YesOwning a football club is a hit to Ryan Reynolds’ wallet.
Wrexham, the Welsh team bought by Reynolds and fellow Hollywood actor Rob McElhenney in 2021, published its accounts for the last financial year on Thursday and reported that the amount owed to celebrities has risen to almost £9 million (11.4 million Dollars).
That figure was up from 3.7 million pounds ($4.67 million) the previous year, which ended in June 2022.
While the club said turnover rose from almost £6 million ($7.5 million) to £10.5 million ($13.3 million) and that future prospects are positive, its losses rose to 5.1 million pounds ($6.4 million) from 2.9 million pounds ($3.66 million).
Reynolds and McElhenney bought Wrexham, one of the oldest soccer teams in the world, for $2.5 million while the club was in the fifth tier of English soccer.
They have since been promoted to the English Football League and are bidding for back-to-back promotions, which would take the team to the third-tier League One.
Wrexham are third in League Two heading into their home game against leaders Mansfield on Friday. The three best teams at the end of the season are automatically promoted and the next four enter a playoff for a final promotion spot. Wrexham are three points clear of fourth-place MK Dons with a game in hand.
Millionaire debts? Big projects!
Wrexham said the club’s losses “were deemed necessary to enable the club to maximize its full potential in the shortest time practically possible”.
“The club is not under any immediate pressure to repay these loans at the expense of the progress we seek to achieve,” Wrexham said, “and further financial support will be provided/secured to support the capital expenditure projects the club is currently planning.”
Those projects include increasing the capacity of its Racecourse Ground stadium. Wrexham regularly hosts crowds of over 10,000, more than triple the number attending before the takeover and a remarkable figure for a fourth division team.
“The financial losses suffered by the club since the takeover should not be repeated,” Wrexham said, “with the income generated by the club now sufficient to cover the club’s operating costs in the future.”
Wrexham pointed to the continued popularity of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, the documentary showing Reynolds and McElhenney’s progress as football team owners, and the increased money earned in the EFL as reasons to predict that turnover will translate into grow.
