The Rise of Wrexham

From finishing 19th in 2020 to being 3 points away from promotion to the promised land, this is the story of how Wrexham have become the next big thing.

In the 2019/20 season, Wrexham finished the season, albeit early due to the pandemic, in 19th place. The side achieved 11 wins, and 10 draws and suffered 16 defeats. The following season the side finished 8th with 19 wins, 11 draws and 12 defeats.

Despite the side achieving nothing in a sporting context, the club went through a major change to completely turn the club around. In November of 2020, just a few games into the season, the club was jointly purchased by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and American Actor Rob McElhenney purchased the club through the RR McReynolds Company LLC. The deal received the backing of 98.6% of 2,000 Wrexham Supporters Trust members and went through in February 2021.

Following the purchase of the club, in what was the first move that saw the impact Ryan and Rob brought to the club, Wrexham AFC was added to EA Sports FIFA in the “Rest of World” category. The move to add the North Welsh side was one which was ground-breaking as the club had become the first ever side outside of the Football League to be added to FIFA.

In a footballing context, the impact of Ryan and Rob was also seen in the transfer windows as the club were punching far above their weight to sign players 1 or even 2 divisions above themselves.

The most notable addition to the side was Paul Mullin who dropped down a division to move to North Wales. Since joining the club on a free transfer, the Souser has made 87 appearances and scored a respectable 71 goals. Not bad, eh?

In Mullins’s first season for Wrexham, they found themselves battling for promotion and finished second, meaning they had to go through and win the playoffs should they wish to enter the 4th tier of English football. Ultimately, it was not meant to be and the side suffered defeat in the Wembley final to Grimsby.

Following the conclusion of the season and Wrexham ultimately having to stay in the National League to extend their stay in the division to 15 years, a docuseries named “Welcome to Wrexham” was announced. The series, which was clearly the brainchild of Ryan and Rob, focused on their acquisition of the club as well as their first season at the helm of the 3rd oldest football club in the world.

Coming into the second season at the helm, Ryan and Rob hoped to one-up the achievements of the season just gone and were aiming for automatic promotion – which would mean they had to finish 1st in a 24-team division.

The side started the season off strong and lost just one of their first 10 matches. By the 20th game of the season, the side had lost just twice, with the second loss coming against Notts County, a side that would prove to be just as good as Wrexham and would take them all the way to the line in the title race.

With just 8 matches remaining in the season Wrexham suffered a killer blow. Their first-choice goalkeeper Rob Lainton picked up an injury. The Wrexham bubble seemed to burst as fans thought they may be facing another season in the 5th tier. However, the Rob and Ryan pull kicked into action once more and dragged retired goalkeeper Ben Foster out of retirement and to the Racecourse Ground.

Since his arrival at the club he has, filled the stands and the backline with confidence with the side winning 3 of the 4 matches so far with Foster in between the sticks, with Ben Foster’s performance keeping them in matches when perhaps they should have conceded 1 or 2.

As we come to the final 2 games of the season Wrexham find themselves just 3 points off of the Football League, with a win at home enough to end their 15-year drought.

Should they get promoted the likely event is that they will be gunning for back-to-back promotions, with their side, and budget, being far too good for League Two.