There’s more than one way to run a football club.
Supporters of Exeter City and Wrexham will probably have differing views on fan ownership as they enjoy their pre-match pints up at The Racecourse on the 23rd of November.
It’s the first meeting between the two sides in competitive action since both departed the old Third Division in different directions in the 2002/03 season.
An awful lot of water has passed under the bridge in those 22 years, but both clubs have gone through the mill after relegation from the Football League and financial mismanagement from owners, which left the supporters to rally round and save the club.
| Wrexham’s last five seasons | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | League | Final position |
| 2023/24 | League Two | 2nd (promoted) |
| 2022/23 | National League | 1st (promoted) |
| 2021/22 | National League | 2nd (lost in play-offs) |
| 2020/21 | National League | 8th |
| 2019/20 | National League | 19th |
The Exeter City Supporters’ Trust took over the running of the Grecians following relegation in 2003 and have remained in place since, with the side from Devon’s capital in relatively-rude health and looking good to firm up their place in the third tier this season.
Wrexham’s fans came to their aid in 2011 half-way through their fourth season of a long stay in the National League amid the backdrop of winding up orders and the threat of oblivion. A familiar tale.
The Welsh side largely flitted around the upper-midtable region of the top tier of non-league until a certain Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny came along to buy out the Wrexham Supporters Trust, sprinkle a bit of Hollywood stardust over the Racecourse, and supercharge a seemingly-unstoppable rise up the footballing pyramid in front a global audience via the excellent Welcome to Wrexham documentary.
Exeter and Wrexham ownership wildly different
Wrexham and City’s meeting in a few weeks’ time will be a battle on the pitch and also a bit of a war of philosophies on it. The contrast in ownership style could hardly be more stark.
Two famous actors have jetted in from America to control Wrexham after buying the club off the supporters and have propelled the Dragons to world fame and League One promotion contention.
City are down to 11th on the back of successive defeats but where they sit, the trip to North Wales will be a big indication of the direction the rest of the season is likely to go.
Wrexham will have a bigger budget than Exeter, and they probably had a bigger one when they were winning the National League in the 2022/23 season while City were getting ready for their first campaign back in the third tier for 11 years.
It’s clear that Reynolds and McElhenney are deeply in love with Wrexham and are enjoying being in charge of the club, but latest accounts show that they’ve loaned the club close to £9m during their time in charge, a number that you have to assume has only grown since June 2023.
That’s a huge amount of money to have put in and, as two clubs that have been burned in the past, you have to wonder how long that will be sustainable for—though they have recently announced fresh investment from America.
Exeter City ownership model
City don’t owe a penny to anyone; they may technically owe some money to the Supporters Trust, but we’re not likely to up and leave any time soon.
The Grecians are one of the few clubs to get anywhere near a profit in the EFL, and they’ve done it mostly by selling home-grown players.
The supporter model was clearly not working as well at Wrexham as it has at Exeter or at AFC Wimbledon, so you can understand why they decided to sell up and go on this wild ride.
Wrexham fans have had a wonderful time and everyone’s bought in. The owners have pushed loads of cash in and the club’s infrastructure is light years from when it was when they arrived in February 2021.
It’s all fag-paper stuff, and we’ll never truly know, but it’s estimated that Wrexham’s wage bill is in the region of 50% bigger than City’s and that will probably tell on the pitch when the two sides meet.
Exeter must keep faith in Trust model
Welcome to Wrexham is great TV, but what happens when the cameras stop rolling?
Wrexham fans are having a great time; they deserve it after what they’ve been through, and there’s a number among the Grecian faithful who would want something similar to happen at St James Park.
Many have grown tired of the limitations of fan ownership, but we should know all too well what happened with the Michael Jackson, Uri Geller, and David Blaine fiasco. Maybe it was just the wrong kind of’stardust’.
It’s different, of course, but if City can go to Wrexham and get something from the game, it should go some way to convincing the doubters that we can compete in this division, which, remember, is the highest they’ve ever competed in with a pair of eighth-placed finishes in the third tier being a club-record high.
The Championship is the promised land for City, and it might not come this year, but the signs are that the club can compete at this level for some time to come through organic growth.
Variety is the spice of life and it takes all sorts. City are not going to be bought out by Snoop Dogg or Ryan Gosling anytime soon and, in the long run, that’s probably for the best, though it would be a lot of fun.
