The Hollywood homeowners of Wrexham AFC, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, are on the hunt for brand spanking new traders as they proceed their formidable push to take the North Wales soccer membership into the Premier League.
Regardless of on-pitch success and hovering worldwide curiosity — fuelled partly by the hit docuseries Welcome to Wrexham — the membership stays a loss-making enterprise for its superstar co-chairmen. The pair, who acquired the membership in 2021, have now opened the door to further backers prepared to inject capital in trade for a shareholding, as they eye additional promotions.
The League One membership is at the moment well-positioned for a transfer into the Championship, and the homeowners have made no secret of their want to finally compete with top-flight giants reminiscent of Manchester Metropolis, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Their stewardship has already remodeled Wrexham’s fortunes. For the reason that takeover, the membership has secured two successive promotions, rebuilt its world model, and dramatically elevated revenues — notably from sponsorship and worldwide fan engagement.
Within the 2022/23 season, Wrexham generated £26 million in income, up from £10 million the earlier yr. Sponsorship and promoting earnings alone rose from £2 million to £13 million, with greater than half of complete turnover now coming from abroad markets.
Nonetheless, prices have risen sharply too. The membership’s wage invoice elevated to £11 million, up from £7 million, contributing to a £2.7 million loss final yr, following a £5 million loss the yr earlier than.
Recognising the problem of sustaining progress in lower-league soccer, Reynolds and McElhenney took their first step in the direction of exterior funding in October 2023, once they offered a minority stake to the Allyn household of New York, greatest identified for his or her former possession of the medical gadget agency Welch Allyn.
Now, the door is open for “further partners” to affix the possession group and assist propel Wrexham additional up the soccer pyramid.
McElhenney, who first had the thought of shopping for a membership through the pandemic, beforehand mentioned he was drawn to Wrexham as a result of it reminded him of his working-class hometown of Philadelphia. His purpose was to “bring hope” to the city by reinvigorating the membership, and he persuaded Reynolds, star of Deadpool, to affix the mission.
Their funding has already yielded outcomes, each financially and in world recognition. The membership’s worldwide following has grown exponentially, because of the Welcome to Wrexham sequence and the novelty of superstar possession. The story has captured the creativeness of followers throughout the US and past, turning Wrexham into a worldwide soccer model — albeit one nonetheless climbing the skilled tiers.
Wrexham AFC declined to remark additional on the investor search, however sources recommend that any new backers would wish to align with the membership’s long-term imaginative and prescient and display a dedication to community-driven values in addition to business progress.
For would-be traders, it might be a singular alternative: an opportunity to achieve fairness in a quickly rising membership, rub shoulders with Hollywood royalty, and play a component in some of the outstanding enterprise turnarounds in British sport.
