McElhenney: 'It's close to Eagle green!'

Sidekick Ryan Reynolds was absent but McElhenney was joined in San Diego for the 19:30 local time kick-off by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-stars, in wife Kaitlin Olson and Glenn Howerton.

The Hollywood celebrities were there as Phil Parkinson's League Two men saw off an Under-21s' Reds XI, although the latter performed admirably particularly when taking into account Dan Gore's red card early in the second half.

It was a first outing for our 2023/24 adidas away kit and McElhenney himself seemed to like it, judging by his pre-match comments to MUTV during a pitchside interview.

He compared the colour to that worn by his beloved NFL team Philadelphia Eagles: “Beautiful: that is close to Eagle green!” he said to our pundits Bryan Robson, Danny Webber and Mark Wilson, and host Sam Homewood.

A stadium-record crowd of 34,248 took in the game at a venue which is more accustomed to second-tier men's US football.

Due to the nature of the sides, and their popularity in the States, Wrexham perhaps edged the support in terms of noise, but McElhenney was keen to drink it all in as he and Reynolds continue to take the Red Dragons from strength to strength.

“We're just so humbled by this entire experience, I mean, from the moment we landed,” he added.

“It took us about four hours to drive from Los Angeles. We sat in the traffic and I wasn't sure what to expect. And wow, I mean, this is just an incredible experience.

“You see thousands of people here and they're all wearing red. So we can't say for sure who they are rooting for.”

And the whole experience of football-club ownership seems to have convinced him that there's room for two sports in his heart.

“You notice that I said football is the greatest sport. So there are two.

“There's American football and then there's global football. And I truly believe that both are the greatest sports in the world.”