Why Ryan Reynolds & Rob Mac had to find £30m for record-breaking spend as difference between transfer models of Wrexham & Tom Brady’s Birmingham is explained

Reynolds and Mac have invested heavily across their reign at the Racecourse Ground, with big money being thrown at an exciting project. They have been rewarded with a historic run of success, as Wrexham have blazed a trail through the EFL ranks.

Three successive promotions have lifted them out of the National League and into the Championship. The ultimate end goal of Premier League football is now within reach. Getting over that line will not, however, be easy - or cheap.

Wrexham had to dig deep in the last window, bringing in plenty of top-flight pedigree as they acquired the likes of Lewis O’Brien, Conor Coady and Kieffer Moore. Nathan Broadhead is, at £10m ($13m), now the club’s most elaborate signing.

Explaining why the Red Dragons had to splash the cash, while bringing little in, Williamson has told The Leader: “Finding the right investment, finding the right opportunity and determining that kind of ultimate budget is something that I think was important for us to compare to what other clubs were doing.

“I know everyone talks about Wrexham spending £30million in the transfer market. Yes, that's what the net spend was because we didn't have any players to sell coming up from League One. If you compare that to Norwich, I think they spent £28million on players, more or less, with what's been reported, but they sold for £32 or £35million in players. Middlesbrough, I've seen numbers like £25-26million invested, but they sold for over £30million in players.

“If you look at clubs like Birmingham, obviously they spent £10-15 million this last summer transfer window but they sold for £8 or 9million. Charlton is probably the only one similar to us. I think they've spent £10-15 million, but they didn't have anyone to sell either.

“Yes, £30 million investment but that wasn't offset by any player sales which a club who's in the Championship already or a club that's been in the Premier League that gets relegated to the Championship, they're able to do that kind of squad change as a result of being able to sell players along the way. Or they rely on their Academy players and they sell their Academy players to fund some of the transfer market. We don't have the foundations for that within the Academy, the pipeline of players, and we had three consecutive promotions so we had to invest in the squad to be competitive.”

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Expanding on how that model differs to Birmingham - who have become rivals on the celebrity investor front and out on the field - Williamson added: “A lot of people compare it to Birmingham but those were two different examples from a playing squad. They were a League One club that came down from the Championship the year before so they had a Championship squad and then they invested significantly in League One. Obviously they won the league, but they had a Championship level squad in League One.

“We were coming up from National League to League Two to League One, and we had a League One squad so arriving in the Championship this year, Birmingham already had the foundations of a Championship squad, because they were there two years prior. Whereas two years prior, we were in the National League so in order to be competitive at this level, we had to invest in the playing squad.”

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