Wrexham are taking a leaf out of Chelsea's ownership book

When Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in July 2003, no one really knew what to expect from a millionaire buying a football club and promising them success, something they hadn't had for decades.

In the 2003/04 season, Wrexham found themselves in the old Division Two, now known as the Championship. In contrast, Chelsea were spending over £120 million on players in Roman Abramovich's first season at the club.

Fast forward 22 years, and Chelsea and Wrexham are preparing to face each other in the FA Cup fifth round, with Chelsea now being owned by American Todd Boehly, and Wrexham by Hollywood's Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

DAZN News takes a look at how Chelsea paved the way for other clubs across the country to adopt the same ownership model and the success it brought them.

A gift and a curse

The top flight of English football had always been used to rich and powerful owners willing to empty their pockets in order to build a super team, but not on the same scale as what Abramovich started doing. 

When Wrexham got significant financial backing from its new owners after Reynolds and McElhenney bought the club in 2021, it came with its problems and perks.

This meant that more eyes would be focused on this side from North Wales, as well as a new group of fans due to the Welcome to Wrexham documentary, and the huge following both of the club's owners posess. 

But this made people loathe them rather than love them, as they were acquiring players from rival clubs due to the pull of money that they had, even if sometimes they were in a lower division compared to the sides with whom they were competing.

Chelsea would be criticised for this method of bringing players in, down to having more money than everyone else, and many would say that it worked instantly.

Within Abramovich's first five seasons in charge, the club won two Premier Leagues, two FA Cups, two League Cups, and a Community Shield.

Following the leader

In football, if someone sees somebody else being successful by doing something that they're not, then they're going to want to be as successful as or more successful than the first person. 

This can be applied to the new influx of foreign investors who came into the Premier League, with the Abu Dhabi backing of Manchester City, then Newcastle, even as the fear grew of the financial power within Europe's elite, forcing European authorities to introduce financial controls.

With the exposure of what Abramovich and Chelsea were bringing to the Premier League from a global audience, American investors saw the growth of the English top-flight clubs and figured that they would cost less than an American franchise side. 

(Getty Images)

Mainly led by the Glazer family's targeting of Manchester United when they acquired the club in June 2005, followed by Fenway Sports Group buying Liverpool in 2010, and more recently, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment acquiring stakes in Arsenal in 2018.

Since Reynolds and McElhenney's takeover, many other celebrities have wanted a piece of the pie by owning stakes in football clubs. Former NFL players, Tom Brady and JJ Watt, have had part ownership in English sides, Brady with Birmingham and Watt with Burnley.

Rapper Snoop Dogg became a co-owner and investor of Swansea, and YouTuber KSI became a minority stakeholder in Dagenham and Redbridge.

Money talks

Money can't always buy success in football, but if you're Wrexham, it has.

In the summer of 2021, the power of the owners came through, with Wrexham strengthening their side, bringing in striker Paul Mullin, who would bag 38 goals in 46 National League games that season to help Wrexham get promoted from the National League.

The Welsh side also smashed their transfer record in the summer, bringing in Nathan Broadhead from Ipswich for a deal worth up to £10 million.

When sides get back-to-back promotions and an injection of money, as Wrexham have. It can be easy for managers and owners to offload players due to not being at the standard of the division.

Academy product Max Cleworth is the only current player to still be at Wrexham for the duration of the owners, likewise with John Terry and Chelsea being a part of their infamous title-winning sides.

With Wrexham's large American following, many Premier League sides have travelled to the States for pre-season friendlies, playing Chelsea across the two previous summers, and Liverpool meeting them at Yankee Stadium on July 29. 

The idea of playing English league matches abroad has perked up over recent years, with other European countries trialling it, and if Wrexham were to get promoted for the fourth consecutive year, then that idea could be even closer to happening.

With the two sides set to meet tomorrow night at the Racecourse, all eyes will be on it.

Who knows, maybe Reynolds and McElhenney could be more successful than Abramovich?

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