Wrexham warned they face ‘huge problems’ if Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney walk away… days after winning promotion
WREXHAM have been warned they will face “huge financial problems” if owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney decide to walk away from the club.
The Welsh outfit celebrated a second consecutive promotion on Saturday as they clinched a place in League One next season following a 6-0 win over Forest Green.
It ends the club’s 19-year wait for a return to the third tier.
But football finance expert Dr Rob Wilson has urged caution regarding the long-term sustainability of Wrexham‘s success.
Hollywood A-listers Reynolds, 47, and McElhenney, 47, have pumped huge sums into the club.
They have also attracted more commercial deals and raised revenue through their documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham”.
The pair seem committed for the foreseeable future after another historic occasion at the weekend.
However, Dr Wilson has concerns over what will happen to Wrexham should their celebrity owners pull the plug.
He told BonusCodeBets: “Wrexham would face huge financial problems if their Hollywood owners walk away, that’s why Profitability and Sustainability Rules are so necessary.
“There was a time when Roman Abramovich owned Chelsea that he could have walked away and even if he didn’t want his money back they wouldn’t have been able to pay their player wages due to insufficient revenue.
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“You would imagine that Wrexham have learnt some of those lessons, but equally if the owners were to walk away it would plunge Wrexham into kind of deep, deep challenges.
“That’s why owner investment can be quite problematic if it’s ever removed.”
Dr Wilson then went on to cite building a bigger stadium as an obvious way of increasing their revenue for the long-term.
He added: “A new stadium will be a necessity for Wrexham the higher they climb up the Football League, even though they have just increased their capacity over 15,000.
“But you don’t go from a 15,000-seater stadium to a 40,000-seater stadium overnight.
“It costs a huge amount of money and requires a massive amount of financing, notwithstanding all of the permissions that you need in and around the area to to develop.
“It would be fascinating to know from the owners where their ceiling is actually, because it does reach a point of no return from small finance that you can get a bigger return on your investment to stuff you’re not going to get your money back on.”
Reynolds posted an emotional statement on social media following Wrexham’s second promotion in as many years.
He said: “A few years ago, if you told me I would be crying tears of joy over a football match taking place in North Wales, you would be Rob McElhenney.
“Congrats to Wrexham and to my co-chairman in crime. Double up the town! This is the ride of our lives.”
He claimed back in 2023 that the ultimate ambition is to get the club into the Premier League.