It wasn’t easy, and at times it looked like they’d thrown it away, but Wrexham got themselves over the line this weekend and can look forward to playing Championship football next season.
Wrexham are now unbeaten since the March 11 defeat to Reading, and though a couple of draws against Cambridge United and Bristol Rovers nearly derailed them, the Red Dragons stepped up when it mattered most in the past week.
Wins over Blackpool in midweek and Charlton on Saturday evening, combined with back-to-back defeats for Wycombe Wanderers, have seen Wrexham move five points clear in second place with one game to go in the League One campaign.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Birmingham City | 44 | 32 | 9 | 3 | 80 | 30 | 50 | 105 |
| 2 | Wrexham | 45 | 26 | 11 | 8 | 65 | 34 | 31 | 89 |
| 3 | Stockport County | 45 | 24 | 12 | 9 | 69 | 41 | 28 | 84 |
| 4 | Wycombe Wanderers | 45 | 24 | 12 | 9 | 69 | 42 | 27 | 84 |
| 5 | Charlton Athletic | 45 | 24 | 10 | 11 | 64 | 42 | 22 | 82 |
| 6 | Leyton Orient | 45 | 23 | 6 | 16 | 68 | 47 | 21 | 75 |
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds’ fairytale story continues, then, with an historic third-successive promotion now in the bag and Championship football to prepare for next season.
But, it could all have been very different had the Wrexham owners chosen to take a different path back in January.
Michael Williamson gave Rob and Ryan a glimpse of the future at Wrexham
In a report from The Athletic breaking down Wrexham’s incredible success this season, it is said that Michael Williamson, who came in as Chief Executive at the club a year ago, held a meeting with Rob and Ryan to discuss their vision for the future and how much that would cost to achieve.
It is said Williamson held the video call in November to outline what kind of budget Wrexham should expect to adhere to if they were to get promoted.
Apparently, Williamson showed the Hollywood duo the average wage bill (from the past five years) for clubs that had been relegated from the Championship, compared to those that had settled in the second tier, and then the average wage bill for the teams that had won promotion from the Championship.
Phil Parkinson was also consulted, as were other “senior figures behind the scenes”, as the club determined how aggressive to be in the January transfer window.
Rob and Ryan must have been fairly comfortable with those upper end figures, as they went out and smashed Wrexham’s transfer record to sign Sam Smith, and also took on the hefty wages of Jay Rodriguez from Burnley.
It is thought that, weighing everything up in terms of the success the team was enjoying on the field, and the way their rivals were operating in the market, Wrexham had to pull the trigger there and then and flex their “financial muscle” to capitalise on a fantastic opportunity for promotion.
It was a risky play, as failure to get promoted could have ended up bearing a heavy cost, but the gamble paid off for Wrexham’s superstar owners, and the rest is history.
- READ MORE: Rob McElhenney shares 9-word message with fans as Wrexham promotion celebrations take their toll
Wrexham have to spend big this summer if they want to stay in the Championship
We know that promotion cost Wrexham close to £1.5m in player bonuses, but that is nothing compared to the kinds of sums of money the Red Dragons will now be receiving by being in the second tier.
From TV rights to Premier League dividends for teams in the EFL, you could be looking at around £12m, and that’s without mentioning the prize fund for earning promotion, plus the fact Wrexham will be a hot ticket next season as their global reach intensifies.
It makes sense, then, that Wrexham are expected to max out their £40m budget sooner rather than later, which would allow them to be aggressive in the market once more without falling foul of PSR.
This project has already cost Rob and Ryan a fair amount of money, but with the commercial growth of the club and the continued success on the pitch, they will surely know they have struck gold, quite literally, with Wrexham now.
Still, the playing squad at Parkinson’s disposal is simply not good enough, by and large, to compete in the Championship.
If Wrexham just want to survive, it will cost a pretty penny. But, if we know Rob, Ryan, and Parkinson’s approach, settling for survival is very unlikely to be on the menu next season.