Marvel’s Deadpool and this sitcom guy your roommate won’t shut up about have taken the world of soccer by storm. Wrexham AFC owners and A-list stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have received plenty of praise for their work with the sleeping Welsh giants.
Fans and pundits have been skeptical of the Hollywood duo at the helm, but they are currently runners-up in the National League and relegation to the Football League is a real possibility. The Red Dragons were also in the hat for the fifth round of the FA Cup draw. To seal a lucrative home game against Tottenham Hotspur, the Welsh side must defeat Sheffield United in the fourth round replay.
No matter what happens, Reynolds and McElhenney will go down in history as some of the most successful celebrity contestants in the beautiful game. The history of the rich and famous who got involved in the sport of soccer is sketchy at best. Here are some other examples of what happens when the stars hit the lawn.
Michael Jackson
“The King of Pop” was reportedly a good friend of Mohamed Al-Fayed, the former owner of Fulham. Such was their friendship that ‘Jacko’ even traveled to see the team play Wigan Athletic. This is the only confirmed case of Michael Jackson and Geoff Horsfield ever being in the same place at the same time. Seismic.
Understandably, Al-Fayed took the death of the “Thriller” icon seriously. So heavy that he erected a 7ft 6 statue of the singer outside of Fulham’s Craven Cottage site. It was an aesthetically bizarre piece that, with its vibrant colors, looked less like a monument and more like a giant action figure.
An amusing addendum to the Jackson/Fulham story came in 2014. Fulham were relegated to the Championship under the club’s new owner Shahid Khan. Al-Fayed blamed the fact that his successor had removed the “MJ” statue. I guess getting rid of the statue was probably always… dangerous. Forgiveness.
Delia Smith
Celebrity chef Delia Smith was a Norwich City ticket holder who literally put her money where her mouth is when the club hit hard times. Along with her husband, Michael Wynn-Jones, she became the majority shareholder of the company. Under her leadership, the Canary Islands have led a yo-yo existence, but one that has naturally had as many successes as failures.
But no one remembers Smith’s dedication to Norwich for her diligent management and dedication to her club. They recall the culinary icon’s tenure for five slurred words spat out at half-time in a 2005 loss to Manchester City: “Let’s be ‘avin’ you!”. Delia’s diatribe was delivered over the Carrow Road house microphone, demanding a ’12. Mann” from “the best foosball fans in the world”. Delia insists she wasn’t drunk when she gave the speech, and for my part I believe her.
mike tyson
Many boxers have committed themselves to football over the years. Some were real, like Josh Warrington’s fanatical support of Leeds United. Others were more cynical, like Floyd Mayweather wearing a Manchester United shirt to anger devoted Cityzen Ricky Hatton. We’ll let you judge for yourself on Mike Tyson’s support for Peterborough United.
‘Iron’ Mike ventured into a friendly at London Road in 2010 against West Ham United. Although he appeared to have no idea what was going on, Tyson got into the spirit of things. Dressed in a personalized Peterborough jersey, the former heavyweight champion told the Telegraph: “I’ve never heard of Peterborough before but when I heard it’s West Ham I thought we really have to give it to them.” They lost 2-1 and ‘Kid Dynamite’ never returned to Posh.
Diana Ross
Pioneer. Highest. Immortal pop diva. Worst penalty taker this side of John Terry in Moscow. Diana Ross is all of this and more, but for our purposes we’ll choose to ignore one of the most successful recording careers of all time and focus on the fact that she can’t kick soccer.
The setting was the lavish opening ceremony of the 1994 World Cup hosted in the USA. The task was to scoop a penalty kick against a goalkeeper who had literally been paid not to save it. Ross mimed (really blatantly) along to “I’m Coming Out” as she launched into what was thought to be way too long.
To do justice to the Queen of Souls, she found the time to invent the stuttering approach when she finally got within range of the ball. But after creating a piece of penalty-taking art that has endured three decades later, she clawed the penalty hopelessly wide. The ensuing stunt with the goalpost exploding looked like a punch line. Luckily for Ross, her miss ended up being less costly than Roberto Baggio’s, who ended the tournament.
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