Wrexham’s executive director Humphrey Ker has told Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney one key change they ‘need’ to make this summer.
It promises to be a busy summer of change at Wrexham following promotion to League One.
The Reds waved goodbye to eight first-team players last week, including Ben Tozer and captain Luke Young, as the club showed they’re capable of cutthroat decisions in their pursuit of success.
What will follow this summer is several quality incomings, with Phil Parkinson revealing the club is working on a deal to sign Arthur Okonkwo permanently, although luring the 22-year-old back to the Racecourse could prove difficult.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have outlined their ambitions for next season by claiming they’ll do whatever it takes to reach the Championship, but executive director Humphrey Ker has raised his concerns about matters off the pitch.
Humphrey Ker says what changes McElhenney and Reynolds ‘need’ to make
Ker has played a hugely prominent role at Wrexham, not only for his responsibility in McElhenney and Reynolds’ purchase of the club but for the duties he carries out day-to-day.
The 41-year-old has claimed the past few years have left him feeling worn out, but it has been the best time of his life.
He’s involved in almost every department of the club, from carrying out transfers to discussing infrastructure improvements, with Ker saying the latter has to improve after Wrexham made the jump to League One.
In an interview with The Athletic, he told McElhenney and Reynolds what they need to do to continue reaching new heights.
He said: “I’ve been very clear with Rob and Ryan, as much as I can be, over the need to say we need the infrastructure to catch up with the first team.
“The two of them were very big fish in a small pond as a National League club. They were still big fish in a small-to-medium-sized pond in League Two. We’re about to go into a league with clubs who can mix it with us. They are both aware of it.
“We need to get the training ground sorted, the Kop started. Our commercial operation has done a sensational job, as have all the departments, but they need support. They need more bodies, more office space. We need to expand our scouting network. We need to become more sophisticated in almost every area.”
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Training ground is Wrexham’s biggest priority
The ideal scenario for Wrexham would be to have a state-of-the-art complex that has the stadium, training ground and various football pitches all in one place to home the men’s, women’s and youth teams.
Currently, Parkinson and his staff make use of several facilities for training during the week, varying from Colliers Park, Carden Park, the SToK Cae Ras and the Rock.
There has always been talk of plans to redevelop the Groves School into a training ground, with the site being unused for the past 18 years.
No such plans have been put in place, however, as the club remains without a permanent training facility as they head into the third tier.
This is far from ideal, but as Reynolds stated previously, he has had issues with the bureaucracy, claiming it isn’t as easy as building a training ground.
Ker is right, though, Wrexham do ‘need’ to improve a lot of their current facilities off the pitch to match their ambition on it, which will undoubtedly take time.