The chairman of Accrington Stanley has taken a bizarre swipe at Wrexham AFC and co-owner Ryan Reynolds after ending the Welsh side's lengthy unbeaten league run.
Wrexham went into the game at the Wham Stadium having not lost in 11 games but fell to a 2-0 defeat in a lively game that saw Paul Mullin miss a late penalty and the hosts' goalkeeper Jon McCracken targeted by objects thrown from the crowd. The result sees Phil Parkinson's side drop to fourth in League Two, while their opponents have moved up into the play-off spots.
However, victory was clearly not enough for Stanley owner Andy Holt, who took to social media following the game to issue a series of jabs at Wrexham and gloat about his side's win. But the claws had already come out pre-match with the businessman seemingly irked by a gesture made by his Hollywood counterparts.
READ MORE: I found the perfect Wrexham Christmas gifts, from Racecourse prints to retro shirts
READ MORE: The Welcome to Wrexham request that Ryan Reynolds refused
Ahead of kick-off, after it emerged that the home side had upped their ticket prices by £5 for Wrexham's visit, the Red Dragons put out a statement promising to reduce their ticket prices by the same amount for the return fixture in North Wales on March 2 next year.
Holt initially appeared to welcome the move and explained the price hike on his X account, writing: "If there was only a couple of hundred of [Wrexham fans] today I’d be happy to do the same. Unfortunately costs are very high for this game, big policing bills and big stewarding costs. I appreciate what [Wrexham] are doing for our fans though."
However, less than five minutes later, Holt - who just last month claimed that his club was 'up for sale' in another online outburst - seemingly changed his mind, and questioned Wrexham's decision to issue their statement a few hours ahead of kick-off. Continuing his rant, he dubbed the statement "stupid" and "mistimed" as he seemingly also took a swipe at the club's Disney+ documentary
"When costs are already high @Wrexham_AFC, the last thing football needs is stupid mistimed statements," he wrote. "It’s surprising how stupid given a former CEO of @EFL is employed by you.
"Let’s have a great day for all fans safely, whatever the outcome on the pitch," he added. "Welcome to @ASFCofficial".
Holt then followed up with a gloating post when the final whistle went. After goals from Tommy Leigh and Rosaire Longelo gave Stanley the win, he took aim at Ryan Reynolds, telling him to "get that on Netflix".
"Accrington 2 Hollywood nil," he wrote. "I think @VancityReynolds should cut prices by a tenner @Wrexham_AFC Safe journey home folks. Get that on @netflix Ryan lad."
Even after he'd slept on it, Holt kept on going on Sunday morning, pointing to his club's cheaper pints and telling fans to "enjoy" the reactions of disappointed Wrexham fans after the defeat. He then turned his attention to the money - or lack of - that they received after the game was streamed globally.
"And @Wrexham_AFC streamed the match internationally, a match that WE paid for and hosted, without us receiving a single cent," he continued. "Under rules set by previous employee of @EFL who now works for Wrexham. So don’t start me off. Good morning [by the way]".
That wasn't the end of it, though, as the chairman shared a report on Wrexham receiving £17 million from the Welsh Government to renovate the Racecourse Ground, which will see them increase the capacity by over 5,000 and allow them to host Wales internationals. Of course, Holt wasn't happy about it and dubbed it "state aid" before firing another warning at Reynolds, who had 'liked' Wrexham's statement ahead of the game.
"This is state aid," he wrote. "We’ve had zero. In fact we have paid cash into the council. So before @VancityReynolds likes more stupid tweets or whatever they’re called now, he should be mindful of stirring up a hornets nest."
Unsurprisingly, this isn't Holt's first run-in with a famous face, with his long list of online spats including those with Gary Neville over the Class of '92-backed Salford City project and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to whom he said "f*** you" over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
