AFC Wrexham is the first team in the English Football League to celebrate three promotions in consecutive seasons. The story of a gray mouse that has been polished up into a big brand—and is far from finished.
With Hollywood glamour on the way to the top: AFC Wrexham secured its third consecutive promotion at the weekend and will start next season in the second-tier Championship. The upswing since the takeover by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney seems unstoppable. For a long time, the club was more of a grey mouse in the depths of the English Football League.
AFC Wrexham is considered the oldest football club in Wales. The club was founded in 1864 and won its first title in 1878 with the Welsh Cup. Further successes followed in the cup and championships in the Welsh Senior League, a mainly regional league, and “The Combination,” a league with clubs from the north-west of England and Wales.
Record winner of the Welsh Cup
In 1921, the club joined the English Football League, where it remained for an impressive 87 years, but never made it to the top flight, instead fluctuating between the second and fourth divisions. There were no major successes in England, but the club continued to collect trophies in the Welsh Cup. With 23 titles, Wrexham is the record winner of the Welsh Cup, although it has not been allowed to participate in the competition alongside the English league competitions since 1995, with the exception of the 2011/12 season.
In 2008, the club was relegated from the Football League to the fifth-tier National League, where it remained stuck. Although it reached the play-offs for the fourth division five times, it always fell short in the final. But that was all about to change when those same acting colleagues arrived in Wrexham in 2020 and took over the club in February 2021.
Reynolds recalled after the latest success in an Instagram post: “At the first press conference, we were asked what our goals were. And Rob immediately said, ‘The Premier League’. People laughed. They had every right to. It sounded crazy, but we meant it.”
And that was to become apparent early on. The dreary everyday life of the fifth division suddenly took on a Hollywood veneer. Cameras accompanied the club as part of the documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham,” the new sponsor TikTok suddenly adorned the club’s jersey, and success was not long in coming. Of course, the club also owes this to the financial support and, in particular, the reach of its owners, who have turned Wrexham into a real brand. One example: while current Championship leaders Leeds United have 1.2 million followers on Instagram, AFC Wrexham already have 1.5 million. It’s clear that over time, critical voices have become louder, especially among direct competitors, who see a competitive advantage for the Welsh club.
Setting the course in summer 2021
In sporting terms, the team missed out on the play-offs by one point in the first half of the year after the takeover. However, the course for a successful future was set in the following summer of 2021. Phil Parkinson, who had previously worked for Sunderland and Bolton, among others, where he gained Championship experience, took over as coach and signed Paul Mullin, who had previously scored 32 goals in the fourth division, as the goal-scoring guarantee on the fifth-division club’s path back to the Football League.
In 2021/22, however, Wrexham had to go into the play-offs again and suffered a dramatic 4-5 defeat to Grimsby. A year later, however, the breakthrough came. With 111 points in 46 games – including 22 wins and one draw at home – AFC celebrated the championship and direct promotion, led by striker Mullin, who scored 38 times.
Big names for big goals
Once again, the team was strengthened with players from higher leagues, including the internationally experienced but supposedly a little past their prime James McClean (103 caps for Ireland) and Steven Fletcher (33 caps for Scotland) and former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster. While the club enjoyed increasing international recognition thanks to the documentary, its sporting success continued. With 26 wins, ten draws, and ten defeats, Parkinson’s team secured second place in the league and direct promotion to League One.
New year, same system: The squad was significantly strengthened before and during the current season, with the additions of former Leicester professional Matty James, goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo, who won the Austrian Cup with Sturm Graz in the 2022/23 season, and winter signing Jay Rodriguez, who has played 258 Premier League games in his career. And since Sunday, one thing is certain: the result is the same again.
With a 3-0 win over Charlton, Wrexham not only earned one point more than last year in League 4 with one game to go, but also secured the runner-up spot once again, setting a new record: never before has a club in the English Football League managed to gain promotion in three consecutive seasons. “To be the first team to achieve this and to be the captain who has the honor of leading the team is absolutely incredible,” said captain McClean after the victory on Sky.
Reynolds feels ‘at home’ in Wrexham
Both McClean and Reynolds rave about the team spirit in Wrexham. “I feel at home here,” says the actor about the club, which probably meant nothing to him not so long ago. Among other things, the march through the divisions would not have been possible without “the wisdom of Phil Parkinson,” who racked up an incredible 112 wins and only 29 losses in his 181 league games with Wrexham. Or “the talent of Paul Mullin,” the hero of previous seasons, even if he only played a minor role in the current campaign.
So the club will start next year in the Championship and will be in the second division for the first time since 1982 and only the fifth time since joining the Football League 104 years ago. The goal expressed by McEllhenney four years ago, which seemed absurd at the time, of reaching the Premier League is getting closer and closer.
