Wrexham’s progress through the lower leagues of English football has been played out in full view of fans thanks to Disney’s Welcome to Wrexham docu-series. Money is a frequent subject on the show, usually framed around the figures required to achieve this job or that.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds completed their takeover of Wrexham in 2021. Along with their first managerial appointment, Phil Parkinson, the Hollywood duo have steered the ailing Red Dragons from the National League to League One.
As they’re poised just outside the top two spots that would bring a historic third successive promotion, a finance expert has crunched the numbers to estimate how much Wrexham’s ascendancy has cost and how much of the money involved is investment from the club’s owners.
The total spent by McElhenney and Reynolds is a matter of speculation. Part of the reason the takeover is working as well as it has is the savvy of the owners when it comes to sponsorship and marketing, but finance expert Kieran Maguire estimates that the amount of straightforward investment is significant.
Speaking on the Price of Football podcast, Maguire laid out the calculation that revealed just how much McElhenney and Reynolds might have invested to first enable and later supplement the club’s rapidly growing revenue, which was £10.5 million in 2023.
“Reynolds and McElhenney acquired the club in November 2020. Between that season and 2023, which is effectively two and a half years, they lost £8 million, despite all the benefits of the globalisation of the brand and having international sponsors,” said Maguire.
“In terms of putting money into the club, I think you can probably at least double that, so they’re probably down somewhere in the region of £18m to £20m as an overall estimate.”
The owners invested £2 million immediately upon their acquisition of Wrexham and have loaned the club several million pounds as well as working towards the purchase and upgrade of the Racecourse Ground.
It’s all money well spent. If Wrexham can achieve promotion to the Championship, the project will have succeeded beyond reasonable expectations. It would also become a much more expensive exercise overnight, which makes the future of the club especially fascinating.
The financial hit should work out in Reynolds and McElhenney’s favour in the long run regardless. Maguire expects the losses to be recouped in the event of any future sale of the club – provided the star power of the high-profile pair is part of the deal.
“If I was looking to buy Wrexham Football Club, I would want to by it with Reynolds and McElhenney involved as part of the deal for five years, because they are part of the brand of Wrexham.”