Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have brought celebrity ownership into the spotlight with their success at Wrexham.
The Hollywood duo have guided the Red Dragons back into the Football League during a historic season and have revitalised the Welsh club since their takeover in 2020. It has prompted plenty of questions about other celebrities who could look to do similar.
Acting royalty Tom Hanks is a big fan of Premier League side Aston Villa and became the latest A-lister to be asked about replicating what has happened at Wrexham. But he admitted that the idea of buying his beloved club is completely different to investing in a National League club like Reynolds and McElhenney did.
"I think Wrexham is a little bit different in the economic scale than Aston Villa," Hanks said in an interview with the BBC. "That's a little above my pay grade.”
Whilst a takeover is not on the cards, Hanks remains a semi-regular visitor at Villa Park. He was a special guest during their defeat to Arsenal earlier this season and explained in 2019 on James Corden’s Late Late Show why he ended up becoming a Villa fan after hearing their name on the football scores.
"And I thought ‘Aston Villa’, what a lovely vacation spot! Aston Villa... Its beautiful villa, you throw open the French doors, there’s the beautiful port of Aston down below you,” Hanks told Corden.
"And it turns out it’s in Birmingham. There’s nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with Birmingham. But it’s not a town for the light-hearted, I tell you that. So I’m a dedicated Aston Villa fan since then. I’ve seen them play once, a friendly in the USA, so yes, I support them.”
Meanwhile, Villa have turned to a form of American influence under the guidance of owners NSWE as former Philadelphia 76ers chief Chris Heck joined the club.
According to The Athletic, Heck, who spent nine years with the Sixers before resigning in June 2022, joined Villa’s senior management structure. Villa owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens targetted Heck as part of their managerial overhaul, with the American signing on as the Premier League club's President of Business Operations.
Villanova University graduate Heck spent seven years at the NBA league office as senior vice president of marketing partnerships, and also experience working within football after spending two years as the president of business operations at the New York Red Bulls in the MLS.