Global Courant 2023-05-09 13:39:54
WREXHAM, Wales – 2 May 2023: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, co-owners of Wrexham AFC, celebrate with the club’s men’s and women’s teams on a bus parade following their respective title-winning seasons in the Vanarama National League and Genero Adran North.
Jan Kruger/Getty Images
LONDON — When Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham AFC, a small Welsh football club languishing in the fifth tier of England’s league pyramid, many were skeptical that the two Hollywood stars could give their long-suffering fans something to cheer about. .
Not least because, in their own words, neither of them had a clue about football – or football as they should call it from now on – nor about North Wales, which is home to the sport’s third-oldest professional club .
The two actors completed their £2 million ($2.5 million) takeover of the club in February 2021, and last month Wrexham won the Vanarama National League title, earning promotion back to England’s Football League after 15 years in the wilderness (EFL) system. .
Set to compete in EFL League Two next year, the club can now boast a revitalized local fan base, a global cult following attracted by its A-list owners and a popular documentary series. The budget is likely to dwarf that of many of next year’s League Two opponents, although the competition will be much fiercer.
“What strikes me is how wrong it could have gone. People are waiting in the wings to shoot this stuff down,” Sam Hollis, head of strategy at British brand transformation firm FutureBrand, told CNBC last week.
“There is a lot of pressure and attention from the press, not to mention skepticism from diehard football fans. Towns like Wrexham are so proud of their club, it’s part of their way of life. They don’t easily welcome outsiders there in.” kind of ecosystem.”
Teams like Wrexham, based in smaller regional towns and villages and competing in the lower leagues – a far cry from the multibillion-dollar glamor of England’s flagship Premier League – are often an integral part of their communities.
WREXHAM, Wales – May 2, 2023: Wrexham AFC fans celebrate in a bus parade following their league title. A fan has donned the costume of Deadpool, the comic book character played by co-owner Ryan Reynolds.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
As such, fans would not like to be seen as a celebrity toy, and expect owners to devote both time and resources to the success of their club.
Seemingly alert to this, Reynolds and McElhenney quickly managed to bond with the local community, and Hollis attributed this to their approach of “radical transparency.”
“If they had come in and pretended they knew what they were doing, or knew anything about football, it would have been impossible to keep that up. They don’t even talk about it the way people from the UK talk about it. They use not the right lexicon,” Hollis noted, suggesting the pair’s self-deprecating willingness to learn from the club’s fan base on the job helped build trust.
“So brutal honesty and transparency, come in and acknowledge that the city owns the club. They just look after it and help it through this chapter, but it will always be owned by the Wrexham community. This approach immediately won over a lot of people their side,” he added.
I see a lot of people trying to follow suit and buy a club that isn’t performing well to replicate the format but unless they are willing to spend the necessary amount of time and money and really commit to it then I think it would risk failing or going horribly wrong.
Sam Hollis
Head of Strategy, FutureBrand
The club’s popularity was boosted by the Disney+ and HBO documentary series ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, which followed the new owners’ efforts to gain promotion to League Two during their first season at the helm.
This first campaign was ultimately unsuccessful as Wrexham lost a 5–4 thriller to eventual promotion winners Grimsby Town in the play-off semi-finals. Grimsby has since strengthened its position in League Two and the two clubs will meet again next season.
While the celebrity endorsement and associated global attention helped build Wrexham’s profile, the stars from “Deadpool” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” accompanied it with dedication and investment. Hollis said they understood that “it would take more than funny Twitter posts and a documentary” to change a struggling club like Wrexham.
“For example, you often see both actors at the football games, spending their time with the team players. This kind of dedication plays a vital role in attracting more fan support,” said Hollis.
Wrexham fans have endured much in recent decades as the club teetered on the brink of collapse from colossal debt and the lasting financial fallout from a series of disastrous owners. In 2005, a couple of wealth-draining real estate scroungers had their plans to optimize the club’s ownership and sell the land foiled by a local taxi driver, who is to this day honored for his role in saving the club.
A local businessman then took over but failed to maintain the club’s finances and eventually oversaw its relegation from the Football League in 2008. When Wrexham was put up for sale again in 2010, a series of bids of controversial figures with a checkered history. .
The club was on the verge of financial exclusion from the 2011/12 season until the Wrexham Supporters Trust bailed it out through fan donations.
The WST kept the club afloat for a decade, but the takeover bid from Reynolds and McElhenney in November 2020 signaled a new hope for Wrexham to return to the big leagues.
Celebrity interest in football has grown in recent years, with Hollywood A-listers regularly spotted at various England grounds, prompting speculation that copycat efforts may be emerging after Wrexham’s relative success to date .
“I see a lot of people trying to follow suit and buy a club that isn’t performing well to replicate the format, but unless they are willing to spend the necessary amount of time and money and really commit to it then I think it would risk failing or going horribly wrong,” Hollis said.
“Anyone who wants to follow this model needs to understand that they’re doing more than just lending their star power. When you become an owner, you become an investor, and that’s the key to success.”
