BBC Sport Wales looks at how Wrexham have evolved since being taken over by Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac five years ago.
Five years ago, Wrexham's fortunes changed immeasurably.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac completed their takeover of the north Wales side on 9 February, 2021 after receiving overwhelming approval from the Wrexham Supporters Trust three months earlier.
The Hollywood stars have overseen three successive promotions, although their impact goes way beyond the club's seismic on-field achievements.
As defender Max Cleworth puts it, "it's been a mental few years".
The foundations for growth
Wrexham's on field success is plain for all to see, however, background developments and groundworks are equally important to sustain Reynold's and Mac's ambitions for the north Wales club.
Regulars at the Stok Cae Ras - or the millions of viewers watching games on screens around the globe - will also have noticed a number of alterations to the world's oldest international football stadium still in continuous use.
The stadium's iconic Kop Stand was demolished in 2023 having been abandoned for 16 years.
A temporary stand, holding around 3,000 supporters, was used during the 2024-25 campaign before being removed to pave way for a new permanent stand.
Work on the stand - which will hold 7,500 fans in total, taking the overall capacity at Stok Cae Ras to 18,000 - started early on in the 2025-26 season and is due to be completed in early 2027.
As they do not own their Colliers Park training complex, Wrexham are regularly required to train elsewhere, including at Carden Park or at The Rock - now owned by the club.
But even other aspects including catering and travel arrangements - which include flying to some away matches to help aid recovery - have been tweaked to improve performance.
"The difference is massive," said former club captain Ben Tozer, who made 136 appearances and won back-to-back promotions with Wrexham.
"Even though some of the really big changes might not have happened – like we still don't have our own training ground – the infrastructure has improved every year.
"The players always felt looked after, but the levels have gone up."
The growth is not limited to the men's first team though. Far from it.
Academy manager Gus Williams and professional development phase lead coach Craig Knight are now in situ as the club aims to produce more home-grown talent.
The women's side have made enormous strides too.
Wrexham were in the tier two Adran North at the time of the takeover but are now challenging for the top-flight Adran Premier title - with a place in Europe on the line.
They also face reigning league champions Cardiff City in the final of the Adran Trophy on 22 February - further typifying how they have developed into one of the best women's sides in Wales.
It has all ensured the difference at the club is stark, particularly for new signing Davis Keillor-Dunn, who recently returned six years after leaving Wrexham.
"I'm just buzzing to see the club in the place it's in now," he told BBC Sport Wales.
"It shows you how much work has been put in and you're seeing the fruits of it on the pitch."
Little by little, piece by piece, the club keeps evolving. But the headline-grabbing exploits of the first team have ultimately been the key driver.
"It's the balance of building the club and understanding that the club needed some foundations put in place for the long-term," said manager Phil Parkinson.
"But also that we needed to fast-track the quality at first team level because the squad had been neglected for many years, no-one's fault, through a lack of finances, and [the owners] have been very supportive in both of those categories."
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Back-to-back-to-back... -to-back?
A mere 110 days after the high-profile change in ownership, manager Dean Keates left the club with Wrexham having missed out on a play-off spot in the fifth-tier National League.
Just 32 days later, Parkinson was tasked with leading the Welsh side's resurgence. Despite a gut-wrenching end to his first season as manager, a 5-4 defeat by Grimsby Town in the play-offs, it has been quite the ride since then.
Parkinson has managed 213 regular season league matches and Wrexham's record over that period borders on the ridiculous, in a positive way, of course.
He has overseen 125 wins, 51 draws and just 37 losses - with his side scoring 407 goals over that time.
It gives him an astonishing rate of exactly two points per game and an average of little more than 1.9 goals per match when it comes to regular season league fixtures.
In 2025, history was made as Wrexham returned to the second tier for the first time in 43 years, having become the first ever team to achieve three successive promotions in the English Football League.
In preparation for the Championship Wrexham smashed their own transfer record three times last summer, with Liberato Cacace, Lewis O'Brien and then Nathan Broadhead becoming their most expensive signing upon moving to north Wales.
And having once again strengthened in the mid-season window, Wrexham are not slowing down.
'A hell of a ride, long may it continue'
Defender Cleworth is one of only two players, along with Ryan Barnett, to feature in the National League, League Two, League One and the Championship since Reynolds and Mac bought Wrexham.
On the back of signing a long-term contract extension with the club in January, the academy product said: "Since I signed my [first] pro deal, I couldn't really have imagined to be sat here five, six years later in the Championship."
Wrexham were seventh in the National League when Reynolds and Mac were announced as the club's new owners. At present, they are sixth in the Championship - 73 places higher up the football pyramid.
The social media growth has also been vast. Wrexham had 41,000 followers on Instagram prior to the takeover, that figure has ballooned to 1.5m.
But perhaps the clearest indicator of the astronomical growth is the value of the club, which now stands at around £350m, an increase of 17,400% compared to the £2m Reynolds and Mac invested upon completing the takeover in 2021.
With a top six finish firmly within their grasp this season, the rise is showing no sign of stopping, with Cleworth aptly stating: "It's been a hell of a ride so far, long may that continue."
Category: General Sports
