Will Ferrell inspired to buy stake in Leeds Utd after chance encounter on Wrexham stadium tour
WILL Ferrell was inspired to buy a “large” stake in Leeds United after bonding with their former CEO on a stadium tour of Wrexham.
The Elf star visited the League Two club, owned by fellow Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, in February last year.
Clips featuring in Disney’s hit series Welcome To Wrexham showed Ferrell joking with players as he vies to become footy’s most-successful celeb investor.
Players were in stitches as the comic asked whether they really like “dodgy Canadian” Ryan and Rob, who bought the Welsh side for £2 million in 2021.
And they continued howling when he offered to use his “magic hands” to massage attacker Elliot Lee’s “beefy thigh that’s like a ham hock”.
Ferrell, 56, was shown around the Racecourse Ground by Wrexham’s board advisor Shaun Harvey, who was Leeds’ CEO between 2004 and 2013.
The comic wore a hat from Los Angeles FC, his other co-owned team, as the pair watched the game against Wealdstone while Ferrell texted US-based Reynolds.
His stardom could see streaming giants compete to air a new lucrative series on Leeds after Amazon followed the Championship side’s promotion in programme Take Us Home.
Mr Harvey, 54, heaped praise on the Anchorman funny man, telling Disney’s docuseries on Wrexham: “Will Ferrell is an absolute superstar.
“But you know, he walks around in the dressing room, talks to each of the players, got them completely at ease.”
The former Leeds CEO may have played an integral role in convincing him to make a significant investment into the “sleeping giant” vying for promotion to the Premier League.
A source said: “Shaun was at Leeds for nearly a decade and knows the club inside-out.
“He features heavily in the Wrexham documentary and has been credited for leading their charge up the football ladder.
“Leeds’ ex-chief executive was the one showing Ferrell around and his former club would have been a hot topic of conversation between the pair.”
Clips featured in episode eight of season two released in October show Ferrell meeting manager Phil Parkinson, who called it a “surreal day”.
Midfielder Anthony Forde said: “I just started laughing. I just couldn’t believe it. He was like ‘oh, you guys are famous now’.
“I was thinking ‘no we’re not Will. You’re the famous guy’.”
Striker Ollie Palmer asked Ferrell for a picture with his son – only for the Stepbrothers actor to take a funny-faced selfie.
The Barbie star said after celebrating the 3-1 win: “This is the hardest step, to get out of the National League. This is the steepest hill to climb. Yeah, you can just feel now there’s stakes here.”
A source said: “Shaun knows Leeds inside-out.
“He features heavily in the Wrexham documentary and has been credited for leading their charge up the football ladder.
“His former club would have been a hot topic of conversation between the pair.”