Wrexham news: A rollercoaster ride from National League to the Championship
After languishing in the lower tiers of the football pyramid, Wrexham are finally in the Sky Bet Championship - a sudden rise that nobody expected to happen so fast.
In this article, Sports News Blitz’s Dylan Easton takes a look at how the club have managed their success and the challenges that lie ahead of them.
Lights, camera action
The catalyst behind the meteoric rise was when Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney completed a takeover of the club in February 2021, taking control from the club’s supporters’ trust with an initial £2m investment with the club sitting in the National League, one division below The Football League.
The journey stemmed from McElhenney striking up a close relationship with current Wrexham director Humphrey Ker when the pair worked on comedy television series Mythic Quest - Ker as a writer, McElhenney as an actor.
McElhenney tasked Ker with scouring for a sleeping giant to invest in after the Philadelphia-born actor took an interest in football, with Hartlepool, Aldershot, Carlisle and Shamrock Rovers the clubs that were considered before setting their eyes on Wrexham.
However, they weren’t starting this venture alone, as Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds joined them after he contacted McElhenney to praise his work on an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
The rest is history.
Important signings
Just five months after the takeover was complete, Phil Parkinson was appointed as manager after successful stints at clubs across the EFL.
He made some big signings within his second season such as former England international goalkeeper Ben Foster and Elliott Lee who has been massively influential at the heart of the midfield.
Wrexham achieved promotion from the National League with a record 111 points to end a 15-year absence from the Football League after a historic battle with Notts County for automatic promotion, leaving Notts County to be promoted via the playoffs.
An unexpected rise
Many thought that Wrexham would consolidate in their first season back in League Two but were quickly proven wrong.
The Red Dragons won 26 of their 46 games as they came second place to Stockport County which saw them in League One, achieving back-to-back promotions.
If that wasn’t enough, they ploughed straight through League One, finishing second to Birmingham City which has seen the first back-to-back-to-back promotions within the top five divisions.
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Good investment
Off the field, the ownership has fired such a rise through a documentary on Disney Plus titled ‘Welcome to Wrexham.’
The documentary has seen the club expand greatly.
It has opened up numerous sponsorship opportunities after having TikTok, Meta, United Airlines and HP as big-money sponsors within the lower divisions which is a testament to how well Wrexham are run from a commercial perspective.
As a direct impact of such success, work is due to commence on improving the Kop stand at the Stok Rae Cas Stadium, with plans to also develop a training ground and a facility expansion for the academy and women’s side.
The rocky road ahead
Up ahead is a challenge that many clubs stall at due to the Premier League relegation parachute payments creating a void between the top and bottom half of the league.
Each season becomes exponentially harder as the void widens.
If Wrexham can achieve promotion at the first chance of asking, it will go down as one of the greatest achievements in English football in a league where Leeds United gained 90 points and failed to get promoted in the 2023/2024 season.
Competition will be at an all-time high with Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester coming down from the Premier League.
Not to mention, there’s a plethora of well-established playoff-pushing teams that Wrexham will have to overcome to reach the Premier League.
More investment may be necessary to finance such a push as the playing squad will require fresh faces.
However, with owners like McElhenney and Reynolds, Wrexham are an attractive proposition to invest in.
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