This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, Football Finance Lab may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
The Wrexham AFC has become internationally known through the Disney+ series „Welcome to Wrexham“. Here the everyday life and rise of the traditional Welsh club is documented. In this article, we explain why the club, as a former fifth division club, is still interesting for a streaming series and how the club managed to become successful and relevant again in English football.
Historic Roots of Wrexham AFC
Wrexham AFC is definitely a storied club, although they never had the big wins or played in the Premier League. However, the club always managed to play in one of the top four leagues between 1921 and 2008. The club mainly participated in the third and fourth divisions. The club’s most glorious period was in the 1970s. Here, the club even made it into international competitions, despite remaining a third-tier club. This was because Wrexham managed to win the Welsh Cup and thus participated in the European Cup Winners’ Cup for the first time in 1972/73. In 1976, they even reached the quarterfinals of this competition, which is still considered one of the greatest successes in the club’s history. In the late 1970s, Wrexham even made it to the Second Division, where they played for a total of four seasons and almost made it to the First Division in 1989, but were eliminated in the promotion playoffs.
As the club progressed, it repeatedly commuted between the third and fourth divisions. This continued until the club slipped into bankruptcy in 2004. After that, there were repeated attempts to liquidate the club. We analyzed the relegation of another traditional club in the following article about Leicester City. This was successful, but Wrexham’s financial problems persisted. This led to the club’s relegation to the Fifth Division in 2008, thus withdrawing from the Football League. Financial problems continued, however. In 2011, the club was saved by its fans, who raised £100,000 to maintain its operations. At the end of 2020, the association’s 2,000 members (and the owners) decided that RR McReynolds Company LLC could purchase. The sale to the company was finalized and official on February 9, 2021.
How Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney Sparked Wrexham’s Revival
The RR McReynolds Company LLC is therefore the owner of the association. But who is behind this company? Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and American actor Rob McElhenny are the two owners of the company and thus also the owners of the club. Thus, two Hollywood actors have joined Wrexham and are investing in it. You can see this in two things. The club immediately got its own series, which can be seen on TV and streaming platforms. This can be explained by the acting activities and the associated proximity to production companies. The second thing is the two’s investments in the club. In the first transfer summer after the start, approximately 600,000€ were invested in new players, which is exorbitantly high for a fifth division club. They failed to achieve promotion in their first season, but did so a season later. The club thus made it back to professional football after a 15-year absence. In the following two seasons, little investment was made in other players in terms of transfer fees, but high salaries were still paid to highly valuable players. This resulted in two further promotions, which is why Wrexham is still playing in the English Championship today and will now enter its third Championship season.
Since Wrexham AFC returned to the Championship, investment in the club has increased immensely and this is also reflected in the transfer market. In the first season, approximately 5 million euros in transfer fees were spent, although there is no transfer revenue. This is not a crazy transfer fee for an English second division club, but it does show that the club is financially competitive. This competitiveness is particularly evident when looking at the figures from the 2024/25 season. Here, the club spent around 40 million euros on the transfer market to make the club vulnerable to attack towards promotion to the Premier League. No transfer income was generated in the process either. At the same time, the club achieved sales of 38.91 million euros in the 2024/25 season. Expenditure on the transfer market was therefore one transfer summer later, higher than the club’s total income in the previous season. Of course, transfer fees are not paid directly, but are spread over years (an article with a detailed explanation of depreciation of transfer fees and player values can be found here), but these are still not normal figures for a football club. This was only possible because the owner company paid off all debts and loans of the club, which even makes it debt-free. At the same time, Wrexham made an operating loss of 17.33 million euros, although sales increased by 24%. The club is therefore only able to operate with the financial injections from its owners.
But even off the pitch, the club has fundamentally undergone many investments and changes. The stadium has been expanded repeatedly and is expected to continue to expand to a capacity of 18,900 (currently 13,500), making the stadium suitable for Premier League use. The number of employees has also increased dramatically, reaching 313 this season (compared to 255 last year). It is particularly interesting to see what or where the club generates its most revenue. Wrexham AFC generates the most revenue through advertising, with sales reaching €20.23 million. Although the club welcomed an average of 12,781 spectators per home game, matchday revenue was significantly lower at €6.96 million. This is often the case for modern football clubs, but rather unusual for many second-division teams. This is also due to the new owners, who made the club known worldwide through their takeover and the series. This has attracted international advertising partners, which is reflected in the high advertising revenues, but also where sales could be achieved geographically. Because Wrexham only generates 40.5% of its total revenue in the UK, while 57.7% of its revenue was generated in the rest of the world. This shows the international recognition and also a difference from a typical English second division club, which generates its revenue mainly in the UK.
Many international fans stream football content that is geo‑restricted. With NordVPN, you can securely access sports streams and football documentaries from anywhere.
Future Ambitions: Can Wrexham Reach the Premier League?
Wrexham AFC clearly shows how an investor who is internationally known can bring a club from insignificance into professional football with the help of a streaming series. This is where football becomes even more of an entertainment product, where fans get behind-the-scenes insights. On the other hand, this allowed a traditional club to be brought back to its former successes and brought out of obscurity. The financial strength of the owners and the additional income they generate from the new series will further strengthen the club and encourage further investment in the future. The goal of the two investors is clearly the Premier League in order to be able to produce a series at the highest level. This is also shown by the investment of almost 40 million euros in the transfer market, which was enough for seventh place (on the last matchday, sixth place was lost, which would have been enough for the promotion playoffs). If Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny continue to invest so heavily in Wrexham, it is only a matter of time before the club finds itself in the Premier League. With every promotion and every sporting improvement, Wrexham also generates new record revenues, which also makes the club increasingly profitable in its own right and where investors can then later extract their returns. In any case, this will be the plan for the investors, whether this will work remains to be seen, as some investors have already failed in football, although the club has had extreme success in the recent past. You can find another investor story here about two billionaire brothers who took over FC Como in Italy.
