Wrexham sign Arsenal goalkeeper and Crystal Palace striker as support to Paul Mullin
Wrexham entered new ownership in 2021 as a non-league club and lost in the play offs for promotion to the League. However they also featured in a series of documentaries “Welcome to Wrexham” which raised their profile and this is reported to have given the club a “global fanbase”, and a large coverage of their attempts to move up the leagues.
It is also said to be a model that other investors are considering, as an alternative to simply taking over a failing league club with all the expectations of immediate success that can accompany such a move.
As The Guardian commented now “everybody wants to ‘do a Wrexham’.
The club got to the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2022/23 – the only fifth-tier club to do so, beating Coventry City en route, eventually getting knocked out by Sheffield United after reply (the latter being an example of a club very much deserted by its supporters being taken on by a club totally swamped by the positive vibes of its supporters.)
In 2022/23 Wrexham won their first league title in 45 years, and regained a place in the League. While Arsenal were beating records in the Premier League, Wrexham got a record number of points for any club in the top five leagues.
In 2023/4 they were back in the Football League for thee first time in 15 seasons and despite losing their first match of the campaign gained promotion to League One at the end of the season, coming second to Stockport.
Okonkwo has been released by Arsenal and so was available on a free transfer, although he had previously been to Wrexham on loan.
While the return of Wrexham to the league is clearly one that is based on the wealth of the owners, the fact that the owners decided to take over a failing non-league club and work with them, has done wonders for their image in the town, and for the support of the club.
It has also raised a lot of interest in America, and shown other non-league clubs a model that can be followed Of course it still means that the club is being bought by very rich people, but the willingness to take on a lower league club shows that this is not the mega-rich just buying a toy.
Arsenal meanwhile have rewarded a young player who has worked his way up through the club and that can only encourage more youngsters to opt for Arsenal. They will know that they are not going to shoot into the first team as a teenager unless they are very very special, but they will get interesting loans, at at time when the shape of football is changing.
In fact, Wrexham is the exact reverse of Manchester City (now known as Man C 115 for infringement reasons) – Wrexhm being a club that has been sponsored but in a way that breaks no rules and shows an understanding not just of the club itself, but of the whole nature of football in England.
