Our Opponents EFL 2025/26

[davieG]

How Wrexham and Birmingham City’s US owners got one step from the Premier League

 

It’s been over four decades since Wrexham were last in the second tier of English football and a lot has changed in that time. (A lot has changed in four years, never mind four decades.) Four years ago, Wales’ oldest soccer club were at a non-league nadir. Now, they are preparing for life in the Championship, propelled to three straight promotions by the stardust (and money) of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

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Birmingham City’s second tier exile was much shorter – just a single season – but like Wrexham their promotion had the spotlight of celebrity on it. While Wrexham have Reynolds and McElhenney, Birmingham have Tom Brady (albeit it in a far smaller profile). The English lower leagues have never been so glamorous, what with Wrexham players appearing in Marvel movies and David Beckham attending matches.

Related: Wrexham announce record revenue of £26.7m after boost in US popularity

And yet both clubs’ ownership have defied the cynics. Birmingham and Wrexham have spent big – really big in the case of the former, who splurged £25m on transfers last summer – but something meaningful is happening at the Racecourse Ground and St Andrew’s. Two historic clubs have been revitalised.

Here’s a five-step plan for other North American owners on how to run a British club successfully.

 

1) Buy low. Really low

Reynolds and McElhenney deliberately bought a club that couldn’t sink much lower. That was their plan from the start and explains why they also looked at Hartlepool United, similarly down on their luck in the National League, before buying Wrexham in November 2020. Brady and Tom Wagner did something similar by buying Birmingham City in May 2023 after years of financial uncertainty.

Birmingham and Wrexham both had large, passionate fanbases desperate to be re-energised. On size and stature alone, both should have been more successful. The upside was clear for the new owners who both see the Premier League as a realistic target. If the likes of Bournemouth and Brentford can do it, why not these two? Promotion to the Championship puts them just one step away.

“It’s been hard to buy into the North American optimism, but they have gradually eroded the generational pessimism ingrained in cynical Wrexham fans, who have rightfully been cautious given how the club so nearly went out of business,” says Rich Fay of the RobRyanRed podcast. “This Wrexham team is a winning machine.”

 

2) Tell a story

Wrexham impressed on the field as they surged to League Two promotion last season, but that’s not why over 80,000 fans came to watch Phil Parkinson’s team in Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Vancouver last summer. They came to see Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer and all the other characters from soccer’s most popular reality TV show.

Anyone who has watched Welcome to Wrexham knows it’s a series that’s only so much about the actual soccer. It’s actually about the lifelong fan who owns the pub next door. And the club’s powerchair team. And the town which has struggled in the post-industrial era. Wales itself is a character.

A Birmingham City documentary series is also coming. That the new Amazon show is to be directed by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight suggests Blues will follow the formula established by Wrexham in telling a story beyond soccer. Star players used to be enough for a club to shift some jerseys around the world. That was before Welcome to Wrexham changed everything. It might not be a fairytale, but Wrexham in particular has been a hugely compelling story to tell.

 

3) Invest in yourself

Less than a year after arriving, Birmingham City’s new owners bought 48 acres of land for a new stadium. It was a statement of intent that highlighted Wagner’s ambition with the ‘Sports Quarter’ development on an under-utilised site near the city centre estimated to cost £2-3bn ($2.6-$4m). Money has also been spent to renovate St Andrew’s and the training ground.

Fans see Wagner as an honorary Brummie. Outsiders might consider his team talks and fist pumping cringey, but Birmingham fans see someone whose passion for the club can’t be questioned. “On away days, Tom regularly puts his credit card behind the bar for fans to have a beer,” said Chris Goulding of the We Are Birmingham podcast and blog.

Wrexham have their own stadium plans. The club hopes to start construction of a new 5,500-capacity Kop stand soon, recently unveiling an updated design inspired by Wrexham’s red brick traditions. This is a town nicknamed ‘Terracottapolis,’ after all. It’s also a town where nearly 8,000 children live in poverty, something the recently revamped Wrexham AFC Foundation wants to tackle.

 

4) Have a clear style

Parkinson’s conservative style of play has drawn criticism even as his team have risen through the divisions, but his approach has given Wrexham a clear framework to build around. Only Birmingham have conceded fewer league goals than The Red Dragons this season while goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo has kept 18 clean sheets, second in League One behind … Birmingham’s Ryan Allsop.

The pragmatism of Parkinson-ball might be even more valuable in the Championship when Wrexham will regularly face opponents with better players and bigger budgets. While other nouveau riche clubs might have grown restless and changed managers, Wrexham stayed consistent with Parkinson who doesn’t always get the credit he deserves. “I feel the entire process has distracted from what a good job Phil Parkinson has done,” says Fay.

Chris Davies has similarly given his team an identifiable playing style. Under Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou’s former assistant, Blues have thrived as an aggressive possession-oriented side capable of magic in the attacking third. Wayne Rooney’s appointment last season was a misstep, but Birmingham quickly corrected that mistake.

 

5) Keep evolving

Season by season, Wrexham have shown a willingness to change. Mullin and Palmer were the stars of the seasons in the National League and League Two. This time around, the pair have been part of the attacking rotation along with Steven Fletcher and Jay Rodriguez, two forwards with genuine pedigree at a high level.

Okonkwo came in from Arsenal to replace Mark Howard as Wrexham’s No 1. Forward Sam Smith arrived from Reading for a club-record fee. Parkinson also changed formation midway through the campaign, moving away from the dual striker system that had worked so well for him until that point.

“With two up front, it was making us … I won’t say predictable, but we needed to adapt, particularly in possession,” said Parkinson. A home defeat to Stevenage in late January prompted a rethink and was the catalyst for a run that saw Wrexham lose just two out of 17 games to clinch promotion.

Birmingham’s evolution has been far less gradual, with the signing of 17 new players last summer giving Davies the talent he needed to point the club in the right direction. Jay Stansfield was the most expensive addition, costing a league-record £15m. However, the 22-year-old justified such an eye-watering fee by netting 19 goals in 34 league appearances.

Backed by Knighthead, a New York investment fund valued at close to $10bn, Birmingham will spend more. “With these owners I think the Premier League is just their first target,” says Goulding.

Wrexham, on the other hand, might be more like a dog catching a car now that they are up to the Championship. This could be why New York’s Allyn family, whose wealth dwarfs that of Reynolds and McElhenney, joined as board members last autumn. Further evolution will be required, as will more money. Reynolds only has so much Mint Mobile cash to plough in.

 

[davieG]

Will they be able to splash as much cash next year?

[87fox]

44 minutes ago, davieG said:

Will they be able to splash as much cash next year?

 

[Nalis]

17 minutes ago, 87fox said:

 

I doubt they have more revenue than Sunderland, that's without even looking at anyone else.

[OntarioFox]

We've basically got 2 Ipswich-type momentum fiends with more cash coming up - alongside our fellow relegate-ees - all being tipped as potential automatics challengers.

 

If we don't get things right this summer, we're in deep shit, because automatics will be out of the question. And that's before you consider the likes of Sheff Utd. may still be in the division.

 

We won't know until a ball is kicked how we'll cope, of course, just like last time when we got the late win against Cov and never looked back. Wrexham and Brum may turn out to be crap at this level. Southampton and / or Ipswich may struggle even more than us. But to me, this division looks harder to get out of than it did last time, even taking the decline of our squad quality out of the equation. All we really had to push us last time was Leeds and Ipswich, and we still barely scraped the title by one point. This time there could be 4 or 5 other teams there or there abouts.

 

Personally, right now I'd bite your hand off for the top 6, given the parlous state of our squad and amateurs in the boardroom. Time will tell.

 

Edited Wednesday at 15:09 by OntarioFox

[Simonb]

If Sheff United stay down it'll be between them and Ipswich for 1st and 2nd.

 

Playoffs will be between us, Southampton, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Coventry, Birmingham, West brom and Blackburn. 

 

I think Wrexham will need 3 years to realistically challenge for promotion

[suffolk fox]

It really is all what ifs, buts and maybes.  One thing I do know there is now a huge gulf between the Championship and premier league, I would argue with anyone who tries to tell me otherwise.

Look at the three teams who are potentially coming up.  Leeds definitely had a better team last season than this and they quite comfortably achieved promotion.  Burnley, granted they improved their defence this season and it has paid dividends for them.

 

Sheff utd, this a team that like us, was getting beat nearly every week in the premier league stayed at the top  of the Championship all season only falling away in the last three weeks.  Even, with a 

squad overhaul and hopefully losing a few big wage earners with our squad, we will comfortably finish in the top six next season.

 

We need to get a striker in who can score goals in the Championship.  We will have Nelson and Choudary back from their loan spells.  We have a capable goalie in Stolarcyz.  Souttar is still a Leicester player.

 

Luton are the anomaly this season, but I genuinely believe our squad, albeit poor in the premier, is still good enough for the Championship.

 

Only thing that could potentially derail us is the efl who come down hard on us re point deductions etc. 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 15:24 by suffolk fox

[ronnup]

Play off failure for us I think

[Finnegan]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

Will they be able to splash as much cash next year?

 

Birmingham are going to be the Chelsea of the Championship in all likelihood. Shit house as much as is possible to allow themselves to invest big money in to the playing squad, sailing narrowly around every rule going by inches. 

 

They might not go up first time out but they should be a force and it won't be many years til they're in the Prem. 

 

Wrexham are a bit weird. Very low match day revenue and their owners were extremely wealthy in the lower leagues but they're not quite syand-out wealthy at this level. 

 

But their commercial revenue is unlike anyone else. They have, even at Championship level, a huge commercial income that offsets PSR and lets them spend because of all the Netflix cash and the US merchandising that goes with it. 

 

They've not just got money behind them but they'll be allowed to spend so much of it. I still think they'll plateau in the Championship and then it'll be interesting to see how long the American audience sticks around if they do for a few years. 

 

I can see Birmingham being top six next year but I'd be surprised if Wrexham are.

 

[Tommy G]

I think both of them could do us if we played them tomorrow. 

[Finnegan]

1 minute ago, Tommy G said:

I think both of them could do us if we played them tomorrow. 

 

I think Boston United could do us if we played them tomorrow 

[Royston.]

1 hour ago, OntarioFox said:

We've basically got 2 Ipswich-type momentum fiends with more cash coming up - alongside our fellow relegate-ees - all being tipped as potential automatics challengers.

 

If we don't get things right this summer, we're in deep shit, because automatics will be out of the question. And that's before you consider the likes of Sheff Utd. may still be in the division.

 

We won't know until a ball is kicked how we'll cope, of course, just like last time when we got the late win against Cov and never looked back. Wrexham and Brum may turn out to be crap at this level. Southampton and / or Ipswich may struggle even more than us. But to me, this division looks harder to get out of than it did last time, even taking the decline of our squad quality out of the equation. All we really had to push us last time was Leeds and Ipswich, and we still barely scraped the title by one point. This time there could be 4 or 5 other teams there or there abouts.

 

Personally, right now I'd bite your hand off for the top 6, given the parlous state of our squad and amateurs in the boardroom. Time will tell.

 

could be difficult but im not sure going straight back up is the best thing as Top will think he is doing things right

[David Hankey]

As we've become a yo-yo Club it's our turn to be promoted next season.

[Les-TA-Jon]

36 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

As we've become a yo-yo Club it's our turn to be promoted next season.

Historically we’ve always been a yo-yo club

 

We have the most relegations from the top flight, most promotions to the top flight and most 2nd division titles

[David Hankey]

2 hours ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

Historically we’ve always been a yo-yo club

 

We have the most relegations from the top flight, most promotions to the top flight and most 2nd division titles

I omitted the word again, however, thank you for your elucidation. 

[CrazyKopCorner]

4 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I think Boston United could do us if we played them tomorrow 

Shepshed Charterhouse would see us off 

[HybridFox]

Wrexham will sh*** on us in front of the Sky (and Disney) cameras

 

Our board will probably be pleased for the exposure 

Edited Wednesday at 20:35 by HybridFox

[Tielemans63]

3 hours ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

Historically we’ve always been a yo-yo club

 

We have the most relegations from the top flight, most promotions to the top flight and most 2nd division titles

The way the club is being run should put a stop to that. The promotion part, anyway