Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney will be taking another six-figure loss at Wrexham despite preparing to welcome more fans through the turnstiles.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Hollywood co-owners pumping in fundsKop End redevelopment project underwayMakeshift structure in place for nowWHAT HAPPENED?
The Hollywood co-owners at SToK Racecourse have been doing all they can to get tickets into the hands of loyal supporters, with grand plans drawn up for a new Kop End. That project was never going to be completed quickly, though, and a temporary stand has been erected in North Wales to help get 2,289 more punters through the doors – starting with a derby date against Newport on Saturday.
AdvertisementWHAT KER SAID ABOUT WREXHAM
While fans will benefit from that structure, club director Humphrey Ker has told of how another financial hit will be taken: “We can’t recoup the money the stand has cost to build and then operate. Unless we get a big sponsor, maybe. But this is something we expect to lose money on. I’ve seen fans on social media doing calculations and saying, ‘They can do this and that to make it pay’. But a lot of those were way off. For a start, every ticket isn’t £20 (£5 cheaper than the rest of the ground due to the lack of roof) as not everyone is an adult. We also have to hire staff, install new turnstiles, make the entire area safe — on top of the original outlay. Everything has to be maintained, too. Shaun (Harvey, the club’s newly appointed director) did his own calculations, working out what you make per seat with all the additional costs. And we will lose money. But that’s a small price to pay for getting more fans into the stadium.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Ker went on to say of the temporary stand, that McElhenney pushed to put in place: “I’ll go on record and say I was very resistant to the idea. To start off with, anyway. This was because I didn’t want to delay the start of the Kop. Even if it takes two weeks to put up and then two weeks to take down, my thinking was, ‘I want spades in the ground and to get on with it ASAP’. In contrast, Rob was the one pushing for us to do this. Rather annoyingly, time has once again proved that he was right and I was wrong. Probably because I had more faith in the speed of the British building system and the bureaucracy that comes with it, having been brought up on very jingoistic films where everything in Britain was best. The Dunkirk spirit and all that. Sadly, it isn’t the case. When we realised that work wasn’t going to start until the end of the season and that something could be put up quite quickly, we decided to go for it. That’s the big plus for us all. More fans can watch us in home games. It is one of the top complaints we receive. ‘I can’t get a ticket, whereas in the old days, I could walk up and pay on the gate’. This is a big step forward. Especially as it’s a decent-sized little stand. There’s such high demand for tickets these days and that’s been the one thing we’ve found very difficult to do anything about. But this will help a little.”
Getty/GOALDID YOU KNOW?
With work on the new Kop due to begin at the end of the 2023-24 campaign, Wrexham will be operating at a reduced capacity of 10,500 again next term – which will eventually rise to 16,000. Ker said of a redevelopment project that has been in the pipeline for some time: “Things are progressing well. Our hope is that we will start at the end of the season. The plan is to get everything squared away in January. We thought we’d be able to do that at the end of last season, but that wasn’t the case. I’ve learned the hard way not to get too excited about this. Anything can truly go wrong, but we are hoping this will not be the case this time.”
