Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have dragged Wrexham back from the doldrums and up from the fifth tier to the second in record time.
Wrexham became the first team to win three consecutive promotions from the National League to the Championship and now find themselves at an interesting juncture in their upward progress.
The Hollywood duo have no intention of bankrolling the club into the Premier League but new investment from the Allyn family and the club’s commercial success will put them on a robust platform as they steady themselves for what Reynolds and McElhenney surely see as the next big jump.
Manager Phil Parkinson has secured his job with successive promotions but his playing staff, ambitiously built for the top end of League One, will require improvement in the summer.
The Red Dragons are in a financial position to fulfil that brief and then some.
“Birmingham [City] and Wrexham are likely to be targeting similar players to the likes of Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton – and some of the smaller Premier League clubs this summer,” reports Rob Dorsett for Sky Sports.
“In League One, clubs have only been allowed to spend 60 per cent of their total turnover on players although this is changing for next season, to further limit the amount wealthy owners can pump in.
“In the Championship, the rules say no more than £39m can be lost over any three-year period. For Wrexham and Birmingham, that gives a lot of leeway to invest in the squad because a new three-year cycle starts now.”
Dorsett reports that Wrexham “now [have] an estimated worth in excess of £100m” and have increased in value by more than 50 times since 2021.
“Wrexham’s estimated turnover this season has been more than £27m. That is an enormous figure for a League One club – four or five times the turnover of the league’s smallest clubs. “
Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson (Image: Getty)
Like Birmingham, Wrexham are expected to throw their weight around in the summer transfer market and fish in the same waters as some clubs a division higher.
Parkinson outlined the Wrexham’s ‘no superstars and no egos’ policy and indicated that free transfers would form a significant part of their plans.
That could put the likes of 38-year-old Premier League striker Jamie Vardy in the frame along with Welsh international Ben Davies, out of contract at Tottenham Hotspur in June, and Champions League and Premier League winner Adam Lallana.
Goalkeeper Danny Ward, out of favour and out of contract at relegated Leicester City, is Wrexham born and bred and could be an outside bet as incoming competition for Arthur Okonkwo as Parkinson seeks to add depth as well as strength.
