Wrexham footballers Paul Mullin and James McClean have deleted controversial social media posts attacking King Charles.
The Wrexham squad are currently celebrating their recent promotion from League Two in Las Vegas.
The all-expenses-paid post-season trip is a treat from the club’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who have seen Wrexham secure back-to-back promotions to reach League One.
The players were a part of the launch of the third season of the hit series ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ and have also been pictured at the iconic Hakkasan nightclub and at Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s fight against Jaime Munguia.
Several players have shared highlights from the trip but Mullin and McClean caused controversy by posting an anti-monarchy message attacking King Charles, who was diagnosed with cancer in February.
Mullin posted a picture of the pair on Instagram during the post-season celebrations with the caption: ‘And we hate the f****** King!’
Republic of Ireland international McClean shared the picture on his own Instagram and added: ‘We serve no king or kaiser but Ireland! Sue me.’
Both posts have since been deleted but McClean, a vocal Republican, admitted to singing anti-monarchy chants on the pitch as Wrexham celebrated their promotion last month.
‘Is this correct? Absolutely and I also sang at the top of my lungs,’ McClean said in response to a story about the incident. ‘Do I make any apologies for doing so? Absolutely not.’
The 35-year-old refuses to wear a poppy during games played across Remembrance weekend and turned his back on the English national anthem while playing for Ireland.
Mullin, who was born just outside Liverpool city centre, revealed his aversion to the Royal Family in his autobiography, My Wrexham Story, as he reflected on a visit from King Charles to the club in December 2022.
‘I’ll be straight: This visit might have been billed as a historic day for Wrexham, but it wasn’t for me. I’ve no interest in royalty,’ the 29-year-old striker said.
‘I don’t see why anyone should have the God-given right to be born into such wealth, and then for us to pay for them as well. It just comes down to basic fairness.’
King Charles revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer in February. The 75-year-old resumed public engagements last week after making encouraging progress in his treatment.
Wrexham were a non-league side two years ago but have enjoyed back-to-back promotions since being taken over by Reynolds and McElhenney at the start of 2021.
‘It’s been a magical season,’ McElhenney told BBC Sport Wales after Wrexham’s latest promotion. ‘It’s been an incredible year and this was just the icing on the cake.
‘We didn’t expect promotion to come so quickly. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t expect that we would be up there – and that’s just based on conversations we’d had with Phil [Parkinson] throughout the off-season.
‘Even as we stumbled at the beginning, he had a steady hand and he felt we’d be up there near the top – if not the top three then in play-off contention – so we felt pretty confident, but you never know with football.’
Successive promotions for Wrexham means they will be competing against the likes of Birmingham, Wigan and Charlton in League One next season and are possibly just two years away from playing in the Premier League.
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