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Can Wrexham become the most successful team in Wales?

Wrexham’s promotion to League One at the end of the 2023/2024 season felt inevitable. under the ownership Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny.

Wrexham’s promotion to League One at the end of the 2023/2024 season felt inevitable. Few clubs within the lower reaches of English football could replicate the sense of certainty surrounding Wrexham’s recent success under the ownership of Hollywood’s Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny.

 

The North Wales club’s recent promotion is comparable to what we often witness in modern elite-level football. A casual supporter with little in-depth knowledge of the sport could make a pretty good guess in August that Manchester City and Real Madrid will win the Premier League and Champions League, respectively, the following May. The same could easily be said for Wrexham’s recent rise to League One.

 

There is something unfamiliar, almost fantasy-like, about attending a game at Wrexham. The Racecourse Ground, which despite American interest is largely filled by passionate local supporters, has a ferocious, unrelenting atmosphere that feels a little out of place in League Two. This is a fanbase that, even when two or three goals down, genuinely believes their team is good enough to win a game and produces noise and intensity capable of turning a game on its head in an instant.

 

Why are Wrexham likely to rise through the leagues?

 

Rival supporters are eager to point out that Wrexham’s unusual spending power is the primary cause of this inevitable feeling and confidence booming through the stands. These claims are, to a large extent, valid. Wrexham’s annual wage bill for the 2023/2024 season was an estimated £5,576,400, significantly higher than any other League Two club and competitive with some of the biggest clubs in the league above, too.

 

Wrexham’s spending power is unique. Unlike many previously lower-league clubs that experienced rapid progression through the leagues due to disproportionate financial power, such as AFC Bournemouth, Hull City, and Blackpool, Wrexham has a significant revenue stream to fund their eye-watering spending.

 

Through the public profile of their Hollywood owners and the strategic planning of key boardroom figures, Wrexham is the first lower-league British club to tap into an untapped U.S. market, resulting in revenue streams, interest, and media attention inconceivable to almost all their competitors.

 

The successful inception of a brand and identity that both local and international supporters could buy into, driving vast revenue streams in the process, makes Wrexham an attractive proposition for top-quality players capable of winning the club success.

 

So, with this being said, can Wrexham become the most successful team in Wales?  What do Wrexham have to achieve to be considered the most successful Welsh club?

 

While Wrexham supporters, who’ve never previously seen their team finish beyond 15th in the old Second Division, are likely to witness their team achieve its highest all-time finish in the coming years, that alone will still be a long way short of the success of the traditional ‘big two’ in Wales, Cardiff City and Swansea City. Even if Wrexham rapidly rises from League Two to the Premier League, this isn’t unprecedented for a Welsh club.

 

Swansea won three promotions between 2004 and 2011 to see the club rapidly rise from League Two to the Premier League in just seven seasons, something that will be hard to replicate, even for Hollywood-backed Wrexham. Neighbours Cardiff completed a similar journey in 2013, as the club transitioned from the old Third Division to the Premier League in 14 seasons. Both Swansea and Cardiff have a major trophy to their names, too. The Swans won the League Cup in 2013, while Cardiff lifted the FA Cup way back in 1927.

 

The difficulty and rarity, particularly within modern football, of a club outside the top three or four clubs in England winning a major trophy cannot be understated. Giants Newcastle United, for example, haven’t tasted major silverware since 1955, while Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, and Leeds United have hardly experienced meaningful success in a generation. Wrexham joining their Welsh rivals in lifting a major trophy anytime soon seems unlikely.

 

Can Wrexham grow to compete with and eventually surpass their Welsh rivals in the near future? Probably. But eclipsing the historic triumphs and legacies established by the two biggest clubs in South Wales is, for now, something that is more likely to be depicted in a film than experienced in reality.

 

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