Taking on a popular Football Manager 24 save, The Athletic’s Richard Sutcliffe is attempting to guide Wrexham all the way to the Premier League.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
“I’m sorry. But the answer this time has to be ‘no’. The budgets we’ve set are, in the board’s opinion, as high as we can go in the Championship. We’ve already committed to upgrading the training ground this summer — at your request, let’s not forget.
“There’s simply no money left over for increasing the wage bill further. You’ll just have to get on with it.”
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Bloody Deadpool.
Doesn’t Ryan Reynolds realise just what a big step up the club is about to make?
Wrexham’s third promotion in as many years means we’re going to be up against some properly big-spending clubs in the coming season. For us to compete with Fulham, Brentford, Sheffield United or even Luton Town, a serious upgrade in talent will be needed.
That costs money, something that our co-owner Reynolds — and star of the Deadpool movie franchise — has just made clear when rejecting my request to increase the playing budget, Wrexham don’t have in abundance right now.
“Don’t forget, it’s only a few weeks ago that we had to inject £10million ($12.7m in the real world) to help with running costs,” adds Reynolds. “There isn’t a bottomless pit of cash.”
Of course, I get that. But I can’t help but feel disappointed. This squad have achieved football miracles by reaching the second tier of the game in England (and Wales) as quickly as this. But now these players need help, via a few quality additions during the transfer window.
This much is clear in a report compiled by my assistant manager Steve Parkin shortly after we clinched the League One title. There are plenty of red flags, including Ismaila Coulibaly and Sean McGurk, two loanees instrumental in our latest promotion success who have since returned to their parent clubs.
My big problem is the budgets set for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign — £510,000 to spend on transfers and £250,000 per week in wages — make that necessary upgrade nigh on impossible.
Once we’ve tied down players whose contracts are into their final year, there will be precious little left to devote to new signings.
That much became clear when negotiations began with the 12 squad members whose deals are set to run out in 2026. Whereas before, in League One, we were talking about an average of between £5,000 and £7,000 per week, now you can put a ‘1’ in front of those figures.
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Todd Kane, voted the club’s player of the year for the past two seasons after joining on a free transfer from Coventry City, is the first to demand terms reflecting our new Championship status.
We eventually agree on a £15,000 per week deal, with an additional promise he would remain the club’s top earner over the two years of the contract. Clauses of that kind are trouble, but Kane won’t sign without it. I cave just as his agent threatens to walk away.
Doing so proves costly — subsequent new contracts agreed with Tom O’Connor, then Brooklyn Lyons-Foster and then Elliot Lee all earn Kane a pay rise.
By the time Paul Mullin becomes the seventh player to sign a new deal — taking his wages from £6,250 per week to £15,500 — I’m so far over the allotted wage budget that deals to sign Manchester City’s Alex Robertson and Elliot Embleton of Sunderland on free transfers have to be delayed a week to give us time to find the required signing-on fees.
Jordan Tunnicliffe’s sale to Burton Albion for £190,000, plus the releases of Ollie Palmer and Billy Waters on June 30 to save a combined £13,550 in wages per week, eventually sees those two signings to get over the line.
It is then that I make my appeal to the board — unsuccessfully — for an increase in the budget.
This is going to be a long and difficult season.
August 2, Cardiff. Second-tier football is back on Wrexham’s agenda for the first time in 43 years and what a cracker to start things off as we head south to the national capital for a Welsh derby.
There’s no denying how frustrating the past few weeks have been on the recruitment front.
We made a serious play for Sepp van den Berg, the 23-year-old Dutch defender recently released by Liverpool, only to be beaten to his signature by Blackpool.
Loan deals to bring back Sheffield United’s Coulibaly and McGurk of Leeds United also failed. Again, money was the issue, with Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday offering them much better terms.
It has been a similar story with our contract renewals. George Evans, Ian Poveda and Jordan Davies have all been asking for new terms but the funds for them just aren’t there.
This hasn’t gone down well.
Far from ideal, but at least the board’s expectations are realistic.
I’m confident we’ll stay up, but a good start will be paramount.
Injuries mean we are down to the bare bones for the trip to Cardiff, with four teenagers from the academy on the bench to make up the numbers, including little-known 16-year-old Josh Phillips, who comes on to make his senior debut.
Despite that, we play brilliantly, restricting Cardiff to just two efforts on goal, neither of which are on target, in a 0-0 draw.
A Mullin hat-trick brings our maiden Championship victory in our first home game, against Bristol City, which he follows with another strike to earn a 1-1 draw away to Reading.
A wage bill that is already £45,000 over the permitted weekly budget means we’re relying on the generosity of other clubs to let us bring in loanees for a pittance.
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Justin Oboavwoduo duly arrives after Manchester City agree to cover his full wages, on the proviso that the 19-year-old is a regular starter on the wing for us. He was well down my list of targets from the start of the summer but beggars can’t be choosers.
Same story with the deadline-day deal that sees Sheffield United utility player Andre Brooks arrive on loan. This time, we’re paying 10 per cent of his £3,100 a week wages, and we need the numbers after back-to-back league defeats to Norwich City and Fulham take the shine off our promising start.
The final few hours of the window also bring a hefty offer for one of our players: Fulham want goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo and are willing to pay £10.5million, possibly rising by a further £2.25m.
Our money worries would be over at a stroke if we sell. The problem is the timing. With just hours left to sort out any transfers of our own, we’d be left with a weaker squad for the next four months. I reject the bid.
It means Okonkwo is in goal for the 0-0 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion that takes our season into the first international break. We sit 16th in the 24-team table, with six points from as many games. I’m happy with our start.
A confidential EFL memo circulated after the closure of the window reveals our wage bill is the fifth lowest in the division at a little under £300,000 per week.
Fulham are the division’s biggest spenders on wages at £1.4million per week, closely followed by Norwich (£1.2m) and Brentford (£1.1m). All three were relegated from the Premier League in May, so are receiving parachute payments.
The same applies to Sheffield United and Luton, underlining the size of the challenge that lies ahead if we are to make a concerted push for the top flight.
For now, the target has to simply be staying up.