I helped mastermind historic Wrexham rise – and this is the biggest obstacle to Premier League dream
Wrexham have their sights firmly set on the Premier League – but they know that doing so won’t come cheap. The Dragons earned their third promotion on the bounce last weekend with the Hollywood-owned side enjoying a meteoric rise from non-league football. Wrexham are preparing for life in the Championship after a third-straight promotionGetty Under the ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, Wrexham have been promoted from the National League, League Two and League One with life in the Championship lined up for them next season. Competing in the second tier will be their most difficult task yet Wrexham’s wealth not likely to be enough to dominate the league like it has in recent years. It will, however, likely be enough to ensure that they are challenging at the top end of the table – something that the club’s executive director, Humphrey Ker, believes would be a huge success. However Ker also admitted that the club won’t be doing anything that could put the club at risk to bridge the gap with those at the top. Asked if life in the Championship will be a step up, Ker told Hawksbee & Baker: “Oh definitely. Definitely. “We’ve felt that each year that we’ve gone up but the jump to the Championship is massive because you have a top third of temporarily-embarrassed Premier League clubs who have their parachute payments or their wealth of international footballers who have come down from the Premier League recently or they’ve come to the Championship for big money. “It’s incredibly important for us – we’ve spoken about this since day one and that’s sustainability. “It’s about making sure we don’t endanger everything that we’ve created here by overstretching ourselves. “We’ll be doing everything in our power to leverage the documentary and the interest in Wrexham to bring in funding from the outside, but sort of supercharged and make sure that we compete and stay relevant in the Championship. “The ambition for the guys is that they want to get to the Premier League. That’s the plan and that’s going to cost a huge amount of money.” Wrexham’s famous owners have brought nothing but success since joining the clubGetty Humphrey Ker is executive director at Wrexham and joined Hawksbee & Baker to discuss their risetalkSPORT Leading Wrexham into the Championship will be Phil Parkinson – a man who has been there and done it at this level before. Appointed in July 2021, Parkinson is the fourth-longest serving boss in the EFL with almost four years in charge – a remarkable achievement at a club with such lofty ambitions and financial firepower. But despite the temptation to make changes for changes sake, Ker believes that the club’s financial situation is the reason why they’ve been able to truly back the former Bolton and Sunderland boss. Ker said: “We’ve had this enormous privilege that because of this unusual financial situation where we were getting such great deals it meant that we didn’t have that same existential threat like a lot of lower league clubs have. “It often leads to a necessity of a kneejerk reaction of ‘we’ve got to change this’ or ‘we’re in trouble here’ or ‘we’ve got to change this’ and you can change the manager, try different things or have a high turnover of players. “We’ve been able to back Phil and believe in him. To be fair, he has delivered. Wrexham are now preparing for life in the ChampionshipRex “Since he’s come in we’ve finished second in the National League, first in the National League, second in League Two, second in League One and there’s not been many serious calls for his head. “Of course with football fans being what they are there have been one or two moments where we’ve had the temerity to draw against a very good set of professional footballers! “We’re in this glorious post-promotion glow right now where everybody is very happy and long may it continue.” With second place already wrapped up, Wrexham will end their League One campaign with a trip to Lincoln on Saturday before preparing for life in the second tier in August.
Wrexham have their sights firmly set on the Premier League – but they know that doing so won’t come cheap.
The Dragons earned their third promotion on the bounce last weekend with the Hollywood-owned side enjoying a meteoric rise from non-league football.
Under the ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, Wrexham have been promoted from the National League, League Two and League One with life in the Championship lined up for them next season.
Competing in the second tier will be their most difficult task yet Wrexham’s wealth not likely to be enough to dominate the league like it has in recent years.
It will, however, likely be enough to ensure that they are challenging at the top end of the table – something that the club’s executive director, Humphrey Ker, believes would be a huge success.
However Ker also admitted that the club won’t be doing anything that could put the club at risk to bridge the gap with those at the top.
Asked if life in the Championship will be a step up, Ker told Hawksbee & Baker: “Oh definitely. Definitely.
“We’ve felt that each year that we’ve gone up but the jump to the Championship is massive because you have a top third of temporarily-embarrassed Premier League clubs who have their parachute payments or their wealth of international footballers who have come down from the Premier League recently or they’ve come to the Championship for big money.
“It’s incredibly important for us – we’ve spoken about this since day one and that’s sustainability.
“It’s about making sure we don’t endanger everything that we’ve created here by overstretching ourselves.
“We’ll be doing everything in our power to leverage the documentary and the interest in Wrexham to bring in funding from the outside, but sort of supercharged and make sure that we compete and stay relevant in the Championship.
“The ambition for the guys is that they want to get to the Premier League. That’s the plan and that’s going to cost a huge amount of money.”
Leading Wrexham into the Championship will be Phil Parkinson – a man who has been there and done it at this level before.
Appointed in July 2021, Parkinson is the fourth-longest serving boss in the EFL with almost four years in charge – a remarkable achievement at a club with such lofty ambitions and financial firepower.
But despite the temptation to make changes for changes sake, Ker believes that the club’s financial situation is the reason why they’ve been able to truly back the former Bolton and Sunderland boss.
Ker said: “We’ve had this enormous privilege that because of this unusual financial situation where we were getting such great deals it meant that we didn’t have that same existential threat like a lot of lower league clubs have.
“It often leads to a necessity of a kneejerk reaction of ‘we’ve got to change this’ or ‘we’re in trouble here’ or ‘we’ve got to change this’ and you can change the manager, try different things or have a high turnover of players.
“We’ve been able to back Phil and believe in him. To be fair, he has delivered.
“Since he’s come in we’ve finished second in the National League, first in the National League, second in League Two, second in League One and there’s not been many serious calls for his head.
“Of course with football fans being what they are there have been one or two moments where we’ve had the temerity to draw against a very good set of professional footballers!
“We’re in this glorious post-promotion glow right now where everybody is very happy and long may it continue.”
With second place already wrapped up, Wrexham will end their League One campaign with a trip to Lincoln on Saturday before preparing for life in the second tier in August.
