How can Wrexham get promoted into the English Football League? 2022/23 season
By Euan Burns
The public focus on Wrexham has started to soar again as people work their way through the first series of 'Welcome to Wrexham', the docu-series that chronicles the first season of Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds' ownership of the club.
The Welsh town of Wrexham is not one that tends to make headlines outside of the region but that has changed with the new ownership.
The positive attention is only set to ratchet up after Wrexham secured passage into the Football League by finishing as champions of the National League, cementing their spot above fellow centurions Notts County with a 3-1 win over Boreham Wood with one match remaining.
Read more about Wrexham's Hollywood story
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What league are Wrexham in?
Despite being located in Wales, Wrexham are part of the English football system. They have been outside the English Football League (EFL) since 2008. The EFL consists of the Championship, League One and League Two. The Premier League is the next step up but is not officially part of the EFL - although, reaching the top tier is the ultimate ambition of Wrexham's owners.
They played the 2022/23 campaign in the National League, which is one step beneath the bottom level of the Football League. It is a division that features teams from all over England and Wales and there are 24 sides.
The bottom four teams get relegated, the top team is promoted to League 2, and second to seventh go into a playoff. The winner of that play-off also gets promoted to League 2.
How can Wrexham get promoted in the 2022/23 season?
There was a heartbreaking end to last season for the Wrexham fans.
The team finished second in the league which means going into the play-offs. They lost 5-4 in extra-time against Grimsby Town in the semi-final and had to settle for at least one more year in the National League.
With one game of the 2022/23 season to spare, Wrexham racked up an insurmountable 110 points, ensuring that the chasing pack, led by Notts County, could not catch them.
Luke Williams' side have had to settle for second place, which is only good enough for a semi-final play-off spot and not automatic promotion.
Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goal Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Wrexham | 45 | 34 | 8 | 3 | 73 | 110 |
2. | Notts County | 45 | 32 | 10 | 3 | 75 | 106 |
3. | Chesterfield | 45 | 24 | 9 | 12 | 25 | 81 |
4. | Woking | 44 | 23 | 10 | 11 | 23 | 79 |
5. | Barnet | 45 | 21 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 74 |
6. | Bromley | 45 | 18 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 70 |
7. | Boreham Wood | 44 | 18 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 69 |
8. | Southend | 45 | 19 | 9 | 17 | 11 | 66 |
9. | Eastleigh | 45 | 19 | 9 | 17 | -1 | 66 |
10. | Oldham | 45 | 16 | 12 | 17 | -1 | 60 |
11. | Dagenham & Redbridge | 45 | 17 | 9 | 19 | -13 | 60 |
12. | Solihull Moors | 44 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 0 | 58 |
As of Sunday 23 April
Wrexham National League 2022/23 run-in
- 29/04/23 - Torquay United vs Wrexham
Read more on the EFL play-off hunt
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How far can Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds take Wrexham?
As soon as it was confirmed McElhenney and Reynolds would be taking over the club, many Wrexham fans began, understandably, to dream about the Premier League status that could await them down the line if things go to plan.
It would take an incredible amount of correct decisions and well-invested money to bring Wrexham to the top table of English football any time soon, but nothing can ever be ruled out in football.
Aiming to keep everyone's feet on the ground though, the club's executive director, Humphrey Ker, told the BBC soon after the takeover that the Premier League is not the immediate aim because they have to take the project very seriously at the level it is currently at.
"Listen, we encourage the fan base having their day in the sun and taunting rivals with all the wonderful things that are coming down the line, but we want to go about this in a serious way because we recognise that the stewardship of this club is an incredibly serious thing," Ker said.
Ker certainly does envisage promotions in the future though, adding: "If I was being very confident I would say our expectation is to get into League One and to thrive - and, if we get to the very top of our of our projected trajectory, then the Championship is not unreasonable."
It may be a very long time before we see Wrexham mixing it with the big dogs in the Premier League, but they have already given Sheffield United a scare in the FA Cup and a cupset in the coming years is not out of the equation.