Key highlights
- Wrexham AFC beat Boreham Wood 3-1 on Saturday to end their 15-year exile from the Football League
- This comes barely two years after Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed their takeover of the 5th-division English side.
- The move raised a lot of eyebrows, but the duo has succeeded in transforming Wrexham into a global brand, using creative media and strategic marketing.
Wrexham came from behind to beat Boreham Wood 3-1 on Saturday to win the English National League title and gain promotion into the Football League exactly 15 years after they were relegated.
Boreham Wood had threatened to spoil the party as they took the lead just 43 seconds into the game, courtesy of Lee Ndlovu. Elliott Lee got the equalizer for Wrexham before Paul Mullin scored two spectacular second-half goals to take his tally for the season to 47.
Thousands of Wrexham fans took to the pitch in celebration at the blast of the final whistle. The victory now takes their tally for the season to 110 points, with one game left to play. This has been the most keenly-contested title race in the National League, with rivals Notts County on 106 points. Both teams have broken the record for the most points earned in a campaign – 105. But Notts County will have to win a four-team playoff if they’re to join Wrexham in the EFL League Two next season.
Co-owners Rob McElhenny and Ryan Reynolds after the ecstatic win.
Rob McElhenney: “Well I think we can hear what it feels to the town. It’s a time of celebration and to be welcomed into their community and to be welcomed to this, it is the honour of my life.”
Ryan Reynolds: “I am unsure I can process what happened tonight. I am still a little speechless.[People ask] ‘Why Wrexham?’. This is why Wrexham. This happening right now, is why.
Why Wrexham?
Wrexham Association Football Club is the third-oldest professional football club in the world, playing in the oldest international stadium in the world, and before now, was primarily owned by fans of Wrexham. But the club was a distressed asset, languishing in the National League since 2008. Fans’ contribution to fund player purchases in the transfer market through the “Build the Budget” campaign was barely enough. In 2020, words went around that a celebrity wanted to purchase the team.
Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney had decided they wanted to own a Football club after watching numerous football documentaries including Amazon’s All or Nothing series and Netflix’s Sunderland Til’ I Die during the lockdown, both inspired them to look at options.
Both actors spent thousands of hours meeting and talking with over 2000 Wrexham fans, and detailing their plans for the club. They gained the supporters’ trust, with 98.6 percent backing the purchase. In February 2021, they agreed to invest $2.5 million in improving the club’s players and its facilities.
How Reynolds and McElhenny transformed Wrexham into a global asset
When the duo first arrived, many questioned their motives. There were fears that it was a publicity stunt aimed at heightening the actors’ profile in the UK. Two years later, Wrexham are National League title winners, and fans delight in the transformative effect which their two owners have had on not just the club, but on the City too.
The “Welcome to Wrexham” Documentary
Rob and Ryan were inspired to buy Wrexham by documentaries they had watched, and they wasted no time in replicating that. As with other football series, the documentary featured plenty behind-the-scenes from their last season which ended with a 5-4 devastating semi-final loss to Grimsby in the playoffs.
The documentary was a global hit which led to exponential growth in the club’s merchandise sales and online followings and opened up more lucrative sponsorship opportunities. In the first month after the show’s debut, Wrexham earned $429,000 in revenue from its shop. This is more than six times what they earned in the past year in an equivalent period.
According to Insiders, the documentary earned $400,000 per hour of content and $3.2 million in revenue. It also received a 97% audience score and greenlighted a season two, which is halfway through filming.
Attendances
Season ticket holders for games at the Racecourse Ground have tripled since fans returned to stadiums following COVID-19 restrictions. The final figure of 6,820 for the 2022/23 season was almost triple of the 2,609 season ticket holders before the pandemic in 2019/20.
There are plans to increase Racecourse Ground from its 10,771 capacity to more than 16,000.
Sponsors
Ryan and Rob’s arrival have attracted known partnerships to Wrexham. This season, TikTok’s logo appears on the shirt front, Expedia on the back, and Vistaprint on the sleeve, while Reynolds’s Aviation American Gin sponsors the staff clothing.
Growing Global Fanbase
Wrexham saw its online profiles explode when the names of the two high-profile investors interested in buying them were first revealed in September 2020. The numbers have continued to grow since then.
With over 474k Followers on Twitter, 694k on Instagram, 977k on Tiktok, 206k Followers, and 144k Likes on Facebook, the club now has more online Following than many Championship and Premier League sides.
When Reynolds and McElhenny took over Wrexham two years ago, only a few could have imagined the impact they would make at the club, but they are just getting started.
