EXCLUSIVE
Wrexham's fairytale story has captured the attention of fans across the world following the club's Hollywood takeover in 2020.
Actors and co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny have overseen the Welsh side's upturn in fortunes, which has seen them recently secure promotion to League One.
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But the Dragons' executive director Humphrey Ker, has revealed that it could easily have been another team enjoying this meteoric rise, which has become the subject of a documentary series.
The actor and writer joined Jim White and Simon Jordan on talkSPORT ahead of the launch of the latest season of 'Welcome to Wrexham’, which charts the club's journey following their purchase by the A-listers.
Ker explained that he and McElhenny's initial idea of buying a football club had started out as 'idle pub chat', before the now owner then became intent on seeing the plan through.
He told talkSPORT: “Rob is a bit of a force for nature, and he’s a natural producer and he’s someone that just does things that he wants to do.”
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The Englishman explained that he had suggested investing in Wrexham, having been tasked with finding a club for the American pair to buy, as the biggest football fan of the three.
Ker said: "My job initially was [to find a club]. When it was still idle pub chat, when it was like 'What club would you buy?'. I'm a huge football fan.
He continued: “So I made a little list of eight clubs in the National League, a couple in League Two, I think there was one in the National League North at that stage.
“It was like ‘Well these feel like good, viable options’.
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“[I] made a little matrix, scored them out of 10 in five categories and Wrexham came out on top.”
Ker explained that he had identified Wrexham as a club with huge potential, pointing to the club's formerly large fanbase, geographical location and its previously experiences of European football.
The self-confessed Liverpool supporter discussed his thought process: "There's 750,000 people in North West Wales.
"A huge number of them are Everton fans, Liverpool fans, [Manchester] City fans, [Manchester] United fans. They drive through Wrexham to go to those Premier League grounds.
"We knew that they used to get 35,000 a week when they were back in Division Two, it was at the time, effectively the Championship now.”
He went on to highlight the club's 'extraordinary European history', reminding listeners of the Welsh side's victory over Portuguese giants Porto in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1984.
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Having stated his case for the Hollywood duo to consider ploughing their money into the side he called a 'sleeping giant', Ker revealed that they were easily persuaded to go through with the purchase.
He told White and Jordan: "They were pretty mustard keen," despite his complete inexperience of working in the football industry.
The recent recruit to the sporting world then joked: “At that stage, ludicrously I was the person they knew with the most football experience and knowledge.
“Fortunately they’ve met a few more people who knew what they’re talking about.”
With next season a chance for the Robins to target a third consecutive promotion, which would see them climb to the second tier of English football, Ker admitted that he had slightly more realistic expectations for the campaign.
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Looking ahead to their League One journey, he said: “I'd be content if we finished 10th, because it will allow us to consolidate and build.”
Despite this, he refused to rule out another remarkable year, teasing: "We have every chance of achieving something special again next year."