Wrexham and Notts County were involved in an incredibly close promotion battle in the National League, with both sides racking up more than 100 points and suffering just three defeats all season.
Wrexham ultimately prevailed, securing the sole automatic promotion spot by a slender four point margin, leaving Notts County to battle it out in the notoriously unpredictable play-offs. Despite the two clubs' on-pitch rivalry, Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have repeatedly hailed Notts County.
After Wrexham sealed the National League title, Reynolds revealed he and McElhenney would be supporting Notts County in the play-offs. "It's something Rob and I feel quite strongly about," he said.
"We are rooting for Notts County. We want to see them go up to League Two and face them next year. They're incredible." And following Wrexham's dramatic 3-2 win over Notts County last month, he told BT Sport it was a shame there were not two automatic promotion spots.
"I have such enormous respect for everything they've built and everything that they've done and it's just insane for me that only one goes up automatically," he said. "If it were different – and I think it should be – both of these clubs would be celebrating together right now. Because what they've done is not only created drama greater than anything you'd see in a damn movie but just something I think people will be talking about for ages."
And Reynolds was watching on as Notts County completed a remarkable comeback to beat Boreham Wood 3-2 in their play-off semi-final clash and book their place in the final at Wembley on May 13 where they will face either Chesterfield or Bromley.
Reynolds retweeted a clip of Jodi Jones' winning goal posted by the club, while also liking a series of tweets relating to Notts County's victory. McElhenney also tweeted after the result, writing: "I love football. Congrats @Official_NCFC." It was a stunning comeback from Luke Williams' side, who were losing 2-1 until a 97th minute equaliser from Aden Baldwin forced the game into extra time and Jones netted a late winner.
Reflecting on the game, Williams said: "We play a long way up the pitch for most of the time, and we take a lot of perceived risks, so when you are in the theatre watching the movie, you always think the actor is going to slip off the high wire. When we were 2-0 down at half-time, it was a big, big conversation with the players.
"I felt they were failing the test and there were a lot of question marks. I told them, 'We're trying to achieve something over a long period of time, not just one season, and if you want to be successful you need to handle big games – I'm watching you. Can you handle it?' That wasn't a nice question to ask, but they decided to answer it in an unbelievable way."
