Ryan Reynolds' huge £11m Wrexham move revealed as possible reason emerges

More than £11m of fresh money has been pumped into Wrexham as owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney look to continue the club's success.

A filing published by Companies House on Tuesday shows that parent company, Wrexham AFC Limited, has issued £11.3m in new shares.

The actual date on which the shares were issued was October 17, shortly before the Red Dragons welcomed new minority investors.

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Members of the the Allyn family from Skaneateles, New York, bought into the club after previously selling their family business for more than $2bn.

The US medical device manufacturing company, Welch Allyn Inc, was taken over by Hill-Rom in September 2015, with the family since turning their attention to investments.

It is not clear whether the share issue is directly related to their involvement, but Reach's chief business of football writer Dave Powell believes there could be several reasons.

He said another possibility is that it could be related to the Hollywood actors' plans to build a new 5,500-capacity stand at the Racecourse Ground.

Populous were appointed as the new architects to oversee the Kop redevelopment last month after working on other stadiums around the world, including the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Powell said: “The £11.3m figure for just one share of the club is a very precise sum. It is either an injection of fresh cash into the club or the conversion of a loan into equity, meaning that it doesn’t have to be paid back.

“The nature of the figure, and that it was for a single share, suggests a specific reason for the capital. The club made a loss of around £5.1m in the 2023 and had creditors falling within the 12-month period from June 2023 of £5.15m. Outside of that 12-month period, payments to creditors totalled a little more than £12m.

“The share issue, either through an injection of cash or through equity, could have been done to solve this particular issue. However, it could also point towards a major capital expenditure on the horizon, either being funded by this move or as a bid to tidy up the balance sheet ahead of raising capital for such an expenditure, with the Kop redevelopment part of the grand plans for the club.”

He added that club owners in the EFL are permitted to use this mechanism as many times as they wish.

The news follows Wrexham director Shaun Harvey confirming last night that manager Phil Parkinson will be given money to spend in the January transfer window.

It comes as the club currently sits third in League One as it battles for promotion to the Championship.

Speaking at an event in New York, the former Football League chief executive said: “Rob and Ryan have always supported Phil's ambition. We will be active in the transfer market during January, because we're in a position of strength.

“If we go any further forward from where we are now, we get promoted, and that is the objective. It's difficult to say what and where, because there's still six weeks to go before the window opens.

“Then it is a case of who's available, and who will actually strengthen us. We've had a policy of trying to ensure that we sign players, not just for this division, but for the next division as well.”