Wrexham by the numbers: How their National League turnaround played out
Football got a surge of outside attention when celebrities Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney purchased a club – Wrexham A.F.C. The quiet Wales team had slipped out of the league in 2008, ending their 87-year presence in football. But 15 years later, they stormed the National League and secured their first league title in 45 years, while earning their ticket to the EFL’s League Two. Here’s a breakdown of Wrexham and their turnaround, by the numbers.
Starting from the bottom
Due to extenuating circumstances, Wrexham’s 2019-20 season was their worst in over 150 years. That’s a far cry from where they are now, as one of the favourites to win from the League Two selection. Meanwhile, the outright Championship betting markets have Leicester ahead at 11/4 odds, though Southampton and Leeds chase with 5/1 and 13/2, respectively. Wrexham is far from the EFL Championship league yet, still needing to prove themselves at League Two and League One.
In that 2019-20 season, which was cut short, they came 19th with 11 wins against 10 losses, for just 43 points. In 2018-19, the last full season before the acquisition, they had 25 wins against nine losses with 84 points – a decent showing in a season that saw multiple managerial position changes.
Under new management
That was when the R.R. McReynolds Company LLC swooped in and acquired the club. Naturally, this brought an unprecedented surge of interest in the Welsh town, particularly from American and other international news sources. Before the acquisition went through, Wrexham ended the 2020-21 season by clawing their way back to the eighth position on 19 wins, 11 losses and 68 points. This also saw the end of Dean Keates’ tenure as manager, with Phil Parkinson coming in to replace him.
The changeups didn’t stop behind the scenes. In hindsight, Wrexham’s acquisition of forward Paul Mullin was also a very important step towards success back then. Mullin had come from Cambridge United, where he carried them to League One and distinguished himself as EFL League Two’s top scorer.
Meanwhile, they improved Wrexham’s PR by creating Welcome to Wrexham, a show that follows the club’s managers and owners. It was received positively and, as of late 2022 figures, the club received a nearly 4,000% increase in web traffic.
The turnaround
That brings us to the 2021-2022 and 2022-23 seasons. In 2022, Wrexham came agonisingly close to first place, settling at 2nd with 26 wins, 10 losses and 88 points. Across that season’s first 10 games, Paul Mullin made seven goals, something that hadn’t been achieved since 2008. He also took Wrexham to the FA Trophy finals for the first time since 2015, where Mullin’s 26 goals landed them second place. They lost the final to Bromley, though Mullin got a Golden Boot out of it.
Wrexham’s 2022-23 season turned out to be one of their best ever, in terms of win and loss stats. Across the whole season, they went for 34 wins and just 9 losses, racking up 111 goals, again a record for the old football club. Mullin was responsible for 38 of those goals, second behind Macaulay Langstaff of Notts County, who had become something of a rival club to Wrexham during this season.
With both teams advancing to EFL League Two, that rivalry looks set to continue. Their figures demonstrate that their National League turnaround was stark, no doubt due to the talent and publicity brought by the Reynolds acquisition. However, only time will tell if this club’s second wind survives contact with the top-flight football divisions.
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