Ryan and Rob can rightly take a bow

IT'S easy to sneer at Wrexham, isn't it?

- Chris Dunlavy

At the hype and the hullabaloo. At the schmaltzy documentary and celebrity entourage.

At the silly American owners with their gleaming grins, wry wisecracks and ostentatious humility.

From the moment Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney walked into the Racecourse in 2021, the world has been waiting for the Hollywood duo to come a cropper.

To say something stupid, get conned by crafty agents, or blown out of the water by owners with deeper pockets. To dump on supporters by hiking ticket prices, revealing the heartless businessmen lurking beneath the mask of homely charm.

On every step of their record-breaking march from the National League to the Championship, this simmering lust for schadenfreude has manifested itself in an undercurrent of resentment; the feeling that a club grown too big for its boots needed to be cut down to size.

Who can forget the two FA Cup games against Sheffield United in 2023, which eventually ended in a late 3-1 defeat at Bramall Lane?

There were none of the compliments and pats on the back that would generally accompany a Non-League side gallantly bowing out to a Championship opponent.