The Tigers overcame Wrexham to secure a play-off place on the final day of a thrilling campaign
Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in conversation(Image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Rob McElhenney has revealed how he contacted Hull City owner Acun Ilicali to congratulate him on promotion to the Premier League at Wembley.
City were 1-0 winners in the Championship play-off final last Saturday, beating Middlesbrough courtesy of Oli McBurnie’s 95th-minute winner, to return to the Premier League after a decade away.
The Tigers overpowered Wrexham on the final day of an exhilarating campaign to snatch sixth place, having been dislodged by the North Wales outfit a couple of weeks earlier. City’s 2-1 win over Norwich City, coupled with Wrexham’s 2-2 draw with Boro, was enough for the Tigers to set up a play-off semi-final with Millwall.
Sergej Jakirovic’s Tigers came through that tie with a fabulous 2-0 second leg win in Bermondsey to make it to Wembley, where they enjoyed one of their greatest days.
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Despite Phil Parkinson’s side missing out on the final day of the season to the Tigers, Wrexham still achieved their highest league finish in their 162-year history in their first season in the Championship following promotion from League One.
In what was a classy move from the American actor and screenwriter, Rob Mac had already posted his congratulations to City on social media, but also contacted Ilicali privately.
“We’re so excited for Hull,” he told Sports Illustrated. “I texted their owner, and I tweeted it as well—congratulations—but I also reached out personally. I thought it was an incredible story, and I love seeing joyful people succeed. Sure, it wasn’t us this year, but that’s football. You go again.”
City did the double over Wrexham in the league, winning 2-0 at the MKM Stadium in December, before securing a crucial 2-1 away victory at the Racecourse in March. Parkinson’s men did claim a 5-3 penalty shoot-out victory over City in the first round of the Carabao Cup back in August. The Tigers were 3-1 up on a night where McBurnie scored his first goal in black and amber, before two Ollie Palmer headers in added time sent the game into spot-kicks.
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