TODAY (February 9) is a key date in Wrexham AFC’s modern history, as it marks two years to the day from the completion of co-chairmen Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds’ takeover of the club.
Working towards a Mission Statement of growing the team, to return it to the EFL in front of increased attendances at an improved stadium, while making a positive difference to the wider community of Wrexham, much has changed on and off the pitch since the takeover.
This is especially true of the past 12 months, with the growth of the previous year built on following the release of season one of Welcome to Wrexham, the award-winning docu-series charting the club’s fortunes under Rob and Ryan.
Here is a closer look at how Wrexham AFC has grown in the past 12 months:
SOCIAL MEDIA
Having grown steadily in the first year of the new ownership, Wrexham’s social media following has exploded in the 12 months since.
Boosted by not just Welcome to Wrexham, but the team’s promotion challenge last season, a run to Wembley for the FA Trophy Final, high-profile transfers, dramatic last-minute wins, and again by this season’s league form and FA Cup run, interest in the club online has reached an unprecedented high.
With the club having been a driving force behind the introduction of worldwide streaming for league fixtures too, the audience online continues to grow.
After passing a combined one million followers across the club’s social media channels during Welcome to Wrexham, this number has now soared beyond 1.5 million – boosted most recently by Wrexham’s FA Cup exploits and the global attention the matches on ESPN garnered.
TikTok
With TikTok having been announced as front-of-shirt sponsors on a two-year deal in June 2021, Wrexham made their debut on the social media following.
On February 9, 2022, the club had recently hit the 100k-follower mark but interest has soared since.
The club now boasts more than 660,000 TikTok followers, has amassed 6.5million ‘likes’ on the channel and, this month, a video showcasing the new player’s gym at the Racecourse Ground amassed 3.7million views.
The huge growth in interest in Wrexham AFC has also seen a dramatic increase in engagement with the club’s Twitter feed.
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In the past 12 months, Wrexham AFC’s Twitter feed has gained 419.3 million impressions – an increase of more than 230 per cent over the previous 12-month period.
The club’s Twitter following has also more than trebled in that time, with 359,000 followers – compared to 102,800 this time last year.
As a result, Paul Mullin’s dramatic stoppage-time winner against Stockport County in the FA Trophy semi-final was watched more than four million times, while the full-time Tweet from the dramatic 6-5 victory against Dover Athletic gained 16.1 million impressions.
Wrexham have nearly five times as many Instagram followers today than they did this time last year – with 425,000 people following the club on the platform.
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With a large proportion of these followers from the United States, it remains one of the most obvious signs on social media of the club’s worldwide growth.
Overall
Wrexham’s total audience for all social media channels has now passed 1.5 million combined followers. This includes an increase of more than 500,000 in the last four months alone.
SEASON TICKET SALES AND ATTENDANCE
Wrexham AFC has become one of the hottest tickets in town, with supporters turning out at the Racecourse Ground in huge numbers, week in week out.
Last season’s final season-ticket total of 5,892 was surpassed when this year’s tickets went on sale… selling out rapidly on the first morning.
In total, the club now has 7,150 season-ticket holders. The number of season-ticket holders has been capped to ensure fans still have the opportunity to buy tickets on a match-by-match basis – though these too have tended to be sold out.
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The attendance of 10,150 for the match against Solihull Moors on Boxing Day this season was Wrexham’s highest since 2007 – when the stadium still had four stands in operation.
The club has an average home attendance of 9,954 in the Vanarama National League this season – more than 2,000 more than the next highest, title rivals Notts County.
This number includes 200 seats under the new Racecourse Live initiative per match, which sees a section of tickets reserved for every home game. These tickets are distributed free-of-charge to members of the community, who might not otherwise be able to attend.
The impact has been felt away from Wrexham too, with the club travelling in great numbers too.
For the most recent away league game, the 1,650 travelling supporters contributed to Altrincham’s highest league attendance since 1968.
Dorking Wanderers, Oldham Athletic, Boreham Wood, Wealdstone, York City, Eastleigh, Solihull Moors and Maidstone have also recorded their highest attendances of the season when facing Wrexham.
SHIRT SALES
This season saw Wrexham return to a sky blue away shirt, with official partners and long-term sponsors Wrexham Lager also helping to launch the kit – as they too celebrated reclaiming their iconic colours last year.
The club then launched, “The Red One” – the new home shirt, featuring embossed Red Dragons and the new official sleeve sponsor, VistaPrint.
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The white alternative kit had already launched on Boxing Day 2021, and was carried over into the new season. Thanks to the run to the FA Trophy Final, when Wrexham wore the shirt on several occasions, including at the Wembley showpiece, the shirt has sold out.
After the huge interest in Wrexham AFC shirts for the 2021/22 season, an increased order was placed for this season… and shirts sold out rapidly again.
With orders worldwide, particularly on the back of the success of the documentary, Wrexham AFC has sold an unprecedented 24,000 shirts this season.
MATCH RESULTS
As ever, for all the improvements off the pitch, it is the 90 minutes each week on it that makes the biggest headlines.
On the first anniversary of the takeover, in 2022, Wrexham had played 26 games of the 2021/22 season and had 13 wins and 46 points in total.
They finished the campaign in second place, earning a further 42 points from the last 18 games of the season, and also reached the FA Trophy Final at Wembley.
Wrexham AFC Women also finished second in their debut season in the Genero Adran North, after a ten-game unbeaten run had propelled them into title contention.
Wrexham AFC Women’s Under-19s were responsible for the first silverware of the new era back in March, when they won the Genero Adran U19s North title.
This time around, Wrexham’s men’s first team have played 28 games and improved the win percentage from this time last year from 50% to 75%. The 21 league wins have helped the club to 68 points in total.
Furthermore, the club reached the FA Cup Fourth Round for the first time in 23 years, after beating EFL Championship side Coventry City 4-3 in round three.
Wrexham AFC Women have also built on the previous campaign, boasting a 100 per cent record in the league with five matches remaining.
Steve Dale’s team also reached the quarter-finals of two cup competitions, the Genero Adran Trophy and the FAW Women’s Cup, defeating top-flight opposition in each competition along the way.
Furthermore, both the men’s and women’s youth teams are top of their respective leagues, and the club has also re-launched its Reserve team to improve the pathway to the first team for young players.
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