EU chief Ursula von der Leyen promised on Wednesday that Europe's green energy transition would be "fair and just" for farmers and businesses fearful of...

Rivian Automotive Inc. built more battery-electric vehicles last quarter than Wall Street had anticipated as the company works

Once a heated Atlantic Coast Conference rivalry, the Florida State-Clemson series has become a lopsided affair

State legislatures across the country are rushing to get a handle on fast-evolving artificial intelligence

Brian Kleinschmidt, after a long marriage, split from Ericka Dunlap in 2011

'I feel like I can’t even go on YouTube without the possibility of accidentally coming across these photos,' Al Stauch said

For a team whose first three fixtures back in League Two are MK Dons, AFC Wimbledon, and Walsall, it feels somewhat out of kilter that three of their last pre-season games saw them face Chelsea, LA Galaxy and Manchester United. Such is the Wrexham way. Fresh off a nail-biting National League campaign, Las Vegas promotion party and sell-out Stateside pre-season tour, Wrexham fans and players, if only momentarily, might be brought back down to earth by the prospect of a 46-game slog as they look to pick up where they left off back in the Football League for the first time since 2008. Perhaps if this were a Hollywood script, Wrexham’s journey under owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney would continue unperturbed; the Welsh side coasting to League Two glory and continuing their march up the English football pyramid. But football isn’t always that straightforward. Ask Salford City. The Manchester club, owned by class of ‘92 teammates Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville and David Beckham were the original celebrity-owned lower-league club and arrived in this very same league back in 2019 to similar fanfare. Four seasons and four managers later, they still remain. In their quartet of campaigns since promotion from the National League, their best finish has been last season, placing seventh before ultimately bowing out in the play-off semi-finals. Ask Mansfield Town. The Stags will now enter their 11th straight year in the division after their promotion from the then-Conference League. After four unsuccessful promotion challenges in the last six seasons as one of the league’s bigger spenders, Nigel Clough’s side have become part of League Two’s furniture, last year missing out on a spot in the play-offs to Salford courtesy of goal difference. Ask Stockport County. Last season’s shiny new toy, having pipped Wrexham to promotion in 2021, Stockport were many people’s favourite to achieve back-to-back promotions with their National League record and stellar squad. However, a play-off final penalty-shootout defeat to underdogs Carlisle means that Dave Challinor’s side will again compete in the fourth tier this season. None of this is to suggest that Wrexham can’t achieve back-to-back promotions for the first time in the club’s history. They are clear favourites with the bookmakers to do just that after their record-breaking points tally (111) last season in the fifth tier. But even with four promotion spots on offer, rather than the two in the National League, history has shown that nothing can be taken for granted in a league full of clubs looking to move up the pyramid. In that sense, Parkinson can be grateful that Wrexham’s riches and big-spending in the past gifts him a squad full of League Two know-how with no better example than talisman and last year’s Player of the Season, Paul Mullin. Although a punctured lung, suffered in a pre-season friendly against Manchester United, will see the striker miss the start of the season, the 28-year-old will need no time to acclimatise to the division. It was in League Two, after all, that he first caught the eye of Wrexham having fired 32 goals in 46 games to guide Cambridge United to an unlikely promotion in 2021. His move back down the pyramid to Wrexham was an early sign of Reynolds and McElhenney’s pull and pockets. Then there is Ben Tozer and Jordan Tunnicliffe. Tozer captained Cheltenham out of League Two the very same season that Mullin burst onto the scene while Tunnifcliffe made it into the division’s team of the season that same year for his performances at Crawley. This year, Tozer will be reunited with fellow centre-back, Will Boyle – Wrexham’s lone signing so far this window – with whom he formed a sturdy partnership at Cheltenham. Add to that Eoghan O’Connell, signed last January from League One Charlton Athletic, and recent Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster, who has postponed a second retirement to sign a new contract, and it’s clear to see the enviable quality that the Welsh side have in defence. The creativity of fan-favourite and former Luton Town midfielder Elliot Lee, alongside the goalscoring prowess of Ollie Palmer, who joined for a club-record £300,000, is further evidence of why Wrexham went on to smash the record points tally last season. It is perhaps also why, other than Boyle, the club have not made any signings in the transfer window. There is money available, especially after new, lucrative shirt and stadium sponsorship deals with United Airlines and US coffee brand, Stok, but it also points to a squad that was ready to compete with League Two’s best long before they reached this point. They are by no means out on their own, though. Wrexham’s great title rivals in the National League, Notts County, look likely to challenge them again, especially after the coveted signing of veteran striker David McGoldrick who scored 22 goals for Derby County last year in League One. And there is also Stockport, last year’s Wembley losers, who have recruited Nick Powell from Stoke City, the 29-year-old returning to the league where he first caught the eye of Manchester United aged 18. Gillingham, fresh off their own US investment, and those teams relegated from League One last season – MK Dons, Morecambe, Accrington Stanley and Forest Green – could all contend as well in what promises to be one of the most intriguing and high-quality seasons the league has ever seen. Wrexham will continue to attract global eyeballs and bring renewed pride to their local community, that much is assured. On the pitch, though, nothing is guaranteed. As League Two has shown before, no amount of money or high-profile ownership is a guarantee of success. Wrexham will be wary of that and Parkinson will have his work cut out against any number of fancied promotion rivals but with a squad built for the level, the Welsh club and its owners will surely be dreaming of another Hollywood ending. Read More Wrexham fume at Man Utd goalkeeper after striker Paul Mullin hospitalised with punctured lung Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham is on its way to the United States after being given the Hollywood treatment Why Wrexham? How Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney came to buy a club they’d never heard of Ryan Reynolds reaches out to Manchester United keeper after Paul Mullin injury Extraordinary – Wrexham director says reception in US has exceeded expectations Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest news and updates as England prepare for last-16

Australian miner Lynas Rare Earths says it will temporarily shut down most of its operations in Malaysia for upgrades while dealing with a legal battle with the Malaysian government over its operating license

Star Springboks fly-half Handre Pollard is likely to miss the Rugby Championship during July due to a calf injury, South Africa rugby director Rassie...

VIDEO: Big boat stuck in Detroit.

Here's a breakdown of everything you need to know about Terastallizing in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Can you tell what The Rock is cooking? Well, listeners to the latest Joe Rogan Experience episode certainly could, as one of the most famous movie stars in the world met with the podcast host. The actor, real name Dwayne Johnson, spoke with Rogan for three hours over the course of the interview in another lengthy instalment of the podcast. The pair talked about everything from the wrestler-turned-actor’s early ambitions in life to his thoughts on politics and much more in between. Here are six things we learned from the episode. He had dreams of being a country music singer He looks like he was born to be a wrestler, and with a personality to match his frame it’s no surprise he became a huge movie star too – but it turns out Johnson had dreams of becoming a country music star before his career took off. Johnson spoke about his early life, revealing that he was hanging out in Nashville at the age of 15 in pursuit of his dream. “It was downtown Nashville… I had no business being in a bar on Lower Broadway, because I had this fantasy in my head that I was gonna be a country music singer,” he said. That didn’t quite work out – and he’s probably quite glad things transpired for him the way they did. This crazy story about his first car Joe & The Rock: "What Was Your First Car?" www.youtube.com Johnson shared a tale about his first car, which he had for a matter of hours. “I would go down to these honky tonks, so I was down there with a buddy of mine named Downtown Bruno, who’s still one of my best friends today, and a drunk walks in and says “Hey, who wants to buy a car?” he said. “I had no car at that time, no money, we had just got evicted out of Hawaii and I said “I’ll buy it”, and I had no money. I said ‘How much?’ He said ‘$75, 80 bucks’ and I said ‘Cool’.” “I tell Bruno ‘How much money you got?’ He said ‘I only got $40’ I said ‘Give me $40’. The actor went on to say: “So I give it to the drunk, who’s probably high too as well, and I said’“Here, I’ll come back and give you the other $40.’ Speaking of cool cars, it was a ’77 Thunderbird. Blue… It was a hunk of sh**. “Give the drunk $40 bucks, I said ‘Hey, I’ll come back and give you the rest tonight.’ I get in the vehicle, I start driving down the road, Downtown Bruno is following me in his car, I’m like ‘F*** I got my first car.’ You know how it is when you’re a kid, right, you’re like this is it brother. This is it.” “I’m driving down the road, on I-65 down in Nashville, and I hear a lot of noise, some rustling. You know on those big bodies they have the backseat and the floor is really wide? There was another f***ing drunk on the floor… I was like ‘What the f***?’ He’s in the car. The story went on: “So I pull over and he’s just high as f***, probably a crackhead, and I said ‘Dude, I bought the car, you’ve gotta get out.’ He gets out. “Then the next day I go to put gas in the car, by the way, I’m 15, I have no f***ing papers, the car is probably stolen. I try to put gas in it and the guy, the drunk, the crackhead, didn’t give me the gas key. Remember those old school that had the gas key? “So I ditched it at a f***ing Burger King. That was my first car.” The Rock has never heard of the Cybertruck Sorry Elon Musk bros – The Rock has never heard of the Cybertruck, despite Rogan waxing lyrical about it, and he doesn’t own a Tesla either, because he only drives pick-up trucks. Dismisses a run for President The Rock Running as President? Approached by a Political Party | Joe Rogan Experience www.youtube.com Not long ago, when Trump was in power and the likes of Oprah Winfrey and other celebs were being touted for president, there were plenty of people clamouring for Johnson to get into politics. However, the actor has revealed that it will never happen – despite the fact one of the two main parties in the US previously approached him. He said that he wouldn’t run because “things are so f***ed up”, before detailing his meeting with the unnamed party. “So one of the parties came to visit me at the end of last year asking for me to run for President,” he said. “First of all, incredibly f***ing surreal cause I was the guy wrestling in flea markets years ago looking for free corn dogs and hot dogs and s***. Selling my headshots for five bucks trying to make money and all of a sudden I’m having that conversation.” He added: “It was so incredibly surreal but also so incredible that they had all this data that they had said if this happens here’s the result. It was really f***ing deep. And then I started to think, again surreal because that’s never been my goal, right? “I appreciate it and I’m f***ing honored but it made me think, this is either an incredible thing and I’ve got some pretty decent leadership skills, or things are so f***ed up.” He also said he has “never been in to politics. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot about politics that I hate”. Claims he nearly turned to MMA in the 90s He’s one of the wrestling greats, but Johnson claims he had ambitions to switch to MMA in the 90s. Claiming he came close to signing with Japanese MMA promotion company PRIDE. He also said at one point he didn't think he'd make it in the WWE because people were "booing" him during matches, and he also wasn't happy with the money he was earning. "I had this idea in my head - maybe I should train [for] MMA and go to PRIDE." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings