Wrexham promoted to Championship: Ryan Reynolds club to England's second tier after third straight promotion

Wrexham will spend next season playing in the second tier of English football for the first time since 1982 after the Welsh club, owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, secured their promotion from League One with a 3-0 win at home to Charlton Athletic.

A historic third successive promotion for the Red Dragons was secured in style at The Racecourse Ground, a quickfire double salvo by Ollie Rathbone and Sam Smith early in the first half putting Phil Parkinson's side on course for a commanding victory in one of the most significant matches in their recent history. With promotion rivals Wycombe Wanderers having lost at Leyton Orient earlier on Saturday, Wrexham are now guaranteed a second place berth that brings with it promotion to the EFL Championship.

It also means Wrexham are the first team in the history of England's top five divisions to earn a third promotion in as many seasons. Bought by McElhenney and Reynolds in November 2020, Wrexham had spent over a decade languishing in the National League, England's fifth division, nearly going to the wall on occasion. They will now find themselves facing some of the most illustrious names in English football with away days at the likes of Southampton, Leicester City and, depending on the outcome of the playoffs, Sunderland.

A place in the second tier will only further raise the profile of a club who have attracted a legion of fans around the world following the success of the Welcome to Wrexham series that has tracked the team since the takeover. Those fans in north Wales and beyond will doubtless have been delighted at the style with which promotion was secured.

Rathbone's stunning low drive off a short corner fired the hosts ahead in the 15th minute, a powerful effort flying through a scrum of bodies and leaving Addicks goalkeeper Will Mannion unable to get down to his near post quickly enough. If that was an impressive opener the second was even more remarkable, a clipped ball over the top by Matty James and hooked in on the volley by Smith. In an instant Wrexham found themselves on the break of the Championship.

Charlton, however, are not League One's form side for nothing. Having stemmed the tide immediately after the Wrexham one-two, a smart ball over the top found Tennai Watson cutting in from the right behind James McClean, forcing a save from Arthur Okonkwo. Watson continued to ask questions of the hosts as Charlton battled to revive their own automatic promotion prospects, which depended on them winning in Wales.

Wrexham, however, held impressively firm in the second half, hunkering deep and challenging their opponents to break them down. Barely a cross came into the box without a Dan Scarr head clearing it. With 10 minutes left to play, Max Cleworth showed them how it was done, a gorgeous ball met by the head of Smith, a nick off Macauley Gillesphey leaving Mannion without a chance.

Any lingering doubts were then dismissed, a joyous crowd able to celebrate a promotion that would have seemed unimaginable even half a decade ago. Wrexham are bound for the Championship.