Wrexham AFC – We’re Back!

And so, what’s next in what has been an epic story of survival against the odds?  The Club had survived administration,10-point deduction, a number of owners who were only in it to liquidate the Club to maximise gain from the Club’s assets and the loss of our stadium ownership. But the fans were there every step of the way and gave sweat, blood and tears (and money!) to keep our Club alive. Whatever happened next was surely only possible to improve on what has gone before?

We had reached what had been possibly the lowest point in our history since joining the then Football League by invitation (England didn’t have enough teams at the time to populate a new ‘3rd Division) way back in the 1920’s. In March 2020, the 2019-20 National League season ended abruptly because of the coronavirus crisis and was eventually suspended, with Wrexham AFC narrowly avoiding relegation to the 6th tier of English football when the final table was calculated using a ‘Points Per Game’ method. Indeed, one of our ‘celebrity’ fans (yes, we did have some with a little fame even then!) suggesting that it would be better that we joined the Welsh Leagues rather than continue in the English pyramid. This thought had however never crossed the mind of the Club Board or the vast majority of the fans, and we were still looking on how we could improve and progress the Club, which, even after the pandemic, had some money in the bank and zero debt.

And this is where the future that we are living now really began. Although we had a number of approaches to take over the club , not one had been of a nature that could be described as having the best interests of the Club and community in mind, and, with the experience we had, we were not prepared to risk the future of the Club on ‘taking a chance’, and there had been no offers of investment from and local companies or individuals (contrary to rumours started by some who were obviously mischief making), so once again, the future was undefined. Unknown to us at the time, there were ‘high profile’ individuals in the USA looking to form a concept and invest in a team for a documentary series that would chart the rise of a down on its luck lower league football team and follow the trials and tribulations not only of the football club, but also of the extended community surrounding it and a potential to blossom. The pair were searching to invest in a football team with a story, a sense of community. A short list and scoring mechanism was set up, and, luckily for us, Wrexham finished top of the list. Given how luck had, over the years, avoided us like the plague, I guess this was fates way of redressing the balance.

Rob McElhenney & Ryan Reynolds

In early 2020 the Club Board were approached by an intermediary about a potential takeover bid. Portsmouth chief executive, Mark Catlin played an initial part in brokering the deal., who had previously worked with New York-based sports investment specialists Inner Circle Sports LLC, who had been instrumental in Portsmouth’s acquisition and also in deals to buy Liverpool and Crystal Palace, Given the somewhat low stature of the Club at this point, to be moving in such circles was unexpected to say the least. But, after signing the required non-disclosure agreement, not realising the need for secrecy was because of the massive profile of the prospective investors. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were introduced as potential Club owners, and the discussions began in earnest.

On September 14th, 2020, the Club publicly announced it had been approached to be bought for a nominal sum by two “extremely well-known individuals of high net worth” who were looking to purchase the entire shared capital of Wrexham AFC Limited and to immediately invest £2 million into the Club.

As the Club was still fans-owned, a Special General Meeting of members was called on 23rd September by the Wrexham Supporters Trust Board to vote on whether to proceed with talks with the prospective new owners. The resulting vote was overwhelmingly carried, and Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were revealed as the potential new owners, which was welcomed by Wrexham supporters, but with what, looking back, felt like almost like an unbelievable movie script.

Wrexham Supporters Trust held a virtual meeting on November 8th with Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds giving a presentation and outlining their vision for the club, followed by questions and answers.

One key sentence that stands out was saying they wanted to make Wrexham “a global force”, and,as subsequent events have shown, this is indeed what they are doing. A vote was taken on whether 2,108 qualifying members wanted  Reynolds and McElhenney to take over the club opened on Monday, November 9th, lasting until the following Sunday, with a decision announced on Monday, November 16th.

The takeover could only go ahead if at least 75 per cent of those who respond agreed.

On November 16th, a date to be remembered in the long history of the Club, it was announced that more than 98% of supporters had voted in favour of the takeover out of more than 2,000 trust members eligible to vote, 1,809 approved, 26 were against and nine abstained.

A WST statement said:  “Subject to final agreement, league and FA confirmation – the RR McReynolds Company, LLC will take 100% control of Wrexham Football Club Limited from the WST. Both parties will now proceed with finalising the details of the takeover, and we will update Wrexham supporters as soon as we can.”

Although the deal would take three months to go through, with a mission statement promising to grow the club, improve the Racecourse and training facilities, protect Wrexham’s history, return them to the Football League and “always beat Chester”, lots of changes were already in the pipeline. Former Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore was to work as an adviser at Wrexham.

In January 2021 the WST announced that the board had concluded negotiations of the Share Purchase Agreement and had exchanged contracts with Reynolds and McElhenney as the takeover moved another step closer, with the takeover being approved by the Financial Conduct Authority in February, and on February 9th, 2021: Reynolds and McElhenney are confirmed as the new owners. Humphrey Ker is installed as the club’s Executive Director, Fleur Robinson is appointed as CEO and introduced ex-Southampton vice-chair and FA technical Advisor Les Reed to the board. Shaun Harvey, who had been part of the takeover team, became an Advisor to the board (although it appeared, as time passed, it was actually him who was running the Club!). There was an immediate investment of £50,000 into the women’s football section, re-enforcing the new owner’s commitment to community involvement.

A clause was inserted into the purchase document including a covenant to ensure the Club remains at the ground until at least 2115, unless a move away is urgently needed if the Club outgrows the ground. Given the sellout crowds of the past seasons, this covenant really has no binding quality as we already seem to be at that point, but the current owners have stated publicly they do not want to move the club to a different location, but the current lack of any further development on the promised new Kop stand and a vague covering statement about re-visiting the plans could be a possible indication that there may be indeed a move away from the Racecourse.

While all the high-level moves were happening, Wrexham AFC continued to go about its business, with a big improvement on the previous season’s performances. However, after the Club missed out on the play-offs on the final day of the 2020-21 season. after a draw at Dagenham & Redbridge, finishing 8th in the League. The following day the club part company with manager Dean Keates, when his contract was not renewed and former Charlton, Bradford, Bolton and Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson was hired on July 1st. with long-time assistant Steve Parkin also brought on board.

The 2021-22 season saw a triple disappointment with the Town missing out to Stockport County for the title on the final day of the season and losing in the National League playoffs, capped with losing to Bromley in the FA Trophy final at Wembley. So basically, we were a job-in-progress, at least for another season. And what a season that would turn out to be.

However, there was a major event in the history of the Club on June 29th 2022 when Wrexham AFC completed the purchase of the Racecourse from Wrexham Glyndwr University, who had bought it (and the training ground at Colliers Park) in 2011 as part of the WST takeover, In the period in between, the WST, who could not afford to buy the freehold at the time of the takeover, had secured a 99-year lease in 2016  with a rent of £100,000 pa. Much of the cost involved in this was at the time covered by the innovative introduction of major musical concerts at the Racecourse, with bands such as The Stereophonics headlining.

The New Kop

In August of 2022, the club submitted the planning application for the new Kop stand which would add 5,500 seats to the Racecourse capacity, including 5,000 general admission seats and 500 hospitality seats. There will also be a flexible exhibition space for up to 600 attendees and other hospitality lounges that can be used on both match and non-matchdays. This would also ensure that the club would comply with UEFA’s Category 4 criteria and take the current capacity of the Racecourse from 10,500 to 15,500 (500 seats are expected to be lost to UEFA requirements). The plans for a new Kop had been in place on slightly smaller scale during the WST’s tenure as part of the Wrexham Gateway Project, and the WST had already secured an investment commitment from the Welsh government for developments to the Racecourse.

The growth of the club’s ‘brand’ really took root on a global basis with the release of the first series of Welcome to Wrexham in the USA, followed by a release in the United Kingdom and Ireland at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Although no direct financial income came to the Club from the documentary series, the exposure of the Club allowed the attraction of major sponsorship from global companies, essential for the growth necessary to push Wrexham AFC forward.

And this was the season that the dreams came true. Wrexham AFC were champions of the National League, securing the title and promotion to the Football League, setting a records haul of 111 points, a record for the top five divisions in English League football. After 15 years in the wilderness of non-league football, Wrexham AFC were once again back we belonged, the Football League. It had been a long hiatus, but the fact is, we should never have been away in the first place. As we, and a large number of clubs have found, the FA’s Fit & Proper tests are not themselves fit for purpose. They do not take in to account the background stories of why cubs end up losing their grounds, status, and in some cases, even their existence. It is well past the time when there should be a body in place to scrutinise club ownership at a granular level to ensure that football clubs are not pillaged and destroyed by unscrupulous ‘business’ men only intent on lining their own pockets at all levels of the game.

40,000 line the streets of Wrexham

A victory parade was announced, with 15,000 to 20,000 expected to line the streets of Wrexham for the three-bus parade to celebrate the promotion of both the men’s and women’s (who had lifted the Genero Adran North title and secured promotion to the Adran Premier League) sides. This estimate proved to be way out, with North Wales Police confirming around 40,0000 were present to celebrate a monumental and historic season.

And this success just kept on rolling, with Wrexham AFC securing a second successive promotion, this time to League 1, in the 2023-24 season, with a 2nd place finish, once again to Stockport County.

And what will the 2024-25 season.in League 1 bring? Time will tell, but at the very least we’ve regained what seemed at time irrevocably lost to the mecanations of asset strippers, and above all, we’re enjoying the football once again.