Wrexham's celebration - a parade to start their journey

They travelled along a route of 3.5 miles in a parade to celebrate a season to remember - but for Wrexham you get the sense that this is merely the beginning of a journey.

Wrexham had never seen anything like it. The town, now a city, had seen open-top bus tours in the past.

In 1978 when Arfon Griffiths' side secured the Third Division title, when Brian Flynn's side won promotion in 1993 and when the club were League Two champions under Denis Smith in 2002.

It is a history with plenty of high points, but for 20 years or so there had been very little to shout about.

Supporters had taken to the streets in Wrexham in May 2005 but not to celebrate. The march through the town was to highlight the very real possibility at the time of the club going under.

Ownership problems continued to plague the club and a spell in administration led to a downward spiral before relegation from the Football League in 2008.

But now their 15-year spell in non-league football is over and the club have an exciting future ahead under Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

"It's been a tough old slog," is how former Dragon Waynne Phillips described it.

"The interest has always been there and the club has been crying out for the owners that we've currently got."

The celebrations on the streets of Wrexham on this bright early May evening were as much about the club's rise from the brink as the record-breaking season which delivered the National League title.

"You wondered whether our day would ever, ever come," says Richard Williams, who has been covering the club for The Leader newspaper since 1999.

"Rob and Ryan coming in has given us the best chance possible.

"When we got over that line against Boreham Wood I could feel myself going, I really could. That's what it meant to me.

"For all those 3-0 defeats at Braintree and getting back at three in the morning and getting up for work for eight, days like this make up for it."

It was apt that when the three bright red, open-topped, double-decker buses travelled down the Mold Road, it was Dafydd Iwan's iconic Welsh language protest song Yma o Hyd which was the soundtrack to a journey that saw them pass the Racecourse.

Yma o Hyd - We're still Here - is testament to the club's survival in spite of all the troubles and dark days.

Football has been deeply ingrained in the local community and owners Reynolds and McElhenney have put the community at the heart of their guardianship of the club since they took over in early 2021.

The community in turn came out in their thousands to celebrate, lining the streets from Crispin Lane to the High Street and all routes back to the Racecourse.

And the presence on the parade of the women's team, who will play in Welsh football's top flight next season, demonstrated the owners' commitment to the women's game in their mission statement was not an empty gesture.

"You can see what Rob and Ryan have done for the community and they've really embraced all parts of it, rather than just the first team," Richard Williams added.

"They've given the community such a huge lift and the feelgood factor, which to be fair hasn't been here for a while.

"The feelgood factor is well and truly back and as Phil Parkinson said, this is just the start of the journey.

"As much as I'd like to think there are more promotions in the bag, I'm just going to enjoy the moment."

This corner of north east Wales has had its setbacks - footballing lows have been exaggerated by the loss of heavy industries such as coalmining and steelmaking.

• As it happened: Hollywood owners join Wrexham parade

But 'The Town' became a city in 2022 and the football club's success has lifted the local community. The outpouring of joy and the broad smiles on the streets of Wrexham on Tuesday evening was proof of that.

Football's landscape has changed too in the 45 years since Griffiths' team - considered by many to be the greatest in the club's history - achieved promotion to English football's second tier.

That was the highest level the club have ever played at. Today, two further promotions would see Wrexham reach the Championship, one step away from the owners' ultimate dream of a place in English football's top flight, the Premier League.

"This last 12-18 months has been something special," Phillips added.

"You just think how far this football club can go."