Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney has revealed he developed double styes in both eyes which were caused by the stress of the National League promotion battle with Notts County.
The Red Dragons and Notts finished on record points tallies of 111 and 107 respectively as Phil Parkinson's men secured promotion back to the Football League. Easter Monday's clash between the two promotion hopefuls was the turning point in the race for League Two as former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster saved a last minute Cedwyn Scott penalty to secure a 3-2 victory for the North Wales club.
Less than two weeks later, Wrexham secured the title thanks to a 3-1 victory over Boreham Wood. While the title race was thrilling for the neutral, McElhenney revealed it had an adverse effect on his health.
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Speaking on The Aarthi & Sriram Show, the 46-year-old explained: "I actually wound up with double styes [bacterial infection in the eye] and I went to the doctor and he was just like: 'It's just stress.' I don't think it's the stress of the game.
"I think for me personally it's the stress of giving up control and saying: 'Okay, I have to trust now that I've done everything I can do. And now can you go and execute with this?'
"And man – they did." Looking back at the day promotion was clinched, McElhenney admitted he does not remember a great deal about the match itself.
"I don’t remember hearing the final whistle," he added. "I don't even remember the end of the game, I just remember there being people on the pitch, and then hugging Ryan [Reynolds].
"I think it felt like there was a weight that was lifted, not just off of us, but off of the entire organization. It's the third oldest football team in the world, and they've been struggling for a long time so that's been our goal, and that was, I mean truly one of the greatest moments of my life and it just happened last week."
As for Reynolds, McElhenney believes they have now formed an inseparable bond. "We just became really close friends," he concluded.
"I love his family, he loves mine. We spend so much time together now.
"We've just kind of like fallen in love with each other in a platonic way, over the course of the season, and that was a really important thing for us too, because I feel very strongly specifically about men and male relationships, and I know how difficult it is for a lot of men to express love for each other, especially publicly. I'm just not afraid to do that because – maybe because of my dad or because of the way I was raised – Ryan is the same, and I am still very proud that we were able to put that out in the world."
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