‘Can’t sign players on Championship wages’ - Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney given Wrexham transfer warning as Red Dragons close on promotion into League One

Hollywood co-owners at SToK Racecourse have helped to make the funds available that have allowed the Red Dragons to rise out of the National League – as record-breaking champions of that division – and into the top three of League Two.

Success on and off the field, aided by the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series and a number of commercial deals, has allowed Phil Parkinson’s side to outspend many of their rivals in the lower leagues. They are now being warned that the playing field levels in the third tier, making it more difficult to attract talent and maintain forward momentum.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has told the Fearless in Devotion podcast, with it revealed that Wrexham’s wage bill stood at £6.9 million for the year ending June 2023: “There certainly was a determination by the owners to accelerate Wrexham through the National League and ideally through League Two as well. In the National League, it is possible to recruit players from League One, pay them League One wages and get promoted as a result, because there's not the equivalent of financial fair play. That works in the National League and that works to a certain extent in League Two as well as you can outbid the vast majority of the clubs, given that Wrexham have got higher revenues. I think you then reach a plateau in League One because, no disrespect, you can't go out and sign players on Championship wages. The average wage in the Championship is around 12 to 14,000 pounds a week. I've got a rough idea of what Wrexham are paying, and it's nowhere near that.”

Maguire went on to say of the challenges facing Wrexham and their superstar chairmen: “You have to compete with the other 23 clubs in League One if the club gets promoted. Then you take a look around and just look at some of the clubs who you potentially could be competing with. If Sheffield Wednesday get relegated, they're averaging crowds of 25,000, Derby County are there this season, and you’ve got Bolton Wanderers there this season. They're all clubs who are very sizeable in their own right. All of a sudden, you're now on a level playing field with a significant number of clubs in League One, and it gets that much harder.”

Wrexham have three games left to take in this season, starting with a home date against Forest Green Rovers on Saturday. They sit second in the League Two table as things stand, four points behind leaders Stockport and five clear of the MK Dons in fourth.