From Hollywood to the Championship: Wrexham’s next decade will change everything
From Hollywood to the Championship: Wrexham’s next decade will change everything
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The day after Wrexham’s historic promotion to the Championship with a victory over Charlton Athletic, I was at the Wrexham AFC vs Cardiff City women’s Cup Final.
Taking my son to the loo during the half-time break, I bumped into a friendly looking chap with a beaming smile not something you often encounter at a football match, even in the posh seats.
But watching Wrexham in 2025 is a different story, and one that Rob and Ryan have been writing and crafting in five years that has arguably changed the face of football in the UK (see Snoop Dogg).
These owners have been a cheat code. All accusations of deep pockets have been undone by their exceptional strategy of creating a commercial powerhouse through the documentary. Their exposure has unlocked commercial deals that were otherwise unimaginable, and totally unfeasible.
The fan ownership that enabled the club to survive the decade and a half prior to the takeover could never have convinced Meta, HP, Ancestry, United Airlines, TikTok, and Danone to commit to the kinds of commercial deals now in place.
But that’s what I realised when I bumped into that chap – who happened to be a billionaire – in the bathroom. The club will never be owned by fans again.
This season (on the pitch, not the show) is going to be fascinating.
Over half of “heritage” fans based on age alone will never have seen the club play at this level. That percentage drops even lower with the new, global fanbase factored in.
I’d say most fans (and this is a sweeping statement rather than backed up by solid research) really just wanted to see Wrexham competing at a good level again. Having a team to be proud of and reversing the depressing downward spiral. For most, the Premier League would be a fascinating experience but doesn’t feel like a realistic mission. And it is unlikely to be satisfying at this rate. The football in League One was truly dreadful, but it obviously got the job done.
If you look at the likes of Brentford, Bournemouth, and Brighton – three disrupters in the last decade – their success has been built on data. The Wrexham recruitment strategy over the last three years has been more MLS than moneyball.
Sustained success will need a change in approach, but that doesn’t sit well with a win-now plan.
Consolidation in the Championship over the next three years would be a massive success, and would enable an evolution of the approach, but that isn’t very Hollywood.
One of my best mates is a Luton Town fan, and they had an exceptional shirt launch campaign ahead of their 2023/2024 season, asking local fans who their Premier League team was. Two seasons later they’re back in League One, facing Cardiff City, Stockport County, and Port Vale.
There’s no getting carried away in the fanbase, being a sustainable Championship team would be a successful outcome of this whole drama, but that’s just a fanbase perspective. Billionaire investors and documentary directors won’t be quite so understanding.
If Wrexham are to become an established Premier League team, the club will have to grow to a valuation in the hundreds of millions. Brentford recently announced an investment at a valuation of £400m. According to TransferMarkt, Brighton have 19 players worth over €20m, and 15 more worth over €5m each. Bournemouth have already received more than £110m in transfer fees since the window opened at the start of July.
Their most recent investment raise was reportedly at a £100m valuation. Earlier in the summer there were reports of the club seeking investment at a £350m valuation.
This is a different ballgame, and winning at it requires different strategies.
What Wrexham has gained in spotlight and success, it loses in community, authenticity, and connection.
Increasingly, there will be more billionaires around the club. The Ivor Williams’ and Peter Gwyn Potatoes’ that got the club through the dark days will have less of a role to play. The club will look completely different in a decade, and the number of local kids done good who can step in and buy it back into local ownership once everyone has left the stage at a £1bn valuation might be limited.
I’d like to have seen this recognised sooner, for fans to have had an opportunity to own a stake of the business (at least 25%, not a token gesture) and to give some long-term value back to the community, but this moment has passed.
So in the meantime, we have another wild season to look forward to, and a decade of decisions that will continue to change the club forever.
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