Wrexham A.F.C have been rooted in the National League for the last 14 seasons (since 2008), prior to this, they had been in the Football League for 87 years. 

A local businessman, Pryce Griffiths, was the owner until 2002. He had filled the roles of director, chairman and owner since 1977. Health concerns forced him to sell the club, 78% of the shares were bought by a company jointly owned by Alexander Hamilton and Mark Guterman, the latter being the “public” owner with Hamilton’s ownership a secret.  

Stadium development with hotels, offices, conference rooms were promised but they secretly documented an agreement between them to asset strip the club.  In 2013 these new owners bought the stadium from its owners, Marstons Brewery and then went on to cancel the football clubs 125 year lease and serving the club with 12 months notice to leave.  

After a couple of years Guterman left, leaving Hamilton to continue the destruction, rejecting two Wrexham Trust bids to buy the club, stopped servicing the debt and owed £900k to the Inland Revenue who then served a winding-up order. 

Due to an appeal by other directors, the court decided the club should be put into administration. The administrators this took over running of the club from Hamilton, and although the 10-point penalty relegated Wrexham to League Two, the club survived. 

It was the actions of Hamilton and Guterman as owners that contributed to the FA  introducing  “fit and proper person” for owners in 2004. 

The club were taken out of administration in 2006 when a local consortium took over in 2006 but financial problems continued, Geoff Moss (one of the local consortium) became owner and ended up building student accommodation on club land (now owned by Moss). The money generated didn’t find it’s way back into the club and Moss also sold the stadium and training ground to Glyndwr University. 

The club were for sale again in 2011 and Wrexham Supporters Trust saw an opportunity to buy their club. In 2016 they also secured a 99 year lease for the stadium from the University. A league ruling led to Geoff Moss being required to clear the clubs debts (his student accommodation project was meant to have done that) 

Wrexham was, after 14 years of turmoil, owned by its supporters and had secured it’s residency at the Racecourse Ground. 

And then the fairy tale.  USA actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney approached the Trust with a proposal to take ownership and an investment plan intended to take the club up the leagues. The Trust agreed to sell and soon after, one of the projects, the documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham” was streaming on Disney+. Wrexham were on US TV courtesy of their famous owners and merchandise sales were suddenly “international”. 

Crowds are up (more than many League One attendances), there has been investment in the team, and Wrexham are now one of the favorites for promotion back to League 2.  

Let the fairytale continue.