Doing the 92 is Daniel Storey’s odyssey to every English football league club in a single season. This is club 83/92. The best way to follow his journey and read all of the previous pieces is by subscribing here
Of all the towns and cities in the UK I have visited on a matchday this season, nowhere competes with Wrexham for the percentage of people wearing a replica shirt of the football club. Groups of friends outside pubs, entire families walking through the city centre, couples heading to the game early; most are in Wrexham red.
This local patriotism is reflected back at those who are basking in it. In the window of a stationery shop stands a life-sized cardboard cutout of Ryan Reynolds. Down the road, a large sticker in the window of a sandwich shop declares their love for – and deep pride in – the club. There are posters, flags and banners. No other place in the Football League does a matchday feel connected to the city centre quite like Wrexham.
To those who think this is fuelled by a tourist army, think on. You do hear the odd North American voice in Wrexham, tempted into the trip by documentary fascination. They collect in small clusters in the stands at the Racecourse two hours before kick-off, comparing travel notes and anticipation and waiting to be blended into the throng.
But on the whole, the misaccusation is that Wrexham’s matchday is in some way plasticised or inauthentic. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing is rolled in glue and rhinestones here.
Wrexham 3-0 Burton Albion (Saturday 5 April)
- Game no: 83/92
- Miles: 184
- Cumulative miles: 15,972
- Total goals seen: 216
- The one thing I’ll remember in May: Ryan Reynolds being treated like a god by Wrexham supporters for 40 minutes before the game. Lovely to see. Game recognises game.
That seems a deliberate ploy from the top and bottom. Wrexham’s owners appreciate that their presence will cause external cynicism, either from those who are jealous or those who see Hollywood-tinged coverage as antithetical to English – and in this case, Welsh – football’s inherent traditionalism.
So they and the club’s supporters have vowed to redouble their efforts to ensure the essential ingredients remain unchanged. At the front of the Wrexham Lager stand, one supporter waves a giant Wales flag before the game and at half-time. This is a reinforcement of history and of home, but it also fits into the modern strategy.
The success of this project has its nucleus in the fascination of a provincial north Walian city and its club. The greatest trick Reynolds and Rob McElhenney pulled off was understanding what they could change and what they shouldn’t. It enabled them to bring red to what had faded into greyscale.
The Racecourse Ground sits at its heart. Along the wall of the Macron stand sits a round, green plaque. It marks the centenary of Wales vs Ireland in 1906, the earliest film of an international that exists. This is the oldest surviving international football stadium in the world and Wrexham are the third oldest professional club.
Any cynic should reflect upon what was saved by this takeover. In 2004, owner and property developer Alex Hamilton gave the club notice to leave the Racecourse Ground. Administration later that year saved Wrexham from liquidation, but the club was left gutted. They were relegated into non-league in 2008 after 87 years as a league club.
Recovery only truly started with the Supporters’ Trust take over in 2011, but crisis continued to leave its watermarks. Between 2013 and 2018, Wrexham finished outside the top six of the National League for five seasons in a row. In the season before the takeover, the National League season was suspended due to Covid-19 with Wrexham one point outside the relegation places.
On my day in Wrexham, Reynolds is here too. Forty-five minutes before kick-off against Burton Albion, he strides across the pitch towards the Macron Stand. There is a rush of supporters to the front, where the owner spends half an hour chatting, posing for selfies and meeting supporters of all ages. All of them are enraptured by the meeting.
It goes without saying that this is not what most EFL club owners do. It is also not for show (or if it is, it has happened continuously since their arrival). Ask Wrexham supporters for the greatest impact of this ownership structure and they will point to the community impact.
Reynolds and McElhenney have handed out money to a shop that was vandalised, donated to treatment for children in need. They have championed the use of the Welsh language. They have paid for free caravan holidays for underprivileged families and for a home to be adapted for a disabled child. Their philanthropy builds community.
The most astonishing element of this story is that two Hollywood owners (albeit helped by British writer Humphrey Ker) walked into a National League football club and, over the course of their first four years, have got almost nothing wrong.
Wrexham have become the first team in the history of English football to go from the fifth tier to the second in consecutive seasons. The plan was always to reach the Championship. Nobody ever thought it could happen this quickly.
The off-pitch success, incited by the Disney documentary series, is astonishing. Earlier this month, Wrexham announced annual revenues of £26m, up £16m year-on-year. The most fascinating detail was that 52 per cent of that revenue came from outside Europe (with the majority of that presumably in North America).
As a result, money has been spent on this squad – Wrexham have one of the bigger budgets in League One. The arrival of Sam Smith from Reading in January was a statement of intent, particularly given he joined a group of strikers who were all of a type: Steven Fletcher, Paul Mullin, Ollie Palmer, Jay Rodriguez, Jack Marriott. The youngest of those is 30.
This is also a triumph of defensive coaching. For all the accusations of overspending, Wrexham were considered to be play-off hopefuls in August after consecutive promotions. The aesthetics under Phil Parkinson may occasionally be questionable, but Wrexham have the second best defence in League One and have scored fewer times than Peterborough United in 17th. They grind out wins and they have won 17 times by a single goal.
For all the appropriate talk of investment and Hollywood fame, this season constitutes overachievement on every level. Even if you focus on the economics, the EFL is littered with clubs who wasted money missing out on their dream. Wrexham are hardly the only free-spending team in League One.
Of the 11 players with the most league minutes for the club this season, six were with them in the National League and two more joined in League Two. They have taken more points in the third tier than the fourth. All of that is remarkable, no doubt.
Coming to Wrexham now, as someone who visited the Racecourse before McElhenney and Reynolds and everything that came with it, you can fall into the trap of expecting something groundbreaking. It is as if the word Disney alone triggers thoughts of theme parks and garish sensationalism. None of that really applies. Matchday is matchday; Wrexham is Wigan Athletic and Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wycombe Wanderers and 88 other places in the EFL.
Add that to the initial cynicism and the lingering jealousy of their peers and, inadvertently, the perfect conditions for this club to succeed were created. Parkinson generated a siege mentality, in tactical style and atmosphere. The club saw the scepticism and have made it look utterly foolish.
Together they broke records and they won’t stop now. The Championship is an enormous step up for this squad and there will be a necessary overhaul of players. Birmingham City are far better prepared. But relentless achievement becomes self-fulfilling in a sport where momentum is everything.
That hints at the great dichotomy of Wrexham and their rapid rise. On the surface, this appears as a celebrity expansion project with a football club at its centre: the documentary, the sponsorship deals, the raft of North American supporters, the owners who may well sell up at some point and be happy with their work.
And then, alongside that, runs an intense, heartwarming strand of hyperlocalism. Strip back everything else and what do you have? The biggest conurbation in north Wales, an area that has suffered irrevocably through the decline in traditional industry (coal, steel, brickworks, brewing, iron, leather), being given a new lifeline through football.
That is why you see so many shirts in Wrexham and so many local businesses playing their part. It’s not because the owners are famous; that is merely an indirect factor. It’s because they are proud of what their football club is doing off the pitch, proud of how it is thriving on the pitch and proud of how it has reconnected with its community. The last four years have been a triumph on every level.
Daniel Storey has set himself the goal of visiting all 92 grounds across the Premier League and EFL this season. You can follow his progress via our interactive map and find every article (so far) here
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