- Red Dragons need more tickets
- New Kop End is in the pipeline
- Contingency plans put in place
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Hollywood co-owners in North Wales have made the construction of a new Kop End a top priority throughout their reign at SToK Racecourse, with the plan being to bring a famous old stadium screaming into the 21st century.
Said project looked easy on paper, but is proving to be increasingly difficult in reality. With a protracted saga being delayed by planning and development regulations, Reynolds and McElhenney moved to get a structure erected that can house 2,289 supporters during the 2023-24 campaign – as Wrexham pushed for promotion out of League Two.
Said venture is said to have come with a £360,000 price tag, with the Red Dragons’ co-owners prepared to take another six-figure financial hit in North Wales. Explaining that decision in the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series, Reynolds said: “Rob had proposed 'What would happen if we put 2,500 seats in that area' just temporarily... Makes absolutely zero sense financially.” McElhenney added: “We will figure it out. We are going to lose a significant amount of money on it. However, I believe it's a competitive advantage to be able to close that stadium... it's going to be twice as loud.”
GettyThe stand opened in December 2023, allowing Wrexham to get over 12,000 fans through the turnstiles for the first time in 16 years. The club’s head of ticketing, Peter Wynne, has said of demand outweighing supply: “When I started you could pay £15-20 on the gate and the stadium was so big you could sit where you wanted. Over the past couple of years that has changed phenomenally. There's always going to be people that miss out, so as soon as we get that Kop built, it should ease. The last thing we want to do is price fans out... that's where the stress comes for me, the responsibility of you looking after people's memories.”
The Kop project at Wrexham remains ongoing - with the intention being to have a 5,500-seater stand in place at some point - while McElhenney has boldly claimed that the Red Dragons could boast a capacity of 55,000 in the longer term future, as they take aim at a place in the Premier League.