How Chelsea and Abramovich paved the way for Wrexham

Roman Abramovich (left) sold Chelsea in May 2022, 15 months after Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham in February 2021 Loved by their fans but loathed by rivals, free‑spending Wrexham have done to the English Football League what Chelsea did to European football in 2003. The Welsh club's rise from the fifth‑tier National League to the Championship has been dramatic, and they have now reached the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in 19 years - hosting a glamour tie against Chelsea on Saturday, live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer (17:45 GMT). The match, one of the biggest in Wrexham's 162-year history, comes after significant financial backing from Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who bought Wrexham for a nominal amount in 2021 . That investment has prompted accusations from rivals that the club are buying success. Chelsea faced similar criticism in 2003 when a little-known Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich, transformed the club by buying it for £140m and writing off £80m of debt. Using his private wealth, Abramovich did not need to balance the books and spent £121.3m on 11 players in his first summer in charge. Some argue his arrival paved the way for the Abu Dhabi‑backed takeover of Manchester City and Qatar's acquisition of Paris St‑Germain, moves that prompted the Premier League and European football authorities to introduce financial controls. And while a wave of wealthy foreign investors - including those at Wrexham - have since entered the English game, many see them as following the playbook of Abramovich, one of football's most influential figures of the past 30 years, wherever you stand on his impact. Max Cleworth is the only active first-team player to pre-date Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's 2021 takeover at Wrexham In simple terms, a major financial investment has brought success on the pitch. Wrexham have strengthened their first team with significant signings. Striker Paul Mullin (currently on loan at Bradford City), score 38 goals as he helped end the club's 15‑year stay in the National League as champions in 2023. Beating rivals to experienced players such as Steven Fletcher and James McClean has been owed in part to the substantial wages on offer. This season, Wrexham shattered their transfer record to sign Nathan Broadhead from Ipswich Town in a deal worth up to £10m. Yet, just as Chelsea had John Terry, at the heart of the project is academy‑produced defender Max Cleworth. Wrexham chief executive Michael Williamson told BBC Sport at the FT Business of Football Summit: "You saw in this last transfer window, going from League One to the Championship, we brought in 13 new players, right? Which is a massive change. "People say, 'Oh, you had a transfer market where your net spend was £30m'. Well, that's because we had no players we could sell. Norwich probably spent just as much, if not more, but they also sold a lot of players - same with Ipswich. "Max Cleworth was playing with us in the National League and now has the most minutes for our club in the Championship. So it's about building the foundation and then adding the supplements." Not everyone likes missing out on transfers - Bayern Munich's former chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge called on the European Union to regulate the spending , while then Shrewsbury Town manager Gareth Ainsworth said it was "not fair" to be competing with Wrexham because of "all the money they had". As the Abramovich playbook showed, spending must come at all levels - and happen quickly. Chelsea moved from a second‑rate training ground at Harlington, shared with Imperial College, to a state‑of‑the‑art facility, invested heavily in their academy and women's team, and made two attempts to redevelop Stamford Bridge under their former owner. Wrexham, meanwhile, operate a Category Three academy but aim to reach Category One. Their women's team is also receiving increased investment, moving to semi‑professional status and competing for the Welsh league title after beating rivals Cardiff City in the Welsh League Cup. They also bought them a stadium . Chelsea 's visit also exposes the strains of Wrexham's rapid growth, with about 250 media representatives expected - far above the usual 80 at Championship matches. "If we arrive in the Premier League, there are things we'll have to do to other stands in relation to broadcast, building out TV gantries and providing media spaces," Williamson added. "That would be the next kind of infrastructure investment." Only three stands will remain open at the 10,600‑seat Stok Cae Ras until the new Kop stand opens next April, taking capacity to more than 18,000. "The Kop stand will have new amenities, fan engagement areas and an iconic design for the town, city and club," Williamson said. Wrexham's next "North Star", according to Williamson, is hosting matches as part of the UK bid for the 2035 Women's World Cup. That would require expanding capacity further to about 24,000. Williamson also highlights how even after going from 40 to 150 permanent staff in five years, he still has to help out with jobs like moving boxes of football shirts, which are now being sold in the United States for the first time. Wrexham have earned three successive promotions since losing in the play-offs in the first season under their current owners The number of international supporters around Wrexham, like Chelsea , highlights how they are bigger than ever, although they started from a much lower base. Chelsea had financial issues of their own under former owner Ken Bates and a 50‑year top‑flight title drought, while Abramovich was surprised by the level of attention football brought him after buying the club. By contrast, Wrexham supporters famously clubbed together to raise £100,000 in 2011, saving the club before passing it on to Reynolds and McElhenney, following a period of suspicion after being burned by previous owners. It is why their visible investment and presence in the local community has been welcomed. Having put up £2m initially, Wrexham are now valued at a reported £350m, attracting further minority investors, including the Allyn family and Apollo Sports Capital. Two lucrative overseas friendlies against Chelsea underlined how their niche but growing fanbase can match Premier League opposition, having also faced Manchester United and Bournemouth in the United States. On Wednesday they announced they will be back in the US for pre-season for matches against Premier League trio Leeds , Liverpool and Sunderland . Meanwhile, record-breaking revenues were reported in their last accounts while in League Two, behind only five Championship clubs despite being two divisions lower. "You can't not be excited about the growth in the brand and profile of Wrexham in the United States - it's impossible to ignore," CBS executive vice‑president of programming, Dan Weinberg, told BBC Sport in the summer. CBS broadcasted all Wrexham's League One matches live in the US, making them the first club in the third tier to achieve that feat. Weinberg added: "We showed more Wrexham matches - just as we showed more EFL matches - in the United States than ever before. Wrexham is a clear example of a club with outsized appeal in the US market because of everything Rob and Ryan have done to grow their brand." Since Wrexham's 2021 takeover, rapper Snoop Dogg has bought into Swansea City, former NFL quarterback Tom Brady into Birmingham City and fellow NFL star JJ Watt into Burnley . YouTuber KSI became also became minority stakeholder in non-league London club Dagenham & Redbridge on Tuesday. For better or worse, Chelsea were pioneers in the 2000s - and the same could be said of Wrexham in the 2020s. Latest Chelsea news, analysis and fan views Ask about Chelsea - what do you want to know? Who's to blame for Spurs crisis? 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