Hollywood loves a sequel, though maybe not quite as much as Wrexham’s promotion heroes.
A year after painting the town red in Las Vegas following the Welsh club’s National League title success, the players were back in Sin City after being whisked across the Atlantic by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
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Promotion to League One, secured midway through last month, explains the generosity of Wrexham’s A-lister co-owners, who once again ensured that Paul Mullin, Elliot Lee and the rest of the squad got the VIP treatment.
Among those joining the three-day party was rapper Lil Jon, who donned a Wrexham scarf when performing at the world-famous Hakkasan nightclub. McElhenney also made an appearance over the weekend along with wife — and fellow It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star — Kaitlin Olson. The couple also joined the players on their maiden trip to Vegas in 2023.
With manager Phil Parkinson and his staff enjoying the more sedate pleasures of golf on their own post-season holiday, the squad was free to take in sets by international DJs David Guetta and Tiesto during the trip.
And as if that wasn’t enough glamour, striker Ollie Palmer, on the way home, upped the ante further by attending a Met Gala after-party in New York. Palmer and his wife Caitlin met Brit Award-winning singer Raye.
This is the story of Wrexham in Vegas, part II.
It’s the biggest nightclub in a city regarded as capitalism on steroids — but last weekend, it resounded to the chant of ‘We’re the Red Army’.
That is how Las Vegas welcomed back the stars of the Emmy Award-winning show Welcome to Wrexham for their second visit to the Nevada desert within a year. The venue was Hakkasan Nightclub in the MGM Grand Hotel. The event was a late-night party hosted by rap star Lil John. The footballers’ entrance couldn’t have been any grander, with footage of their goals from the past League Two season playing on the nightclub’s giant LED screens.
Welsh flags were also flown in their honour as ticker tape fell. The fans’ anthem ‘Wrexham FC, We’re the Red Army’ blasted out of the speakers.
Having been ushered through to a VIP area, where bottles of the Reynolds-fronted Aviation Gin awaited them along with a six-litre bottle of champagne, the players partied well into the early hours with Lil John in his DJ booth.
It was the sort of special treatment usually afforded stars from the worlds of film and music, not sportsmen 5,000 miles from home who had just finished a season in the fourth tier of their domestic league.
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But Wrexham’s players took it in their stride. Most of the travelling party had experienced this surreal world of glitz and glamour a year earlier.
Hakkasan was also among the squad’s first stop-offs back in May 2023. Their entrance then was every bit as high-profile with the Declan Swans song ‘Always Sunny in Wrexham’ — which featured heavily in series one of the documentary and is now a popular terrace anthem — playing over the PA system and a giant sign spelling out the club’s name being held up by staff.
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With Reynolds and McElhenney picking up a tab that goalkeeper Ben Foster later estimated probably ran to £500,000, what followed over the next four days was subsequently described by star striker Mullin in his autobiography as “the most incredible, ridiculous, insane experience”.
Among the highlights were umpteen glamorous pool parties, meeting DJ Steve Aoki at OMNIA Nightclub and dinner on the terrace outside The Bellagio, complete with giant ice sculptures of Wrexham’s club badge. Such was the interest in the team that Mullin was even assigned a security man to escort him to the toilet on the first night.
Topping that experience this time around was always going to be tall order but organisers did their best. Before heading to Hakkasan on Thursday, the first night, the squad were treated to dinner at the TAO Asian Bistro inside The Venetian Hotel, a favourite haunt of celebrities such as Jay Z and the Kardashians.
The following day began with more entertainment at The Venetian, via a headline set from DJ Deorro at the TAO Beach Party. Then came dinner at Beauty & Essex at the Cosmopolitan, a mile or so along the Strip, before a return visit to OMNIA in Caesars Palace to party the night away with Dutch DJ Tiesto.
For young defender Max Cleworth, visiting these famous nightspots was something to relish. A year earlier, he’d been on the trip but, due to being under the legal drinking age of 21 at the time, he could only join his team-mates at the pool and in certain restaurants.
Some among the group were making their first visit to Vegas as a Wrexham player. Among the ‘newbies’ were Arsenal loanee goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo, George Evans and Jack Marriott, plus former internationals Steven Fletcher and James McClean.
All got into the party spirit, including McClean who, together with Mullin, attracted the trip’s only negative headlines. It came through an Instagram post featuring the final line of the song that fans chant in the Irishman’s honour.
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“And we hate the f***ing King,” appeared on Mullin’s account alongside a picture of the pair in Vegas. McClean, a known Republican, added: “We serve no king or Kaiser but Ireland. Sue me!”
The post was subsequently removed but only after being picked up by newspapers in the UK. This created unwelcome coverage on the day co-owner McElhenney, who has met both King Charles and son Prince William over the past 18 months, joined up with the players.
He and wife Olson clearly enjoyed being back with the team, even if McElhenney, 47, admitted afterwards: “Trying to keep up with the lads is fun but not when Sunday morning comes.”
Olson, however, added: “Another promotion next year please, this Vegas tradition is fun.”
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For some club stalwarts, there won’t be a “next year” at Wrexham. Half a dozen senior players — boasting a combined 735 appearances for the Welsh club between them — will leave at the end of their existing contracts on June 30.
All were informed of Parkinson’s decision to release them before flying to Vegas, even if the news was only made public while the squad were in the States. Judging by the footage on various players’ social media accounts, it did little to dampen spirits. Captain Ben Tozer and long-serving goalkeeper Rob Lainton were both filmed singing along lustily to Jamie Webster’s ‘Weekend in Paradise’ despite their departures being confirmed.
The Liverpudlian’s song has been a huge favourite in the Wrexham dressing room for some time, often being belted out after big victories in the National League and even featuring in the recent promotion celebrations at the Fat Boar pub.
As a smiling Lainton and Tozer sang along to the tune from a nightclub balcony, Webster’s question at the end of the chorus felt particularly apt.
Was it a pointless three-day bender,
Or a weekend in Paradise, my friend?
(Top photos: Getty Images)