Wrexham’s rise is inspiring other clubs to try and go on a similar path, including Mark Howard’s Salford City.
Wrexham are now just one promotion away from the Premier League after four remarkable years under Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds.
The 2021 takeover has helped catapult Wrexham through the leagues, but also sparked interest in the club from around the world.
Premier League football may be the last thing on the minds of Wrexham fans after Saturday’s defeat to Queens Park Rangers, but the long-term dream is certainly still alive.
Mark Howard on similarities between Wrexham and Salford City
Wrexham’s rise from the National League to the Championship with three straight promotions has given hope to other clubs.
Lower league clubs are now looking at off-field development and commercial success alongside on-pitch results, inspired by Wrexham’s rise.
High-profile names are now investing in football clubs on the back of Mac and Reynolds achieving so much at Wrexham.
It’s a similar situation at Salford City, after Gary Neville and David Beckham completed a takeover of the club earlier in 2025.
Beckham highlighted inspiration from Reynolds after completing the deal alongside a pair of American businessmen.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 19 |  DerbyDerby | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 5 |
| 20 |  Hull CityHull City | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 5 |
| 21 |  WrexhamWrexham | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 4 |
| 22 |  Oxford UnitedOxford United | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 2 |
| 23 |  Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | -9 | 1 |
Mark Howard joined Salford this summer after leaving Wrexham on a free transfer, with the veteran goalkeeper immediately noticing similarities between the two clubs.
Speaking on Wrexham Match Day Live, Howard has reiterated that Salford are trying to build the club in a similar way to Wrexham.
Howard believes that Salford are working on commercial success, but they are also looking at the community, just as Mac and Reynolds have at Wrexham.
“Obviously, Salford are trying to build a bit in the Wrexham style,” said Howard.
“The owners are trying to do great things off the pitch, they’re doing a lot of work commercially, so there is a slight feel of like… a coincidence about the two teams.
“What Wrexham have achieved, I think now everybody wants something along the lines of it, and you can see at Salford that they want to do things in the right way, commercially, on the pitch and in the community,” he added.
Mark Howard on Gary Neville
It’s important to remember that Salford actually went down the route of a documentary series long before ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ was born.
‘Class of ’92: Out of Their League’ aired on the BBC in 2015, before ‘Class of ’92: Full Time’ was shown on Sky Sports.
Salford offered an inside look into the workings of the club, but they have stalled in League Two after initially enjoying great success in non-league.
Neville has been involved with Salford for a while now, and Howard admitted that he is prominent around the dressing room and with the players.
Howard treated that personal connection with ownership as a ‘luxury’ at Wrexham, with Mac and Reynolds having to pick and choose when to come over from the United States.
Mac and Reynolds still tried to build great relationships with the Wrexham squad from afar, and seeing the Hollywood duo up close and personal was an ‘amazing’ experience.
Neville is around ‘more frequently’ at Salford, and Howard is loving the one-to-one interaction with the Manchester United hero.
“At Wrexham, it was a luxury; we always looked at it like that. It was an amazing experience and I guess the new lads at Wrexham are experiencing that now,” said Howard.
“At Salford, it’s slightly different. We’ve got some high-profile owners that we see more frequently out on the training pitch or at the training ground, and you have that little one-to-one interaction, which has been amazing.
“They’re at the games as well, they’re fully invested. I know that we had a big part of our consortium over this weekend for the Tranmere game we just played, and Gary Neville was in the dressing room with us afterwards and congratulating us on the result,” he added.
Salford sit third in League Two after eight games and will hope to finally reach League One this season, potentially putting another promotion on Howard’s CV.