FW

The Spanish striker joined Chelsea from Liverpool in January 2011 for £50 million which was a British transfer record at that time. Fernando Torres played at the club till 2015 and in the final year of his contract, he was sent on loan to AC Milan. He later moved to his first club Atletico Madrid where he spent three seasons.

He played in the J-League for Sagan Tosu in the final year of his professional career and retired in 2019. In July 2021, Torres was appointed as the head coach of Atletico Madrid's U19 side.

Manchester United have been urged to sign Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich, as Louis Saha feels he would be a "great fit" under Erik ten Hag.

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Kimmich linked with a move to Man UtdSaha backs German to succeed at Old TraffordBut warned that midfielder will be hard to getGetty ImagesWHAT HAPPENED?

The Red Devils are looking to revamp their squad in the upcoming summer and have drawn up a shortlist of players with expiring contracts, including Kimmich, Jonathan David and Khephren Thuram. With Casemiro struggling to realise his full potential, Ten Hag wants more steel in midfield and the United hierarchy believes that the German international is an attainable target who can inject fresh blood at the centre of the park.

AdvertisementWHAT SAHA SAID

Former United great, Louis Saha, put his weight behind Kimmich as he believes that the player would suit Ten Hag's structure.

"Kimmich and Alphonso Davies are two extremely experienced players, especially Kimmich," he told . "Kimmich would obviously be a great fit because he’s one of the fittest players in Europe and is capable of running games and is very slick."

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However, Saha warned that United will face stiff competition from several European elites for Kimmich as many of them would be eager to land the player at a discounted rate since his contract with the Bavarians ends in 2025.

"Other teams will be interested in these players if their contracts are running down, so it won’t be easy for Manchester United to pull off any of these signings," he said.

"If Manchester United are unable to offer these players Champions League next season, then that will be an advantage to certain other clubs looking to sign them."

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DID YOU KNOW?

Manchester City are also reportedly interested in Kimmich as Pep Guardiola remains keen to reunite with the 29-year-old. His versatility both as a right-back and a defensive midfielder makes Kimmich an attractive proposition.

Victor Osimhen reportedly faces the threat of a fine at Napoli following his substitution outburst against Bologna.

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Striker missed penalty in 0-0 drawTaken off towards the endDisagreed with decision of head coachWHAT HAPPENED?

The Nigeria international, who helped to fire Napoli to Serie A title glory last season, did not take kindly to being hauled off with four minutes remaining in the goalless stalemate. He had earlier missed a penalty that could have wrapped up all three points for Rudi Garcia’s side.

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Osimhen was caught on camera airing his frustration towards Garcia after seeing his number held up, with the 24-year-old frontman of the opinion that Napoli should have gone with two strikers while pushing for a late winner.

DID YOU KNOW?

Garcia has said the details of a heated discussion will remain private, with claiming that club captain Giovanni di Lorenzo has been charged with the task of speaking to Osimhen about his behaviour. It is also reported that the African ace could now be fined as a result of his touchline rant.

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Napoli are eager to make it clear that no player is allowed to step out of line, or to question the decisions of head coach Garcia, with Osimhen having that pointed out to him during a chat with Di Lorenzo. A meeting between the star player and frustrated manager is due to take place at the club’s training ground on Monday.

With tweakers having had a giant party in Nagpur, spin was, understandably, the buzz word in the Australia and South Africa camps ahead of their Women’s World T20 clash at the VCA Stadium

Shashank Kishore in Nagpur17-Mar-2016Nagpur is baking. Nagpur is dry, literally. Water crisis has been prevalent here for a number of years. While it is highly unlikely that water shortage has affected pitch preparation, the surfaces here have been anything but batsmen-friendly in recent times. All of this has amounted to the spinners having a giant party. And so, spin was, understandably, the buzz word in the Australia and South Africa camps ahead of their Women’s World T20 clash at the VCA Stadium, even though the teams trained on match-eve at the old stadium at Civil Lines.Four surfaces with varying levels of dryness, match balls of all kinds – old, new, semi-new and scruffed up – were used by South Africa as the batsmen went through a two-hour drill, mostly against the spinners. The plan was a simple one for all the frontline batsmen – find ways to negotiate spin without getting out.While some concentrated on dead defense in an attempt to play late, others like Mignon du Preez, Marizanne Kapp and Dane Van Niekerk – South Africa’s batting engine room – kept alternating between attack and defense. But it was not lost that they were a lot happier playing late, and from the crease.Match simulation at training is not unusual. Except, this was done on side wickets that may or may not be as close as it gets to the surfaces they will encounter in the tournament. Once the batsmen were happy with the way the shots were coming off, they were set up with another challenge – facing up to spinners who kept bowling from around the stumps on the rough as the batsmen swept, reverse-swept and paddled.”It’s always challenging when you see the ball turn a lot,” du Preez, the South Africa captain, said. “But you need to stick to your own plans and look for options to score. Obviously, if the ball turns a lot, running down the track may not be a good idea. You have to use the depth of the crease, play late and bring out options like the sweep and reverse sweep, they become very valuable. You just need to play smart cricket to adapt as quickly as possible.”Du Peeez was firmly of the opinion that spin would dictate how the match pans out, much like it did in the men’s game between India and New Zealand. She also talked up her spin attack, saying if variety was the key, they had them all in Sune Luus, Dane van Niekerk and Yolandi Fourie.While South Africa stressed on getting their arsenal right for spinner-friendly conditions, Australia seemed to have a completely different set of methods. A session of Aussie rules football helped the team warm-up. But specifics were not the only thing on their minds – understandable considering Australia are coming off an exhaustive summer that included two full series against India and New Zealand. Four days in Chennai and one warm-up, Meg Lanning said, was all Australia needed to gear up for their title defense.Unlike South Africa, whose attention to detail stood out, Lanning insisted that the trick to succeed on these surfaces was to not be bogged down in anticipation of demons that may not always be there. And so, what followed after their warm-up was some clean, fierce ball-striking that could take any pitch out of the equation. Balls flew to all corners of the small ground regularly, which perhaps was also a sign of their approach, come match day.”We have done a lot of work on playing spin as a batting group, and also how effective we can be with the ball. Those center-wicket sessions have been about a number of things,” Lanning said. “There’s no doubt spin is going to play a big part in this World Cup. But we have thought about it a lot, I’m sure we will be ready to play it well with the bat and also use the weapons we’ve got with the ball.”How did they plan to tackle spin, then? “I think every player plays spin differently,” Lanning offered. “It’s about trying to stick to your strengths, I guess. Trying to play as late as you can with the spin, but you have to just put the bad ball away. Each team will have a plan, we’ve got ours and I’ve got mine. (In) some places, it will spin more than others, just got to adapt quickly.”There was an unmistakable glint when Lanning stressed on “her methods.” Surely, the second-fastest centurion in women’s T20Is bats just one way?That Australia have lost four of their last six T20Is was not lost on Lanning, though. “We’re starting even with every other team this World Cup. We don’t get any bonuses for winning the last one. We know we’ve to play a lot of good cricket to get just past the group stage,” she said, before underlining the importance of spin, again, although it seemed the reference was more out of confidence than concern.Only time will tell which of the two methods would yield the best result come match day.

Real Madrid starlet Nico Paz has followed in Lionel Messi's footsteps and surpassed Alejandro Garnacho with his Champions League goal against Napoli.

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Paz scored in Madrid's 4-2 victoryBecame second-youngest Argentine to score in UCLBeat compatriot Garnacho by a couple of monthsWHAT HAPPENED?

The Argentine was brought on in place of Brahim Diaz with the game evenly poised at 2-2 on Wednesday evening at the Santiago Bernabeu. Not many would have imagined that the teenager would give his side the lead but a speculative effort from a distance in the 84th minute ended up in the back of the net which paved the way for a 4-2 victory. The goal earned him a place in the history books as he became the second youngest Argentine, at 19 years two months and 21 days, to score in the Champions League.

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Messi holds the record as the youngest to achieve this feat after he scored for Barcelona against Panathinaikos in a 5-0 rout at Camp Nou on November 2, 2005, at 18 years four months and nine days. Earlier on Wednesday evening, Garnacho was in the second spot after he finished off a brilliant move against Galatasaray to open his Champions League account at 19 years, four months and 29 days. However, Paz pushed him to the third spot after scoring in his second European top-flight appearance.

WHAT NICO PAZ SAID

Speaking after the match, Paz said: "A dream come true. The entire team & staff has congratulated me. We are an incredible group.”

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Getty WHAT NEXT FOR PAZ?

Paz will hope to earn more minutes with Real Madrid's first team after scoring in the Champions League. The club is going through an injury crisis and the Argentine should be geared up to make the most of the opportunity when Los Blancos get back to action against Granada on Saturday.

Shared knowledge between Mike Hesson and his All Blacks counterpart, Steve Hansen, will play a role in New Zealand’s campaign in the knockout stages of the World Cup

Andrew McGlashan14-Mar-20150:42

‘Win shows depth in batting’ – Guptill

Shared knowledge between Mike Hesson and his All Blacks counterpart, Steve Hansen, will play a role in New Zealand’s campaign during the knockout stages of the World Cup.New Zealand completed an unbeaten group stage with a tight three-wicket victory against Bangladesh in Hamilton and now have a week before their quarter-final in Wellington. Their opponents will not be known until late on Sunday when the West Indies-UAE and Ireland-Pakistan fixtures are complete.However, regardless of who New Zealand face on March 21 it will come with an entirely new set of pressures. There are players who have been visitors to global quarter and semi-finals, but this is on home soil and with a team whose unbeaten run has pushed levels of expectation to new heights.That is something the All Blacks, New Zealand’s most famous sports team, are used to handling. In 2011, they won the World Cup with an 8-7 victory over France at Eden Park. Hansen was assistant coach to Graham Henry at the time and then assumed the top job at the end of 2011. There are also other connections between the two teams with captain Brendon McCullum an acquaintance of Richie McCaw, the current All Blacks captain. Before the tournament McCullum hinted he may seek out McCaw when the knockout stage arrived.”I’ve already done that, a long time ago, and continue to do so,” Hesson said of taking advice from Hansen who has been a friend for a considerable time. “Luckily enough that I have some friends in those environments and we talk on a casual basis. There are some good learnings from them. I won’t go in to what he said but we talk pretty regularly and are both aware of the pressures you face at a World Cup at home.”Hesson believes he is getting a first-hand experience of the pressures that surround the All Blacks during a major tournament, admitting it has been hard to keep everyone happy even while New Zealand have beaten all-comers so far.McCullum’s heart-stopping fielding

Mike Hesson admitted that Brendon McCullum’s gravity-defying dive near the boundary against Bangladesh was not the first time his heart had nearly been stopped by the captain’s dynamic fielding.

“He does it three or four times a game, that’s the way he plays. He likes to set the tone and it was a pretty miraculous effort.”

He said he had considered the ramifications of McCullum throwing himself around on many occasions, but conceded there would be no changing him.

“I’ve thought about that many times in the last couple of years, but he sets the standard and guys feed off his energy. We live and die by that, I guess.”

Three of the victories – against Sri Lanka, England and Afghanistan – have been very comfortable. The win over Scotland was a little messy with the bat, but with the defence of improving the net run-rate, while the Australia match became a low-scoring epic. The Bangladesh contest was the toughest all-round challenge New Zealand had received.”The All Blacks are a good analogy, they have to win by a certain amount of points to get respect and if they win by more than that the opposition are rubbish – it’s quite hard to find a middle ground,” Hesson said.”In all honesty I’m not sure what a perfect win is because we’ve beaten a lot of teams convincingly and we’ve been told we should have a closer game, and are under done, then you win a close game and you haven’t played very well. In all honesty it’s quite difficult to know what you have to do.””We’ve won a lot of games comfortably but last night we were challenged chasing a score and to get over the line with different players standing up breeds a lot of confidence.”The chase included New Zealand’s first hundred of the campaign, by Martin Guptill, and the highest partnership as he and Ross Taylor added 131 following the early losses of in-form pair of McCullum and Kane Williamson.However, Hesson did concede the team had not been at their best against Bangladesh, especially in the way they closed out both innings. With the ball, they shipped 104 runs in the final 10 overs and then none of the established batsmen could finish the chase, leaving it to Daniel Vettori and Tim Southee to strike the final blows.Four of the overs in the last 10 were bowled by Mitchell McClenaghan, who had been drafted in for the injured Adam Milne, the first change of the tournament for the New Zealand XI. He finished with eight overs for 68 and Grant Elliott was required to bowl two overs at the death.”If you keep picking up wickets in the middle the death doesn’t become as big a factor,” Hesson said. “To be fair in the first 10 overs we could have won the game with the ball, it swung plenty and we created opportunities and if we’d taken them the death wouldn’t have been a factor. But we didn’t nail the death and we’ll have to keep working on it.”While Milne’s exclusion was framed as erring on the side of caution, Hesson said it was unlikely the fast bowler would have played even if it had been a knockout match but, with a week until the quarter, he was hopeful of him being available.

A total of 10 arenas will host matches during the summer showpiece event

Getty ImagesBerlin

The capital. Always proud of multiculturalism. Wasn't a host at the 1988 European Championships, but was the venue of the World Cup final in 1974 and 2006. Since the summer tournament twelve years ago, the area has served as a major football events pilgrimage for millions of fans after stopping at the Brandenburg Gate during the day. Plagued by the love-hate relationship of Hertha BSC supporters, the Olympiastadion is seldom sold out. Stadium: Olympiastadion (Total seat capacity: 74,461)

AdvertisementGetty ImagesMunich

The heart and home of Bavaria. At the 1974 World Cup and the European Championship in 1988, matches were still played in Munich's Olympic Stadium, and both times the stadium hosted the final. Forty-four years ago, Franz Beckenbauer and Co. won the World Cup (2-1) against the Netherlands, and 14 years later, the Oranje won its only title thanks to Marco van Basten's goal against the Soviet Union (2-0). The 2006 World Cup started in the Allianz Arena when the German team defeated Costa Rica 4-2 in the opening match. Stadium: Allianz Arena (70,076)

Getty ImagesDusseldorf

According to its own statement, has the "longest bar in the world" and welcomes guests from all over the world in the Old Town. Describes itself as a sports city, but failed in the effort to host the Olympic Games in 2012. Entertains a love-hate relationship with Cologne. During the promotion of Fortuna in 2012, was the scene of a peaceful pitch invasion, which then occupied the stadium. Stadium: Merku Spiel-Arena (51,031)

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GettyStuttgart

Swabian city. Stuttgart is a mixture between narrow-mindedness and thinking big, but the city has long since transformed the prejudices into pride. They can do anything except speak without their dialect. At the 1974 World Cup and the 1988 Euros, the Italian visitors gave the Neckarstadion southern flair. In 2006, the hosts were there in third-place match against Portugal (3-1). And when VfB plays in Cannstatt, more than 50,000 regularly come to the stadium. Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Arena (54.697)

Erik ten Hag says Manchester United were simply "not good enough" as they suffered a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Saturday.

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United lost 1-0 at homeWorst start in 34 yearsTen Hag not happy with teamWHAT HAPPENED?

Joachim Andersen gave Palace a shock win in the Premier League clash when he was found at the back post to meet a free kick and fire it past Andre Onana after 25 minutes.

United pressed for the equaliser and had a total of 19 attempts, but only four of those were on target and they left the field with a fourth defeat in the league this season.

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The defeat leaves United 10th in the table and nine points behind leaders Manchester City, who suffered a 2-1 loss to Wolves, and Ten Hag was left disappointed by his team's performance.

The latest slip up means United have made their worst start to a Premier League campaign in 34 years and Ten Hag had a lot to say about his team's below par performance.

WHAT THEY SAID

"It's actually quite simple," he said. "We concede only three chances over the course of the whole game, three from set-plays.

"Their goal, first of all, the free-kick. You have to be more controlled, it's not necessary to make a foul there. Then the ball is coming into the box and it's not good defending.

"And we had poor decisions in the final third. We came so often in good positions, behind or in front of their backline, we had three players there in that moment. We didn't have an impact to get to their goal and so whatever, the extra pass, final pass or a shot.

"The quality was just not good enough in that part of the game. In the final part of the game, we didn't play our best game."

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United are next in action on Tuesday when they take on Galatasaray in the Champions League.

Paul Mullin started a tradition at Wrexham that he now cannot stop, with Jurgen Klopp-esque fist pumps demanded from the striker after every win.

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Star striker celebrates with supportersFist pumps aimed in direction of the standsDragons have had plenty to shout aboutGettyWHAT HAPPENED?

The prolific frontman started that trend a couple of years ago when scoring a dramatic goal that sealed three points for the Red Dragons. Supporters now expect the post-match routine to be delivered when emerging victorious, with a loyal fan base – that includes co-owners Ryan and Reynolds and Rob McElhenney – having had plenty to cheer of late.

AdvertisementWHAT MULLIN SAID

Mullin has told the podcast of his celebration and why he was delighted to break it out again following an emotional return from injury in a 2-1 victory over Doncaster on September 9: “It’s something we sort of stumbled across. It was a couple of years ago that I scored a last-minute goal and just celebrating at the end of the game, it just came out. Ever since then, I think I didn’t do it when we won and I had so many people asking me to carry on doing it and it’s become a signature thing now when we win a game. I can genuinely say that while I was in LA, I was sat there thinking I can’t wait to come back and do that. Not because I get anything from it, it’s because we have won a game and it’s something I have worked for to do that. The fans get to enjoy it and it’s something to look forward to at the end of the game. If we win, that’s going to happen.”

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He added on returning to action after a punctured lung suffered in a pre-season friendly date with Manchester United, which forced him to spend several weeks in the United States before returning to North Wales: “That day [against Doncaster] the lads did unbelievably well – I came on and we managed to win the game. About the noise, it is still emotional now. I know the fans like me, but that day is something that I can’t describe. I don’t often get taken aback, especially when playing football, but that day I actually couldn’t believe it. Players I’ve played with on the other team said to be after the game ‘I thought the stadium was going to fall down’. It was that loud. It is a noise that I will never forget and is something I’m really proud of. For the two years that I’ve been there, I’ve built up that much of a connection with the fans to warrant that reception.”

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DID YOU KNOW?

Merseyside native Mullin believes the noise generated that day eclipsed anything else that he has ever experienced, including his travels across Europe following superstar performers on the books at Anfield. He added: “When I came on the pitch, I was playing the rest of the game thinking ‘wow, has that really just happened?’ I’ve been to many, many Liverpool games all around the world – Champions League finals and all sorts – and although there were only 10,000 fans in the stadium that day, I genuinely think that is the loudest noise I’ve ever experienced towards one player. I’ve been in the stadium cheering Steven Gerrard back onto the pitch after injury and there wasn’t an excitement like I felt that day. It was something I will never forget.”