Wrexham could be a Premier League team next year. Say it quickly and it doesn't sound so incredible, but just two years after winning the National League title to escape English football's fifth tier, the Hollywood-owned club are on course to reach the Premier League in 2026.
A dream scenario? A perfect Hollywood script? Absolutely, but this is where the hard work really starts for club owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, and it won't come cheap.
Saturday's 1-0 win at Wycombe Wanderers has now made a third-successive promotion this season a probability, rather than a possibility, for Wrexham. Phil Parkinson's team had gone into the game sitting third in League One, level on points with second-placed Wycombe, but Sam Smith's 78th minute goal sealed a victory that moved Wrexham into the second automatic promotion spot -- runaway leaders Birmingham City are 12 points clear at the top -- with just nine games to play.
If Wrexham hold their nerve and stay in second spot -- Wycombe have played one game fewer and have a goal difference of 27 compared to Wrexham's 21 -- they will start next season in the Championship, English football's second tier, for the first time since 1982. But if they make it, they could be chasing a Premier League spot this time next year.
That's right: within a month of the FIFA Men's World Cup final on July 19, 2026, Wrexham could be preparing to face Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United during the 2026-27 Premier League season. All they need to do first is secure promotion from League One this season and go straight through the Championship next year.
However, it's not quite as simple as that. Sport is littered with stories of athletes and teams who were destined for greatness and never achieved it. But Wrexham, owned by Hollywood powerhouse Reynolds and TV star McElhenney since they acquired the team for just �2 million ($2.59m) in 2021, have already fulfilled the dreams of their supporters since "Rob and Ryan" breathed new life into the club.
No team has ever gone straight from the National League to the Premier League. Luton Town managed it in nine years, reaching the Premier League in 2023 after winning the National League title in 2014. If Wrexham remain on their upward trajectory, they could bridge the gap in a period of just three years from their National League promotion campaign. But how realistic is it for a club classed as "non-league" less than two years ago to be plotting a path to the Premier League within the next 18 months?
Wrexham have big financial backing in the form of their Hollywood owners, while Ipswich Town are playing in the Premier League this season having done precisely what Wrexham need to do, having won back-to-back promotions from League One. Watford (1997-1999), Manchester City (1998-2000), Norwich City (2009-2011) and Southampton (2010-12) have also done it, but Wrexham started their journey from a much lower point, and all of those clubs had previous top-flight pedigree as well as much larger fanbases.
"The step-up to the Championship is huge, and I think what people have to remember about Wrexham, which has been an amazing story so far, is that some of their players were with them in the National League," Stuart Webber, who achieved promotion to the Premier League as sporting director at Norwich and Huddersfield Town, told ESPN. "People don't realise how big the gap is between League One and the Championship: Norwich are mid-table and 75% of their squad are international players.
"Outsiders will automatically look at the success of Ipswich, who did the double-promotion, but they did spend a lot of money in League One and brought very good Championship-level players in. Wrexham haven't really done that: they've done it on more of a budget. They spent big money to get out the National League and the same to get out of League Two, but less so this time around, so to expect them to go up and then be super-competitive based purely on momentum, it would be quite naive to think that."
To support Webber's point about player recruitment, Ipswich spent �8m ($10.36m) on signings in their League One promotion season, while Birmingham City top the League One table this campaign having spent �29.7m ($38.5m) since relegation last term. Birmingham, part-owned by NFL legend Tom Brady, delivered a clear statement of intent last summer by signing Fulham forward Jay Stansfield for �15m ($19.4m). By contrast, Wrexham, who have spent �5m ($6.48m) since promotion last season, made Reading forward Smith their club-record signing in January for just �2m ($2.6m).
The heroes of Wrexham's first two promotions are now beginning to fade from the scene. Striker Paul Mullin scored 47 goals in the club's promotion campaign from the National League in 2022-23 and another 26 to help the team go up from League Two last year. This season, the 30-year-old has registered just five goals in 32 games and is no longer a regular starter.
Fellow striker Ollie Palmer and midfielder Elliot Lee, both crucial figures in the two promotion campaigns, have also lost their regular starting spots. But while there has been some evolution, it hasn't been anywhere close to the level of squad building undertaken by Birmingham this season or Ipswich two years ago.
And while they can still rely on the backing of Reynolds and McElhenney and the global profile of their TV show "Welcome to Wrexham" gives Wrexham a unique appeal to potential signings. However, the club still do not own their own training ground and their stadium, the STK Cae Ras, needs significant, expensive work to upgrade facilities and raise the existing capacity beyond its 13,300 limit. Ipswich (29,600) and Birmingham (29,400) have much bigger stadiums that yield more than twice the crowd revenue that Wrexham can rely on, although Wrexham's commercial revenue thanks to their Hollywood links doubled to �10.5m (�13.5m) in their last financial year, and it's expected to grow again when their latest accounts are published before the end of the season.
As it stands right now, with such a small stadium, local fanbase and a squad in need of Championship-level players the challenge for Reynolds and McElhenney is clear -- if Wrexham go up and suddenly see the Premier League on the horizon, that might just be where the going gets really tough.
"One thing I'd say about the owners is that everything they said they were going to do, they've done," Webber said. "They haven't been like fake owners, which often clubs have had, who start off with a load of enthusiasm and then the money runs out and then you never hear from them again.
"Rob and Ryan have delivered and really connected with the club, but if Wrexham are promoted, I hope the project gets the patience that it needs and they don't get some harsh lessons as a Championship club."
