How Wrexham can STAY in the Premier League if they earn promotion

Martin Macdonald

• 5 Feb 2026 15:01 CST
• 10 min read

Nieuws

Wrexham have been told what they must do in order to not only earn promotion to the Premier League, but crucially to STAY in the top-flight.

The Welsh side have been on upward trajectory ever since it was bought over by Hollywood superstars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

In February of 2021, they outlined a plan to bring Premier League football to the club and its fans.

What followed that change in ownership was an unprecedented three successive promotions to League One, League Two and then the Championship - all fuelled by money from Tinseltown.

Premier League football is not guaranteed via a fourth successive promotion as they are currently only in the playoff positions in the Championship, but should they remain in those four spots, they give themselves a great chance of reaching the big time.

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What comes after that, though?

More often than not, promoted sides struggle with the step-up in quality to the top-flight, only to go straight back down so Wrexham will need to prepare themselves for the change.

Former Premier League star Rob Earnshaw believes the club has the infrastructure to succeed and urged Reynolds and McElhenney to continue spending to bring in additional quality, akin to Nottingham Forest's splurge after gaining promotion.

“I think they will eventually reach the Premier League," Earnshaw told GOAL.

"To stay there, it’s going to take something special and real investment. What I do give them credit for, as they continue, if they do reach the Premier League then they will understand how to strengthen and what they need inside the building - the backroom staff, the recruitment - what’s needed to go to that next level.

“The Championship is one thing, they have gone to that level now and can compete. I think they are going to be very close to the play-offs or automatic before the end of the season. If you get promoted, it might not be this year, but once they get promoted, what they are capable of doing is really staying in the Premier League.

“I have been lucky enough to play in the Premier League and you have to have a good group of players, good coaching, but also a real unity inside the football club. They have already got that - that’s half the battle.

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“They would probably need something along the lines of what we saw at Nottingham Forest. If you look at that first season, even the second, three years ago where they were, they needed to invest in players and made loads and loads of changes after their play-off win - players left, or went back from loans, so they needed players in the building.

"They continued to make signings and now you see a more stable Nottingham Forest team. Yes, they will make signings, but the investment to try and get it right was constant, never just settling. It was ‘this is not working, okay, we need to find what works’. Eventually you get more of a team. Forest have done great in the last few years. Wrexham would need something similar.

“Once you go to the Premier League, you have got to be ready for it and be ready to compete. They are capable.”

Earnshaw tipped Wrexham to survive in their first Premier League season should they gain promotion.

“I think they will stay in the Premier League if they went up," the Welshman predicted.

"They are very open in terms of understanding what would be needed. That’s one of the hard things because sometimes you can go up to the Premier League and be a bit more rigid in terms of how you see things and don’t want seven/eight/nine new players, you only want four or five, or you don’t understand what is needed to stay in that league.

“I think they work in a way of being open to what is the best thing for the football club and the best thing to continue improving the quality. That is one of the biggest battles that you always find, the not understanding or being old-school in not being able to adapt or evolve with the times and with what the Premier League needs.

“Long story short, absolutely they can stay in the Premier League. Now they are starting to believe that there is an outside chance of them going up this season. At the beginning of the season I said ‘no chance, it’s too much for them’. Now, they have made the right signings and the team is starting to gel and get results, that belief is there, there is an outside chance. I don’t think it is at the level where it was six to eight months ago, where they weren't going to go up, now there is a chance.

“I would be very surprised if it isn’t this year, then next year they can compete to be in the top two. Right now they believe they can be in the top six, that’s their belief, but if they don’t go up this season, then by this time next year, they will believe that they can be in the top two.”

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