10-07-2025
WREXHAM AFC: It's a sign of Times Square for the Reds!
Until recently the launch of our kit for the season was fairly low key. This was partly because we were so low down the priorities of our various kit manufacturers that there was no guaranteed date for it to be made available for purchase.
Indeed, sometimes we'd play in unbranded shirts or the previous season's outfit in pre-season matches!
In contrast, the 2025-26 kit will be launched in our brand new city centre club shop. And Times Square.
Yes, Times Square in New York!
At last, the inevitable has happened, and we're muscling into the Yankees' territory! It was only a matter of time!
It's the latest indication of the remarkable direction we're heading in. We might not have added too many players to the first team squad yet this summer, but we've already been taking massive steps forwards in our preparations for next season.
We've already seen two developments which can only extend our international reach. That's our most important goal, as our most recent accounts showed.
They reflected the growing role which the global market plays in our finances.
Firstly, a fifth season of Welcome to Wrexham was commissioned, which is a crucial factor in our growth. We get nothing directly from the show, despite what many might suggest or assume, but the exposure it provides us is beyond value.
Our profile in markets around the world is such that we can be sponsored by a company, SToK Cold Brew Coffee, whose name is on the Racecourse and one of the stands, but whose products aren't even sold in Britain!
That's the global reach that we have. 'Welcome to Wrexham' is, I'd argue, the main element underpinning our project. While its benefits might be intangible, they are certainly profound.
Secondly, we're currently touring Australia and New Zealand. There are plenty of Antipodean Wrexham fans who have been with us since the takeover: this trip will give them a chance to see us in the flesh and will also add to their numbers. Our global reach continues to expand.
Back in the States, the TST continues to be important for Wrexham even though it increasingly doesn't seem to have an awful lot to do with us. The men's team that went out to North Carolina this summer had a couple of old boys and some youth players but also a core of players who had no link with us.
The women's team had nobody from the current set-up although, in Del Morgan and Mia Roberts, it featured two of our best representatives over the years.
The TST is a tournament held in the United States every year which aspires to be recognised as the seven-a-side World Championship. It attracts high-profile teams: Premier League sides took part this year while Borussia Dortmund and Boca Juniors competed last summer.
We've been in it since its second year, and it spreads our name in new markets.
I don't just mean it keeps our international profile high. We're positioning ourselves before a new sporting audience which, raised in the era of gaming and sports entertainment like WWE, finds new ways to consume sport.
The way we are marketed by the TST is revealing. Confirmation of our participation is annually given plenty of fanfare by the organisers,
We essentially get top billing, above the Premier League sides who take part. Why? Because, wonderfully, in the States our name is bigger than West Ham's.
We are taking advantage of the global market in a manner which even the likes of Man United must look at with admiration. We generate money at a terrific rate considering our size and have penetrated international markets with remarkable speed.
Last week Kieran Maguire, the leading academic authority on British football finance, put our growth into context by suggesting that we are currently operating on a similar financial level to QPR.
He conceded that the comparison was based on our most recent set of accounts, which means he's looking at our finances when we were in League Two. We've grown considerably since then.
Even if that wasn't the case, it's still a mind-blowing suggestion. QPR have been in the top two tiers for 39 of the last 42 seasons.
To look at it another way, they've been in The Championship or above for the last 21 years, taking full advantage of the post-ITV Digital TV deals.
Three of those seasons were spent in the Premier League, taking their share of the EPL's bloated broadcasting rights, and they have twice been in receipt of a series of parachute payments. The last tranche, received between 2014 and 2018, amounted to £90.6million!
Furthermore, they were given a seven-figure solidarity payment from the Premier League for 16 of the last 19 seasons.
And according to Maguire, we've risen to their financial level in the course of four years!
It's an exciting situation to be in and it's a remarkable business feat by Rob and Ryan.
It's enough to give me high hopes for the next season… of the football and of Welcome to Wrexham.
