Wrexham installed a temporary 2,289-seat stand during their League Two campaign last season after demands made by owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, despite being advised against it by almost everyone at the club.
Since Reynolds and McElhenney took over Wrexham, restoring and building a new Kop stand has been a priority due to it being unused since 2007. Preparations are underway for a new 5,500-seat stand to be erected, but the development was taking too long in the eyes of the Hollywood owners, who felt pressure to allow more fans into the stadium.
Demand for tickets has boomed since the takeover, and the success of hit docuseries Welcome to Wrexham, with fans from all over the world travelling to Wrexham in the hopes of seeing their new favourite team play. In order to please the fans and avoid pricing out the locals, Reynolds and McElhenney decided to personally take a £360,000 hit in order to temporarily resolve their issue.
The temporary stand was opened on December 23 for their derby against Newport County, and Wrexham welcomed 12,000 fans for the first time in 16 years. McElhenney claimed that despite the illogical financial decision it would also assist their push for back-to-back promotions due to the added crowd noise, and their gamble paid off.
On the latest episode of Welcome to Wrexham, the temporary stand was a key feature as Reynolds and McElhenney ignored advice from club members and gave the green light. “The Kop is very slow moving, it’s hard to get everything approved and moving at the rate that we want to move,” Reynolds explained on the show.
“Rob had proposed ‘What would happen if we put 2,500 seats in that area’ just temporarily… Makes absolutely zero sense financially.” McElhenney then calmly added: “We will figure it out.
“We are going to lose a significant amount of money on it. However, I believe it’s a competitive advantage to be able to close that stadium… it’s going to be twice as loud.”
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