Next up for Wrexham is world champion Chelsea.
While a place in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup is at stake when the teams face off at the Racecourse Ground on Saturday, for Wrexham it will be a timely gauge of just how “Premier League-ready” it is.
Speaking to industry experts last week, Wrexham CEO Michael Williamson said the Welsh club — owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac — would be ready for the top flight of English soccer when the time comes. Even as soon as next season, just three years after it was playing non-league.
“What we’ve proven is that with our culture we’re pretty damn good at being ready,” Williamson told the FT Business of Football Summit.
Even with celebrity owners, huge financial backing and a global reach through the fly-on-the-wall documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham,” it cannot be overstated just how remarkable the club’s rise has been.
Back-to-back-to-back promotions have taken it from playing non-league games in a crumbling stadium to the second-tier Championship and in contention for the playoffs to the Premier League.
The prospect of playing the likes of Chelsea every week is not just the hope for Wrexham’s owners but the mission.
“They said that from day one and everyone laughed at them,” Williamson said. “We know what we have to do. It’ll be really difficult but we can do it because we’ve proven that we can, not just survive when we get promoted, but that we can actually thrive.”
Wrexham’s meteoric rise has meant it has constantly played catchup to try to keep pace with its on-field success. More than 60 players have been signed since the takeover was completed in 2021, with 16 joining last summer to build a squad capable of competing in a division with former Premier League champion Leicester and a host of clubs with very recent top flight experience.
Even still, the spending is nothing like that of England’s top flight. Nathan Broadhead became Wrexham’s record signing in August for a reported $10 million. Before him, Sam Smith cost a reported $2.7 million.
Compare that to Chelsea, which has spent close to $2 billion under American owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital since buying the club in 2022. That money helped Chelsea win the Club World Cup last year — but it has not come close to winning the Premier League and it could miss out on qualification to the Champions League this season.
Strive to survive
Wrexham’s spending is likely to have to increase significantly again to bridge the widening gap between the Premier League and the Championship, with promoted teams increasingly struggling to make the step up.
Last season, all three promoted teams — Leicester, Ipswich, Southampton — were relegated. The year before, Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton all failed to survive in their first season in the top flight.
“We’d have to look at a squad change and we’re definitely planning that,” Williamson said in the event of Wrexham securing a fourth straight promotion.
While player changes have been frequent, manager Phil Parkinson has been a constant and was recently told by Mac — formerly known as McElhenney — that he has a job for life.
His immediate focus is on an FA Cup upset against Chelsea.
“You’ve got to go into every game believing and if not you may as well not turn up,” Parkinson said Thursday. “We’ve got to go in with belief but also an understanding of the underdog mentality and what boxes we’ve got to tick to make this evening as difficult as possible for Chelsea.”
Wrexham pulled off one of the most famous cup shocks when, as a fourth-tier team, it beat then-league champion Arsenal in 1992.
This season it has already knocked out Premier League club Nottingham Forest in the third round.
“All through the divisions we’ve had cup ties, like when we played Coventry and Sheffield United, and we’ve spoken to the players about having that test against better quality players, tactically and their physical power, of the next level,” Parkinson said. “This is the next stage for us against a team of Chelsea’s quality.”
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
