“The step-up to the Championship is huge, and I think what people have to remember about Wrexham, which has been an amazing story so far, is that some of their players were with them in the National League,” Stuart Webber, who achieved promotion to the Premier League as sporting director at Norwich and Huddersfield Town, told ESPN. “People don’t realise how big the gap is between League One and the Championship: Norwich are mid-table and 75% of their squad are international players.
“Outsiders will automatically look at the success of Ipswich, who did the double-promotion, but they did spend a lot of money in League One and brought very good Championship-level players in. Wrexham haven’t really done that: they’ve done it on more of a budget. They spent big money to get out the National League and the same to get out of League Two, but less so this time around, so to expect them to go up and then be super-competitive based purely on momentum, it would be quite naive to think that.”
To support Webber’s point about player recruitment, Ipswich spent £8m ($10.36m) on signings in their League One promotion season, while Birmingham City top the League One table this campaign having spent £29.7m ($38.5m) since relegation last term. Birmingham, part-owned by NFL legend Tom Brady, delivered a clear statement of intent last summer by signing Fulham forward Jay Stansfield for £15m ($19.4m). By contrast, Wrexham, who have spent £5m ($6.48m) since promotion last season, made Reading forward Smith their club-record signing in January for just £2m ($2.6m).
The heroes of Wrexham’s first two promotions are now beginning to fade from the scene. Striker Paul Mullin scored 47 goals in the club’s promotion campaign from the National League in 2022-23 and another 26 to help the team go up from League Two last year. This season, the 30-year-old has registered just five goals in 32 games and is no longer a regular starter.
Fellow striker Ollie Palmer and midfielder Elliot Lee, both crucial figures in the two promotion campaigns, have also lost their regular starting spots. But while there has been some evolution, it hasn’t been anywhere close to the level of squad building undertaken by Birmingham this season or Ipswich two years ago.
And while they can still rely on the backing of Reynolds and McElhenney and the global profile of their TV show “Welcome to Wrexham” gives Wrexham a unique appeal to potential signings. However, the club still do not own their own training ground and their stadium, the STōK Cae Ras, needs significant, expensive work to upgrade facilities and raise the existing capacity beyond its 13,300 limit. Ipswich (29,600) and Birmingham (29,400) have much bigger stadiums that yield more than twice the crowd revenue that Wrexham can rely on, although Wrexham’s commercial revenue thanks to their Hollywood links doubled to £10.5m (£13.5m) in their last financial year, and it’s expected to grow again when their latest accounts are published before the end of the season.
As it stands right now, with such a small stadium, local fanbase and a squad in need of Championship-level players the challenge for Reynolds and McElhenney is clear — if Wrexham go up and suddenly see the Premier League on the horizon, that might just be where the going gets really tough.
“One thing I’d say about the owners is that everything they said they were going to do, they’ve done,” Webber said. “They haven’t been like fake owners, which often clubs have had, who start off with a load of enthusiasm and then the money runs out and then you never hear from them again.
“Rob and Ryan have delivered and really connected with the club, but if Wrexham are promoted, I hope the project gets the patience that it needs and they don’t get some harsh lessons as a Championship club.”
