Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney nominated for Wrexham award after football club takeover

Hollywood stars and Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have been nominated for the city's top award - Freedom of Wrexham.

The actors said they were "honoured" by the nomination, which comes in recognition of their takeover of the football club last year.

Council leaders say the pair have brought "global promotion" to Wrexham following the takeover and the documentary series Welcome to Wrexham, which charts their time as co-chairmen.

Reynolds, 46, is known for his work in numerous films, including the series Deadpool, and McElhenney, 45, wrote and starred in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

In a joint statement, Reynolds and McElhenny said: "This is a great honour that the Council are proposing in recognition of the global promotion and awareness that we have been able to create for Wrexham as the Club’s custodians.

"The most significant aspect of the honour is that it recognises that we have begun to achieve what it was that we set out to deliver, off the pitch."Our documentary Welcome to Wrexham has taken Wrexham to households around the World and the second series will hopefully add to the increased numbers who now know where Wrexham is."As we have repeatedly said, this isn’t about us, we created an opportunity that the community firstly embraced and is now taking forward. The good news is that we will only get stronger together with the community at the forefront.

"We would like to thank everyone who is considering us for this award and the people of Wrexham who are making this a rewarding experience for us too."

Leader of Wrexham Council, Mark Pritchard, said: “Football is the beating heart of our community and there’s always been incredible passion and support for the club."We have an amazing story here in Wrexham, along with a unique character and identity that is winning fans all over the world."These two Hollywood actors have had an incredible impact on both the football club and the community and have helped catapult Wrexham onto the world stage."You couldn’t wish to meet two nicer people – they really are two wonderful guys who’ve put their heart and soul into this city, and it feels like the right time to talk about how we recognise that.”

Wrexham are currently second in the National League, just a point behind leaders Notts County and, having narrowly missed on promotion last season, will be hoping to go one better this time around.

However, they will have to finish the season top in order to secure automatic promotion for next season.

There have been some famous faces who have been awarded freedom of the city previously.

Perhaps most notably, the only Welsh prime minister to date, David Lloyd George, who led Britain through World War One, was honoured with a "silver tea and coffee service".

The council will make a final decision on giving them the honour on 21 December.