Wrexham director Shaun Harvey has revealed how the club plans on being successful following their promotion to League One.
Wrexham continued their incredible rise up the football pyramid after achieving a second consecutive promotion for the first time in their history.
Phil Parkinson’s men have now gone from the National League to the third tier of English football in the space of two campaigns.
Most of the credit goes down to Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds for injecting belief and hope into a town that had long been deprived of it.
However, the Hollywood owners aren’t the only cogs working in tandem to achieve success, with director of football Shaun Harvey playing his part.
Shaun Harvey shares how Wrexham plan to be successful after promotion
When McElhenney and Reynolds assumed control of the club in February 2021, many had reservations over their credibility as owners.
They arrived as successful businessmen but without much, if any, knowledge of how to own a football club.
Fast forward three years and the pair have turned Wrexham into a global success story on and off the field by showing how to correctly run a football club.
Harvey believes that reaching League One gives their story credibility, with the 54-year-old claiming that the key to success is moving towards the mainstream.
Speaking to Forbes writer Michael LoRe, he said: “One of the main things that being promoted to League One gives you is it gives our story credibility.
“There was always the question asked: ‘Who are these two blokes and what are they really doing wanting to own a National League football club?’
“There were suggestions it would only last as long as the first two series of the documentary—we’re on series three. Or it would only last as long as they remained interested— well, they’re still here and we’ve been successful.
“Because we’ve made the level of progress we have on the pitch, it’s actually moved the club from being seen as a little bit of a novelty act nearer to the mainstream.
“And if we’re going to be successful as a business, we need to be in the mainstream rather than viewed as a novelty act, but whilst we’re in the mainstream, we have to do things differently. That’s what the documentary and the marketing platform it creates with the club allows us to do.”
Wrexham can stabilise in League One
McElhenney and Reynolds are dreaming of taking Wrexham straight into the Championship, but given they’ll face battle-tested sides such as Barnsley, Peterborough and Bolton as well as those relegated from the second tier, Birmingham City and Huddersfield, winning promotion will be difficult.
It isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that Parkinson makes history by achieving a third promotion in a row, and while the Hollywood owners want to capitalise on the hype, staying in League One for more than one season wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Yes, the core of their squad is strong enough to tackle the third tier, but they would require a mass overhaul in the Championship, with several players such as Steven Fletcher and James McClean reaching retirement age.
In short, Wrexham not getting promoted next season could be a blessing in the long run, as it gives them more time to build a squad that wouldn’t need drastic changes in the second tier.
The post ‘We need to be…’: Shaun Harvey shares how Wrexham plan to be successful after promotion appeared first on The Wrexham Insider.