Wrexham’s capacity to raise money since rejoining the EFL this summer has been gaining momentum, with another 20,000 club jerseys on order for Christmas to go with the 35,000 bought earlier in the season.
Even given Wrexham’s position two divisions below that level in the fourth tier of the English game, an ordinary Championship team would be quite thrilled to shift such numbers in a year.
In terms of yearly revenue, it is a similar tale, with the newly sponsored Racecourse Ground expecting to earn £20 million ($24.3 million at current exchange rates) in 2023–24, one of several lucrative business agreements made possible by the popularity of the Welcome To Wrexham documentary series.
Again, they are the kinds of numbers that are more often associated with a club in a lower league that is not receiving parachute payments after being demoted from the Premier League.
The financial statistics for a League Two team is so incredibly outstanding that Wrexham’s performance on the field is a touch behind.After 11 of the regular season’s 46 games, Phil Parkinson’s club sits ninth in the 24-team division with 17 points following Tuesday’s spirited 0-0 draw against undefeated Mansfield Town.
Being two points outside of the play-off spots is by no means a bad start, but it’s also not quite the ‘all guns blazing’ impact many bookmakers were anticipating following last season’s record-breaking National League title success. William Hill, for example, priced Wrexham at odds of 3-1 to win the League Two title before a ball had been kicked, with Stockport County (6-1) and Notts County (15-2) their closest rivals.
When questioned about their playing fortunes after returning to the EFL after 15 years in non-League, Humphrey Ker, Wrexham’s executive director, comments “There’s been an adjustment period and a few factors at play that have helped create some freakish results.”
“But I’m still sure that at the end of the season, we’ll be there or close to it. After settling into a good routine for a few weeks, Stockport (after losing 5-0) threw us off. I do think that as a team, we still feel a little bit of the National League’s pressure to win every week.
Due to only one team receiving an automatic promotion, “it is a disaster if you lose points in that competition.” The 2-2 home draw we had with Woking came to mind when I watched a few segments of the documentary last night. At the time, it seemed like the end of the world, as I recall. The same is true in the tie versus Maidenhead.
This division doesn’t operate that way. Leyton Orient won League Two last year despite losing seven and drawing 13 games.
Ker, a devoted Liverpool supporter, has managed to maintain his composure despite Wrexham’s crazily inconsistent record, which has seen them surrender five goals on three different times in their first 11 games while still trailing the three automatic promotion slots by only three points.
But is it the same for the club’s famous owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, who appeared emotionally weary at the conclusion of last season’s epic title fight with Notts County?
The person who got the Hollywood couple started on the route to purchasing the Welsh club said, “Rob and Ryan are being remarkably calm.”What surprises me is. They recognize that it is still early and that there is some wiggle room. The league’s shape hasn’t truly taken shape in my opinion yet.
“As we have already demonstrated a few times this season, we are a big, strong, physical club that can grind it out when the going gets tough. Let’s anticipate January and February, when the weather can be very unpleasant.
“Remember, I predicted Notts County would struggle in those circumstances at this time last year, and look how it worked out with them flying through that time!”
Ker is having a conversation with The Athletic about Wrexham’s first two months back in the Football League. Not just on the field, but also off it, as the second season of the documentary that made a small-town team famous around the world is about halfway through its 15-episode run.
The Kop development is another project that has been put on hold for a number of reasons, including the necessity to reroute a sewage that runs beneath the area in question and relocate an electrical substation serving the university housing that is near to the stadium.
The drainage issue was addressed with planning permission last Friday, but the £25 million project still needs to address a number of other issues, including the transfer of the stadium lease from the Wrexham Supporters Trust and the completion of a grant funding agreement with the county council.
These delays are going to cost money since it is getting harder and harder to get tickets for home games. Chester FC supporters are happy to watch their major local rivals’ success since McElhenney and Reynolds rode into town.
When asked when construction on the 5,500-capacity new Kop may really start, Ker responds, “We remain hopeful.” We only need a number of dominoes to line up. The one thing we are certain of is that it will take roughly 11 months to build, whenever we finally begin.
“The beginning of the upcoming season won’t be delayed. But you would be in a position to potentially be open for some test events over the next season if we did, say, do some of the preparatory work this side of Christmas. The next season, formally open it. But in the end, that’s a hefty “if.”
“I can say with certainty that it continues to be a top priority for us. With assistance from the council, the FAW (Football Association of Wales), the university, and others, we are working on it as soon as we can. We have no complaints about how things turned out. It is exactly the way things have turned out in reality. Everyone wants to get things done, but there are a lot of tying up loose ends along the road.
The return of international football to Wrexham is a certainty.
Wales’ senior squad will play at the Racecourse against Gibraltar for just the second time in 15 years next week.
It is envisaged that this would be the beginning of national team games, both for the men’s and women’s teams, being held more frequently in north Wales. The realization of those goals will depend in large part on the construction of the new Kop.
Regarding the preparations made for Gibraltar’s visit, Ker states that “UEFA has no problem with a three-sided ground in front of 10,000 people.” The Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Andorra, and a few other UEFA members don’t have enormous contemporary stadiums.
![REQUESTED] Wrexham AFC 21-22. Home x4, Away, 3rd x2, GK x2, Team emblem, Manager, Stadium, Sponsors + in game images (3rd kit`s a bit iffy, but will improve on it later). : r/WEPES_Kits](https://i.redd.it/3d79lx5z56p81.png)
Parade celebrating Wrexham’s promotion passes through their racetrack (Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)
“But we do need to complete all the necessary parts in order to raise the stadium to UEFA Category 4 classification by the deadline. such is a press room, picture spaces, an interview mix zone, and several camera positions. Things that we are rather behind on.
“We’ll have ad hoc marquees for Gibraltar. We at the FAW can sort those out. However, over time, we want this to serve as a foundation for more competitive games, women’s team games, and under-21 competitions. We don’t want to always having to set up a tent for visitors. The Kop can assist with that.
Since their elevation from non-League, life has been stressful for Ker and the rest of the senior leadership team because the club now has a lot of requirements to meet.
He has even made an appearance on the ITV daytime chat program This Morning, saying, “Loved Holly, loved Dermot, very excited to meet them,” regarding the show’s hosts Holly Willoughby and Dermot O’Leary, without being asked, to emphasize once more how different life is at Wrexham from that of other League Two clubs.
Reviews for the second season of Welcome To Wrexham have been overwhelmingly positive, despite complaints from some fans that there wasn’t enough match action in the six episodes that have been broadcast so far. These episodes have covered topics like autism, King Charles’ visit in December, and the women’s team’s bid for promotion to the Welsh top division.
“I get that all people in Wrexham want to see is 40 minutes straight of us destroying different teams last season,” adds Ker, who serves as the show’s consulting producer.
The National League trophy is raised by Wrexham (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
“I want to see the same, so I can’t wait to see the next three or four (episodes), which I know greatly emphasize the Notts County-Yeovil-Boreham Wood era — days that will live long in my mind.
But I do think that the documentary is being positively received by viewers. That’s fantastic for us since the documentary is the club’s top marketing and revenue-generating resource. It generates a lot of interest in the club and attracts sponsors.
“It also encourages customers to purchase more kits, which is why we recently placed a new, staggering order in time for Christmas. In addition to the summer order of 35,000, I think the figure is about 20,000.
To put such figures in perspective, Bradford City, which had average home attendance of over 18,000 last season and was easily League Two’s best-supported club, sold 15,000 squad jerseys in 2021–22.
In the future, Wrexham may establish a distribution center in the United States to make it simpler and more affordable for supporters on the other side of the Atlantic to obtain club memorabilia.
When questioned why the club has grown so well-known both domestically and internationally that more gear is needed, Ker responds, “Phil (Parkinson) and the guys have done an amazing job.” “We have had a ton of incredible, insane games that have ended 7-5, 6-5, and 5-5. But everything is interconnected. There is interest because of the documentary.
This past summer’s four-game tour of the United States, which featured matches against elite Premier League teams Chelsea and Manchester United, will undoubtedly have contributed to the enthusiasm sparked by series one of the documentary.
According to Ker, “we are still awaiting the whole facts and numbers from the trip about the numerous distinct business benefits. But even without those numbers, I think the tour was a resounding success.
At a preseason friendly matchup against the LA Galaxy’s second squad, a Wrexham supporter waves a banner. (Image: Katherine Lotze/Getty Images)
“I’m conscious that some people won’t agree with what I’m saying. Fans definitely appear to be buying into the idea that the preseason was a complete failure and that’s why we drew the first match (1-1) at Wimbledon and lost the first one (5-3 at home to MK Dons).
“The same thing was said last year, but we skipped the United States.” After winning the opening game, we drew away at Yeovil and fell at Chesterfield. It’s a disaster and pre-season wasn’t appropriate, fans were yelling.
“The tour was a huge success for us, and we’ll be looking into the possibility of doing it again soon,”
Ker notices that the negative sentiment among supporters of other clubs has risen as a result of this heightened attention.
There are undoubtedly more individuals criticizing us now, he asserts.
“There are two contributing variables. One is envy. I’ve seen a number of comments from folks who seem keen to spread the idea that these two “Hollywood clowns” just care about the club as a toy and will do everything to ruin it.
Given the abundance of horrible owners in English football who are openly robbing their teams or forcing them into administration, I do find that amusing. Or are controlled by some dreadful military regime from somewhere that specializes in plunging citizens down wells, among other things.
“It is astonishing how much energy individuals expend assuring our audience that they would laugh uncontrollably when they fail due to those two Hollywood clowns.
“The other aspect is that we are posing a danger slowly.
When the first season of the documentary was released, several supporters of clubs in higher levels gave Wrexham high fives and said, “Oh, good on them. Nevertheless, once we win the National League, the attitude shifts to “Oh, we might have to play them in a couple of seasons, so I’ll have to be really pissed off that they have more money than we do.”
