Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney | Wrexham AFC Watch

Looking at the average League 1 attendances this season, there's Portsmouth, Bolton and Derby miles clear at the top with 18k, 21 and 27k respectively, but the next three clubs have averages that are roughly similar or worse than the 12-13k that Wrexham have averaged since they put up the temporary Kop. I was wondering if they'd get a reality check against the decent sized clubs in League 1 but it looks like they might actually be competitive with the promotion chasing clubs in matchday revenue at least?

And add in the disproportionate revenue they generate in sponsorship because of the documentary, and they might be in with a real chance of being promoted again next season?
 
Melbourne Red said:
Looking at the average League 1 attendances this season, there's Portsmouth, Bolton and Derby miles clear at the top with 18k, 21 and 27k respectively, but the next three clubs have averages that are roughly similar or worse than the 12-13k that Wrexham have averaged since they put up the temporary Kop. I was wondering if they'd get a reality check against the decent sized clubs in League 1 but it looks like they might actually be competitive with the promotion chasing clubs in matchday revenue at least?

And add in the disproportionate revenue they generate in sponsorship because of the documentary, and they might be in with a real chance of being promoted again next season?
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From what I've read, Wrexham's wages and spending etc is more than most teams in League 1 so they'll probably get promoted with not too much bother. Problem will come in the following season when they have to abide by the different spending rules in the Championship, but by then the rules will probably be changed again.
 
League One is probably going to lose 2 of its 3 stronger teams to promotion, could be 3 out of 3 if the playoffs go the right way.

Wrexham will be right in the hunt for promotion from day 1, zero doubt. Not an easy league to get out of but they will strengthen again.

Can’t see them struggling until they hit the Championship which still has huge money teams yo-yoing.
 
Leg-End said:
League One is probably going to lose 2 of its 3 stronger teams to promotion, could be 3 out of 3 if the playoffs go the right way.

Wrexham will be right in the hunt for promotion from day 1, zero doubt. Not an easy league to get out of but they will strengthen again.

Can’t see them struggling until they hit the Championship which still has huge money teams yo-yoing.
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Doesn’t this happen every year though?
 
top1whoisman said:
Doesn’t this happen every year though?
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Not really, I mean in terms of club size/attendance. League One is actually strong at the moment, Portsmouth/Bolton and Derby are Championship sides really.

Obviously it depends who comes down, Rotherham yo-yo every few seasons.
 
Great stuff from Wrexham on their back to back promotions.
The money spent is paying off well enough for the owners. I wonder how long they’ll keep at it?
 
Leg-End said:
Not really, I mean in terms of club size/attendance. League One is actually strong at the moment, Portsmouth/Bolton and Derby are Championship sides really.

Obviously it depends who comes down, Rotherham yo-yo every few seasons.
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Doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be easier sporting-wise as a result. Haven’t followed League One much though, just wondering.
 
Melbourne Red said:
Looking at the average League 1 attendances this season, there's Portsmouth, Bolton and Derby miles clear at the top with 18k, 21 and 27k respectively, but the next three clubs have averages that are roughly similar or worse than the 12-13k that Wrexham have averaged since they put up the temporary Kop. I was wondering if they'd get a reality check against the decent sized clubs in League 1 but it looks like they might actually be competitive with the promotion chasing clubs in matchday revenue at least?

And add in the disproportionate revenue they generate in sponsorship because of the documentary, and they might be in with a real chance of being promoted again next season?
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Their ability to attract players is another factor also.

I'm not not sure the likes of James McClean and Fletcher would've signed for another L2 team even for same wages.

Also they'll be able to loan in PL academy players also.

It's difficult to know if Paul Mullin will be as good in L1 though. We'll have to see.
 
next_number_seven said:
Their ability to attract players is another factor also.

I'm not not sure the likes of James McClean and Fletcher would've signed for another L2 team even for same wages.

Also they'll be able to loan in PL academy players also.

It's difficult to know if Paul Mullin will be as good in L1 though. We'll have to see.
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I was also wondering if their manager would be good enough in higher tiers but he does seem to have a pretty good record in that part of the football league. I didn't realise he was the one who took Bradford to the League Cup final.
 
utdalltheway said:
Great stuff from Wrexham on their back to back promotions.
The money spent is paying off well enough for the owners. I wonder how long they’ll keep at it?
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Why is it "great stuff" out of interest?

Super rich owners just throwing loads of wad at it. Is that great?
 
Melbourne Red said:
I was also wondering if their manager would be good enough in higher tiers but he does seem to have a pretty good record in that part of the football league. I didn't realise he was the one who took Bradford to the League Cup final.
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He's been promoted twice from L1.

There's lots of managers knocking about anyway.

That said I can see them been stuck in L1 for a few years.
 
It will be interesting, because they will have to level up managerial and playing staff at a certain stage. Parkinson’s best feats were a decade ago, Mullins is 29 and has never consistently scored goals above League 2 in his career.

They will need to choose between the feel good story and ambition at some stage. It will be interesting how they handle it when they seem so close as a club/team.
 
Sandikan said:
Why is it "great stuff" out of interest?

Super rich owners just throwing loads of wad at it. Is that great?
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It’s certainly better than having corrupt owners who drove that club down into oblivion to start with. I guess fans of other clubs will feel bitter about the process which is probably fair.

However, I don’t see an awful lot wrong with 2 guys (with no ulterior motive coughsportswashingcough) helping out not just the club but the whole area.
 
Signing Mullen for the National League was like signing Haaland for the Championship, as close to cheating as you can get.

It’s basically City or PSG situation on a smaller scale but with likeable actors instead of corrupt oil states so there’s just a certain fairytale element to it I guess.

League 1 is surely a whole other kettle of fish though. Mullen and most of their best players had already done it in league 2 but not league 1.
 
Massive Spanner said:
Signing Mullen for the National League was like signing Haaland for the Championship, as close to cheating as you can get.

It’s basically City or PSG situation on a smaller scale but with likeable actors instead of corrupt oil states so there’s just a certain fairytale element to it I guess.

League 1 is surely a whole other kettle of fish though. Mullen and most of their best players had already done it in league 2 but not league 1.
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This Wrexham team will do fine in L1. Wrexham will strengthen this summer.
 
Sandikan said:
Why is it "great stuff" out of interest?

Super rich owners just throwing loads of wad at it. Is that great?
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‘Great stuff’ like ‘good on wrexham’ getting promoted.
These 2 guys are not ‘Saudi oil money’ rich.
You seem annoyed by them. Why?
 
utdalltheway said:
‘Great stuff’ like ‘good on wrexham’ getting promoted.
These 2 guys are not ‘Saudi oil money’ rich.
You seem annoyed by them. Why?
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Maybe because they are in public treated as some poor and small underdogs. All good, they have great owners who legally invest money into that club. But they are literally buying success so far. It is not some romantic story. It is great business story though.
 
Fixation on Mullin is odd. High wages but a free transfer. “Paul, come and score loads of goals for us on a free in a much lower level of football…. and low wages”? Never going to happen.

Okonkwo is a loan, Luke Young was a free (signed well before the takeover), Fletcher unwanted free, Elliott Lee (arguably best player, not top goal scorer obviously)was a free that a lot of clubs passed on, couple of others cheap.

Yeah some of the wages are higher and sponsorship obviously helps but seem to be the only thing talked about. Spending money wisely and mixing big buys with bargains, frees and loans is a positive? I wish United did
 
BeforeKeanetherewasRobson said:
Fixation on Mullin is odd. High wages but a free transfer. “Paul, come and score loads of goals for us on a free in a much lower level of football…. and low wages”? Never going to happen.

Okonkwo is a loan, Luke Young was a free (signed well before the takeover), Fletcher unwanted free, Elliott Lee (arguably best player, not top goal scorer obviously)was a free that a lot of clubs passed on, couple of others cheap.

Yeah some of the wages are higher and sponsorship obviously helps but seem to be the only thing talked about. Spending money wisely and mixing big buys with bargains, frees and loans is a positive? I wish United did
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Some weirdly salty takes in this thread, everyone would love owners like these 2, hopefully they continue to be invested in the club and take it further than it has before
 
utdalltheway said:
‘Great stuff’ like ‘good on wrexham’ getting promoted.
These 2 guys are not ‘Saudi oil money’ rich.
You seem annoyed by them. Why?
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Because teams just thundering through the leagues outspending everyone is never that great.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
Maybe because they are in public treated as some poor and small underdogs. All good, they have great owners who legally invest money into that club. But they are literally buying success so far. It is not some romantic story. It is great business story though.
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I can envisage in 5-10 years, most clubs will have these kind of weird ownership/investment structures. Look forward to seeing Stockport County being partially owned by Mos Def and Andre 3000.
 
People are exaggerating Wrexham's financial muscle. They are not an oil state and it serves no purpose comparing them to one.
 
Sandikan said:
Because teams just thundering through the leagues outspending everyone is never that great.
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On the other hand, is it "that" bad? I bet you'd struggle to find a single Wrexham fan and/or Wrexham resident against the current ownership, and you'd also struggle to find a single non-Wrexham, non-league fan genuinely against a similar thing happening to their clubs. It's not as if Wrexham hasn't been to purgatory for long enough or have always had it easy either. I don't feel the need to be "defending" two Hollywood stars, I couldn't care less about them, but most of the bitterness stems from envy, which is fair enough to some extent, and not some kind of purity in football crusade as some try to make it out to be, let's call a spade a spade.
 
horsechoker said:
People are exaggerating Wrexham's financial muscle. They are not an oil state and it serves no purpose comparing them to one.
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Also I heard rumours that there are teams that have severely outspend their opposition and still cannot finish in the top 3 in back to back seasons.:nervous:
 
utdalltheway said:
I’d forgotten McClean went to them.
Quite a step down to league two for him.
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Wrexham have a solid foundation and a group that is used to winning football matches. They will be absolutely fine next season. McClean is just one of the players they have assembled that has been playing there under his level.
 
Melbourne Red said:
Not sure he's got enough money for that though
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Always sunny is in its waht 17th season?

Hes not just the star, he writes and produces it. He isn't a billionaire like reynolds, but man must have some serious cash behind him by now.

Also, not sure why people think the interest will die down. They have ot refresh the team now for the run towards the championship, and that gives them a whole new cast od characters for the Tv show to focus on. New heroes for the US audience to cheer on.
 
Damien said:
From what I've read, Wrexham's wages and spending etc is more than most teams in League 1 so they'll probably get promoted with not too much bother. Problem will come in the following season when they have to abide by the different spending rules in the Championship, but by then the rules will probably be changed again.
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Cringe post alert - from playing Football Manager I found the profit and sustainability rules more forgiving in the Championship than the salary cost management protocol that is in League One and League Two. Now I don't even know if they're accurate in that game, although they do try to make everything as accurate as possible and tend to do a good job. I'd put a reasonable level of trust in saying they're not far off.

I could see it being club dependent though, the Champinship rules may suit some teams better than others depending on a club's exact financial outlook.

Lower league it was a limit of 60% of turnover on wages. Championship was no more than a £15m loss over 3 years, but the board are allowed to buffer that with investment to the tune of £24m.

Of course they'd find the actual competition much tougher in the Championship should they get there, and teams with bigger stadiums/parachute payments and equal or better commercial revenue will have a lot of money themselves, and be able to make a loss on that too. It can feel like more freedom once you get there on the way up though, that you can suddenly start making what seem like pretty big losses once going up to the Championship. It's actually difficult to lose much with the 60% rule lower down even if you wanted to. Due to their good sized crowds and huge revenue from the documentary and sponsors, 60% of their turnover is more than 60% of anyone else's in League Two and most if not all of League One as well.
 
horsechoker said:
People are exaggerating Wrexham's financial muscle. They are not an oil state and it serves no purpose comparing them to one.
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They had wage structure L1 clubs while playing in National league and L2.
It is for sure very nice to see competent owners with clear plan and their love towards that project is obvious. Many owners could learn from those two.

But, they did bought success so far. Absolutely nothing wrong about that. As i said, it is nice to see competent owners in action but it is not some underdog story. It is more like Chelsea story when Roman bought them (when there was no FFP). And back then we all hated Chelsea, remember?
 
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Andycoleno9 said:
So, they did bought success so far. Absolutely nothing wrong about that. As i said, it is nice to see competent owners in action but it is not some underdog story. It is more like Chelsea story when Roman bought them (when there was no FFP). And back then we all hated Chelsea, remember?
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I still don't see the parallels, Ambramovich was Putin's mate who benefitted from the collapse of the Soviet Union and ultimately had the club confiscated from him, his legacy was washing Russian's reputation among Chelsea fans.

Wrexham are owned by 2 actors, they'll get to the championship and then have to make smart decisions. They won't just be going to The Champions League in 5 seasons.

I don't think Wrexham are going to change world football like City, Chelsea and PSG have done, mostly for the worse, they'll just be another Championship club that maybe gets to the Premier League.
 
Sandikan said:
Why is it "great stuff" out of interest?

Super rich owners just throwing loads of wad at it. Is that great?
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I can't say I'm into show business/celebrity at all, I'm the least versed person you could find when it comes to TV/films and I don't think I've seen anything with these two in it. Not watched the documentary either, but know who they are just by being interested in football. Don't really see how it's great, but it's not bad either to me. Just kind of neutral.

Being able to generate the interest and outside revenue for the club from sponsors/the doucmentary because of who they are is unique and that has helped no end. That coupled with their own deep pockets to get the ball rolling while in the National League.

Suppose if you look at it as sporting merit thing Stockport are more impressive and what they've done is greater. Mind you, Stockport have always managed to pull in pretty good crowds even when they were stuck in the Vanarama National for a few seasons. They're a natural mid-table League One club on that basis.
 
horsechoker said:
I still don't see the parallels, Ambramovich was Putin's mate who benefitted from the collapse of the Soviet Union and ultimately had the club confiscated from him, his legacy was washing Russian's reputation among Chelsea fans.

Wrexham are owned by 2 actors, they'll get to the championship and then have to make smart decisions. They won't just be going to The Champions League in 5 seasons.

I don't think Wrexham are going to change world football like City, Chelsea and PSG have done, mostly for the worse, they'll just be another Championship club that maybe gets to the Premier League.
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I agree with you about their future. I see them exactly there, middle of Championship.
But my point was that so far (in their leagues) they were Chelsea or PSG for competition. Legal version of course ;)
 
horsechoker said:
I still don't see the parallels, Ambramovich was Putin's mate who benefitted from the collapse of the Soviet Union and ultimately had the club confiscated from him, his legacy was washing Russian's reputation among Chelsea fans.

Wrexham are owned by 2 actors, they'll get to the championship and then have to make smart decisions. They won't just be going to The Champions League in 5 seasons.

I don't think Wrexham are going to change world football like City, Chelsea and PSG have done, mostly for the worse, they'll just be another Championship club that maybe gets to the Premier League.
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Abramovich could have made his money saving kittens from burning buildings and it wouldn't change anything. The money he pumped into Chelsea distorted the usual order of things and that was the problem, not the source

There's no need to be obtuse; whether it's oil money or lovable actor fueled money... It doesn't matter to the competition. There is still an advantage that's 'unearned'
 
adexkola said:
Abramovich could have made his money saving kittens from burning buildings and it wouldn't change anything. The money he pumped into Chelsea distorted the usual order of things and that was the problem, not the source

There's no need to be obtuse; whether it's oil money or lovable actor fueled money... It doesn't matter to the competition. There is still an advantage that's 'unearned'
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What is earned success?

You can pick apart any clubs rise, they will at some part have benefitted from some advantage. The most extreme examples like Luton are few and far between, to get anywhere in football you need some fortune at some point.
 
Massive Spanner said:
Signing Mullen for the National League was like signing Haaland for the Championship, as close to cheating as you can get.

It’s basically City or PSG situation on a smaller scale but with likeable actors instead of corrupt oil states so there’s just a certain fairytale element to it I guess.

League 1 is surely a whole other kettle of fish though. Mullen and most of their best players had already done it in league 2 but not league 1.
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It's absolutely nothing like those 2 clubs and unless they've broken rules, it's particularly nothing like City.
 
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