The £13.4 billion reality Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney face after Wrexham promotion

North Wales Live

a day ago

Wrexham's Hollywood owners are bracing themselves for a new financial landscape as the club gears up to compete in the Championship next season.
This upcoming campaign will be the first time in 43 years that the Red Dragons have been in the second tier, having previously spent four seasons in the old Second Division between 1978 and 1982. Much has shifted since then, with an influx of cash due to lucrative telly deals and parachute payments available for freshly-relegated Premier League sides.
Many club owners are also quite affluent in their own right, with one part-owner boasting a staggering net worth of £13.4billion. Wrexham's co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are not exactly strapped for cash either.
The two A-listers have an estimated combined net worth of around £295m ($400m) courtesy of their acting income and business investments. However, even their wealth seems modest when compared to the Championship's top earners.
As the North Wales team prepares for life in the second tier, WalesOnline examines how Reynolds and McElhenney's wealth compares to that of their rival owners.
QPR are often highlighted at the top end of the scale in terms of their owners' combined net worth, with their main shareholders being Ruben Gnanalingam, Richard Reilly and Amit Bhatia. Bhatia is the son in law and a representative of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who alone is said to be worth £13.4bn, according to Forbes.
Not too far behind are American investment fund Gamechanger 20 Ltd, who own newly-relegated Ipswich, with reports valuing the firm at a staggering £10.8bn. Another well-backed side are Leicester, who also recently dropped out of the Premier League, with the Srivaddhanaprabha family worth approximately £2.7bn.
Meanwhile, Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown holds a wealth of £2.3bn, and Stoke City custodian John Coates is said to have £2.2bn. At the bottom end of the table in terms of their net worth are Watford's Gino Pozzo (£93m), Millwall's James Berylson (£110m) and Hull City's Acun Ilicali (£147m).
The combined net worth of Reynolds and McElhenney would therefore place Wrexham in a lower mid-table position in the Championship. However, they do have an ace up their sleeves in the form of the Allyn family from New York, who came on board as minority owners of the club in October.
For more than a century, the family were the owners of US medical device manufacturing company Welch Allyn Inc. That was until September 2015 when the firm was sold to Hill-Rom in a deal reported to be worth just under £1.5bn at current rates .
The Allyns have since turned their focus to investing in private and public markets, and Wrexham have received several large cash injections since their arrival. It's hope their involvement will help Reynolds and McElhenney achieve their dream of taking the club into the Premier League.
Deadpool star Reynolds restated that goal in the wake of Wrexham's promotion from League One, which was confirmed after a 3-0 home win over Charlton in April.
Posting on social media, the Canadian wrote: "We've been with Wrexham for what seems like the blink of an eye, but so much has happened.
"I remember the first press conference, we were asked what our goals were... and I think Rob jumped in with, 'The Premier League'. People laughed. They had every right to. It seemed insane... But we weren't kidding."
The co-owners have certainly taken steps to shore up Wrexham's financial position in recent times and prudently took out an insurance policy to cover the cost of promotion bonuses ahead of the 2024/25 season. However, climbing into the Championship will be the biggest challenge they have faced yet during their whirlwind journey.