Humphrey Ker on the true story behind Wrexham’s fairytale: ‘We are not Ted Lasso’

Humphrey Ker, Wrexham’s executive director and the man who ultimately set Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds on the path towards buying the Welsh club, doesn’t cry as a rule. But come the open-top bus parade earlier this month to celebrate Wrexham’s promotion to the EFL, that rule was broken.

“It was extraordinary,” he says. “We were coming up the street past McDonald’s and Primark, looking out at the crowd as we sang, ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ by Elvis Presley. And I just burst into tears.

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“I hadn’t cried for 10 years. Not because I’m a tough guy — not in the slightest. More I’m emotionally damaged, like a lot of posh English people who experienced strange repression in their childhood!

“But everything just got to me. Partly being on that street, which I remember cycling up every day in my first five months in Wrexham and everything being shut due to Covid — things felt bleak back then. And partly all the happy faces looking up at the bus.”

Such emotion was understandable. The Vanarama National League title race was relentless, as Wrexham and runners-up Notts County smashed the previous record points tally with 111 and 107 respectively. Great television for the Welcome to Wrexham documentary crew, but draining for everyone else, especially after the pain of the previous year, when Wrexham were pipped to the title by Stockport County on the final day, then lost 5-4 in the play-offs to Grimsby Town.

“I did say to Rob and Ryan at the end of last season, ‘Look, we will win the league by 30 points next year’,” says Ker, sitting in the north Wales sunshine with The Athletic. “And how that was going to be boring for the documentary crew.

“Little did I know Notts County would be brilliant. Thankfully, we got over the