Wrexham’s remarkable rise – and what comes next

On Saturday night, Wrexham secured an unprecedented third successive promotion by putting on a full show at the Stok Cae Ras.

If Wycombe Wanderers could defeat Charlton Athletic, Phil Parkinson’s side’s 1-0 defeat to Leyton Orient earlier in the day gave them an unassailable lead over the chasers in League One.

Ollie Rathbone’s eighth goal of the campaign came in the form of a brace from Sam Smith, who added a brace to seal a convincing 3-0 victory for them.

Current Wrexham director Humphrey Ker became close to the show’s co-creator Rob McElhenney after working as a writer on the comedy television series Mythic Quest.

The Philadelphia-born actor grew interested in football and assigned Ker the task of weighing up possible investment options during the coronavirus pandemic.

Fans of Hartlepool, Aldershot, Carlisle, and Shamrock Rovers, don’t look back. Before Wrexham were chosen, they were one of the clubs that were looked into.

And a chance meeting on Instagram led to the creation of a fulfilling partnership.

Ryan Reynolds, the lead actor for Deadpool, praised McElhenney on the social media platform for his acting abilities in a particular It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode.

The relationship ended when the two men first met, as they say.

Prior to the win over Charlton, Ker said: “They (Reynolds and McElhenney) came to understand this completely foreign idea about the way our football system operates in America, which is that you can go from the top to the bottom and from the bottom to the top. It’s kind of a closed circuit in America.

Under Phil Parkinson, who took over as manager just five months after the takeover was approved, Wrexham have not finished in the lower divisions they have entered any of their four seasons.

An impressive Parkinson debut campaign in north Wales was abruptly ended by heartache in the semi-final play-off against Grimsby Town in 2021-22.

However, Wrexham’s record-breaking 111 points, combined with a 15-year absence from the Football League, sealed the title with the following season.

Since then, the Red Dragons have not been able to stop them.

Wrexham secured back-to-back promotions last term by winning 26 of their 46 matches to move into second place in League Two.

Wrexham have successfully teamed up with a number of former Premier League clubs to earn the second and final automatic promotion to League One this season despite another level increase.

Charlton was Parkinson’s 181st league game manager of Wrexham, and his performance is unquestionable.

In 112 of Parkinson’s league games, Wrexham won. Just under 62% of them won. Only 29 league defeats have been recorded, with 40 draws.

Wrexham has won 361 league goals (excluding play-offs) on average and have claimed 2.08 points per game over the course of this time. This rate is almost exactly two per game.

In his first season, Parkinson, 57, also helped Wrexham reach the FA Trophy final, where they lost to Bromley at Wembley, and he has twice helped his side reach the fourth round of the competition.

The television program’s “Welcome to Wrexham” has been at the center of the club’s recent rise to international fame.

The first team to earn three successive promotions from League One to the Championship will be shown in season four, which will debut in May.

Wrexham does not directly profit from the show, but its popularity has significantly improved the club’s revenue streams.

It is “extraordinary.” The power of storytelling is frequently discussed, Ker said.

Tell people in America why football is so important to us, what it means, and what the stakes are, according to the documentary and the football club.

Truly, the amount of interest piques my interest. Because Americans are drawn to English football and are a source of inspiration for many people who don’t follow it in any other way, it’s because

The documentary has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards and two Critics’ Choice Television Awards for its coverage of the local community in addition to the club’s financial fortunes.

We’re telling the town’s story, added Ker, and that’s the story of the town.

Our objectives are to expand the team, establish Wrexham AFC as a Premier League club, attract more fans at an improved stadium, and have a positive impact on the local Wrexham community.

The club’s mission statement demonstrates how ambitious co-chairmen McElhenney and Reynolds are.

And Wrexham’s management has a lot to think about as they prepare for the club’s first second-tier season since 1981-82.

Their squad will increase from 22 to 25 players, and matchday squads will have nine substitutes in place of seven.

Theoretically, it might allow Paul Mullin to rejoin the squad after his absence from the previous 13 games.

Whatever the circumstances of striker Mullin are, it is obvious that there needs to be more improvement in the squad because Parkinson wants to add more top-notch players to improve his side’s chances of winning the championship.

Increased wage costs will be a result of the unavoidable acquisitions, according to Ker, who recently suggested Wrexham would need to quadruple their wage expenditures to compete in the Championship.

The iconic Kop Stand’s renovation at their Stok Cae Ras home is also scheduled to begin, as are plans to add a training facility and expand the facilities for the women’s side.

There is a lot of money involved in it all. However, the club is currently running a model that most EFL clubs will envy.

In terms of income, Wrexham’s £26.7 million in revenue from the 2023 to the 2024 League Two season places them just below the best Championship sides, who receive parachute payments.

There is no denying that Wrexham are currently in a good position because TV and sponsorship revenue will only increase in the Championship.

The Championship is a different beast from what Wrexham have faced in recent years because it always presents the most difficult challenges.