Wrexham AFC bought by Hollywood A-list stars

Wrexham AFC are now a monied club. At least on paper, the Welsh club are among the growing list of football clubs having been bought by new-money owners. Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the club and hope to take it from the outhouse to the penthouse.

Fan owned since 2011, Wrexham AFC play in non-league football. Although the club were not looking for investment when talks of a take over came about, once information about the potential owners was released, many close to the club wanted the sale of the club to go through.

The fan-owned club voted unanimously in favour of selling the club to Reynolds and McElhenney with just 26 of the supporters voting against and 1.809 voting for the sale.

Questions have been raised over why the two stars bought Wrexham AFC and plan to invest more than £2 million into overhauling the club. The simple answer is that the club were fan-owned, meaning no money was need to buy the club from a previous owner.

A lot of football owners investing in non-league clubs are doing so with the idea of taking a club with little means all the way to the Premier League. It is far cheaper and easier to buy and invest in a non-league club than a team in either the Premier League or EFL Championship. In addition, expectations are far different.

Another reason for the purchase of the club is a potential documentary. Netflix is said to be interested and with the possibility of paying up to £800,000 per hour for content, could not only put Wrexham AFC in view of the world, but give them much-needed money.

If £2m is invested into the club, they will quickly become the “new” Salford City. The investment put into Salford City from the Class of ’92 sent them up through the non-league ranks and into League 2.