A missing Kop and a San Siro pitch - changes to Wrexham's home

BBC News

8 hours ago

The club that has spent £20m on players – but has only has three sides to their ground.Welcome to Wrexham.Or more specifically, for some of the former Premier League sides set to make a first trip to north Wales in decades, welcome to the Stok Cae Ras.More commonly known as the Racecourse, Wrexham's home is arguably Welsh football's spiritual home too and remains the oldest international ground in the world still in use.But having staged Wales matches since 1877, it is now preparing for its first Championship game in 43 years.With just a 10,500 capacity - following the removal of a temporary stand - it will be the smallest stadium in the second tier this season.But, unsurprisingly under the ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, there are big plans.Because just as the team and the club's fortunes have been transformed since the Hollywood takeover, the stadium is next.And the first major steps were taken this summer requiring more than just a lick of new paint - although that has been done too.
'Future proof' plans
With Saturday's lunchtime visit of West Bromwich Albion bringing more eyes to the old ground than ever before, the first sight that will strike many is the lack of fans behind one goal.For decades, The Kop had been the terrace where the most ardent of Wrexham fans watched their side.But, following relegation from the Football League in 2008, it stood empty. Condemned, it was eventually demolished when the new ownership arrived.The plan was always a new Kop, but amid delays, a temporary one was installed in time to squeeze in an extra 3,000 supporters to witness promotions from Leagues One and Two.Yet there was always going to come a time where that end of the ground would have to be empty once more, in order for work to begin on a new all-seater Kop drawn up by the same architects behind the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.Initially pencilled-in for 5,500 seats with the option to increase capacity, the club revealed in July they had submitted an application for a further 2,250 seats as part of a second tier.With a completion date of next summer, it will mean a Cae Ras capacity of around 18,000 - bigger than both Brentford and Bournemouth's homes - with standards compliant with Uefa so Wales qualifying fixtures can return.And while the club were aware it could cost them in terms of numbers, noise and even competitive advantage as they reached the Championship, the new Kop forms a key part of plans to "future proof" the club with new hospitality areas and vital facilities all part of the project.
Those tuning in or turning up for the first time, though, will not see steel girders going up just yet.While the temporary stand is fully removed and the area cleared for work, there is little other visible difference on first glance.But, significantly, a vital new building has been erected near the Turf - the pub which backs onto the ground and where the club was formed.The discovery underneath the Kop Stand area of a power cable feeding the nearby university halls of residence had previously delayed work.The creation of a new electrical substation has now cleared the way for construction. Once planning, paperwork and other contractual red tape is finally and formally sorted, the club could be looking at breaking ground this autumn.Even without steel in the sky, there are other fresh nods to how the old ground is changing.With dressing rooms set to be in the new Kop, the manager's areas have switched sides in preparation.Phil Parkinson and his staff now sit on the same flank as the hospitality areas where Reynolds and McElhenney watch games.And where the manager used to cast an eye over his team, the club have established a new hospitality 'Dug Out Club' option for fans.
'Is it made from human hair?'
What also grabs the eye is a state of the art new surface, a pristine pitch laid for the new season in a new division.Seeing it may bring a wry smile from Reynolds and McElhenney whose first real glimpse into the perils of ownership was caught on camera when they were told a £100,000 new pitch lain in 2021 needed immediate redoing at twice the cost.Four years on, Reynolds queried whether the latest pitch proposed was "made of human hair" when he was told their plans for a new pitch would come in at £1.7m.But Wrexham believe the investment is worth every penny. As well as the new Uefa-standard hybrid pitch - which chief executive Michael Williamson has compared to the one his former club Inter Milan boasted at the San Siro - new irrigation, drainage and undersoil heating systems have also been installed.It also provided new sockets for rugby posts to open up the possibility for union and league fixtures returning to the ground which has held internationals in both codes in the past.The race against time to have it bedded in was aided by the side's automatic promotion - an appearance in the play-offs would potentially have delayed the process by six weeks.Instead, workers were seeding by June, before round the clock stitching through July ensured the deadline was hit and a stunning green carpet will greet the sides this weekend.
As well as being slightly raised, the new pitch has also shifted the goalposts.Tied in with the bigger redevelopment plans, the pitch has moved by around two metres towards the would-be Kop - which has in turn seen a new TV gantry repositioned to keep its place on the half-way line, providing extra space for the added interest as well as the now standard tactical cameras.Opposite, a reverse angle camera gantry has been installed, again to tick boxes not needed when languishing in non-league.Elsewhere, new ways have been found to insert hundreds of extra seats to try and make the most of every available vantage point. Screens - which will eventually be huge and housed on the new Kop - have been moved to provide clearer views.There are new handrails, new bigger, brighter LED boards (again, meeting Uefa specifications for international games), and more 'fast-flow' beer taps rolled out after a successful trial.And, of course, there will be a new red shine to the metalwork after the obligatory lick of new paint as one of the game's oldest grounds gets ready for a bright new future.