Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Wrexham, League Two, Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney
Ryan Smart
League Two side Wrexham have lost a 'tonne of money' as a result of an 'ambitious' change to their current stadium, the club's executive director has confirmed.
The Red Dragons have had a seismic rise both on and off the pitch since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over the club in February 2021.
Phil Parkinson's side earned promotion to League Two via winning the National League last season.
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The new ownership have invested in several high-profile players from the leagues above, including former Hull and Rochdale midfielder Andy Cannon, while ex-Sunderland star Steven Fletcher and former Wigan and Sunderland midfielder James McClean have arrived on free transfers.
All that has meant Wrexham are once again competing at the top end of the table this season - and are attracting huge crowds as their worldwide reputation grows.
They average 10,270 fans at the Racecourse Ground this season in League Two (as per worldfootball.net), a figure below only Notts County and former Premier League side Bradford City.
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That means the club is filling over 95 per cent of its stadium capacity, with the ground originally able to hold 10,771 supporters.
That has led the hierarchy to take what some might describe as a risky decision - introducing a temporary stand at the Racecourse Ground.
It may be a somewhat unprecedented move for a fourth division side to take, and although it will lose them a 'tonne of money', executive director Humphrey Ker told The Athletic about how the decision will benefit Wrexham.
He explained: "We are in this extraordinary position of being a genuinely unique club in world football because of the level of interest that comes from outside sources and from people who would usually never pay the slightest attention to football.
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"That arms you with an incredible level of resources, frankly, and allows you to be ambitious and expansive - and do things like building the temporary stand at the Kop End.
"There is probably no other club in the country who could go, 'Yeah, we'll lose a tonne of money doing what is, on a business level, a pretty stupid thing to do, but let's do it anyway because we can get more people into the stadium'."