Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free
Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have revealed ambitious plans to expand the club’s stadium, with an capacity of up to “55,000” a possible target.
The Welsh side are celebrating back-to-back promotions and will play in League One next season, while the success of their documentary series ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ has seen a huge surge in the club’s fan-base around the world.
Boosted by the presence of Hollywood celebrities Reynolds and McElheney, Wrexham played in front of a crowd of over 50,000 when they faced Premier League side Chelsea in a US pre-season friendly last July – but the club’s historic Racecourse ground currently holds a more modest 12,600 fans.
The stadium, which is called SToK Racecourse due to sponsorship reasons, has undergone renovations this season with a temporary stand replacing the Kop behind one of the goals. The Racecourse ground is the world’s oldest international football stadium that still holds matches, having hosted its first Wales fixture in 1877.
Reynolds and McElhenney said “bureaucratic red tape” was causing frustration in their attempts to redevelop the stadium, but they told Collider website that their ultimate plan is to host attendances that would be up there with the biggest in the Premier League.
“We have a plan in place right now that would work from stand to stand so eventually you get all four sides,” McElhenney said. “It’s hard to say for sure, but we think we could get between 45,000 and 55,000 people in there.”
Reynolds added that “the whole town could come to a game” if Wrexham hit their target, but the pair said they had encountered “hurdles for hurdles’ sake” in their bid to expand the Racecourse ground.
McElhenney and Reynolds, however, expressed frustration with “bureaucratic red tape” over UK building regulations
“It’s a lot harder to build in the UK than I have found almost anywhere else in the world,” McElhenney said. “Getting to the Premier League is the ultimate goal – and staying in the Premier League so it’s sustainable.
“But only doing it in a fashion that the community supports because there are all sorts of ways to succeed. We feel that there are only a few paths to be ethically viable to do so.”