Wrexham sign: are Wrexham football club owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney behind Hollywood-style sign?

A Hollywood-style sign that has appeared just outside the north Wales town of Wrexham is confusing residents who are trying to work out just who put it there.

Erected atop the slag heap at Bersham Bank colliery tip, the giant white letters spell out the name of the town, and are clearly visible from the nearby A483 road.

But who is behind the new sign? And is it anything to do with the local football team?

Here is everything you need to know about it.

Who put the sign there?

Social media speculation is pointing its finger towards the town’s football club, which earlier this year was taken over by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who made a £2 million investment into Wrexham AFC.

Reynolds and McElhenney officially completed their takeover in February, taking 100 per cent control of the National League club from the Wrexham Supporters Trust.

Wrexham AFC's Twitter account retweeted and shared images of the sign - including professional drone footage - accompanied by the message: "Wrexham, it's always been the Hollywood of Europe, apparently…"

But despite this, a spokesman for the club said in a statement: “The sign is not, as far as we [are] all aware, anything to do with the football club.”

Could it be that the sign has been erected as part of the documentary being made about the club and its new Hollywood owners?

‘Welcome to Wrexham’ will chronicle their takeover and follow the Red Dragons’ fortunes over the following two seasons, and the access-all-areas docu-series about the club could be streamed through Netflix in the future.

Both Reynolds and McElhenney are known for their comedy chops; the pair announced their takeover bid with a spoof advert for club sponsors, Ifor Williams Trailers.

So an overblown intro sequence comparing the town to Hollywood would very much be in keeping with their tongue-in-cheek approach.

Who else could it have been?

Despite leading theories pointing towards the football club being behind the sign, it’s still not certain who is responsible.

Council worker Joe Edwards told the BBC that upon climbing up to the sign to take a closer look, workers were just finishing up.

“We asked who was doing it and they just said ‘us’,” he said. “They didn’t say the company or anything.

“They weren’t anything to do with the council either.”

Margaret Jones, who helps run the nearby Bersham Colliery mining museum, said she was also aware of the sign but had “no idea” who was behind it.

A spokeswoman for Wrexham council said: “This sign has nothing to do with the council although we are aware of it.”

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