A striking new stand rising behind one end of the Racecourse Ground has come to represent the remarkable transformation of Wrexham AFC, as owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney watched the project's progress during a recent home draw with Watford.
The redevelopment of the Kop, which has advanced rapidly through the summer, is designed to bring the 164-year-old stadium up to elite standards, with the club hoping it will be ready for a Premier League-level environment. The new structure is expected to nearly double the ground's current capacity, adding roughly 7,500 seats and pushing overall capacity beyond 18,000 — surpassing the current Premier League capacities of both Brentford and Bournemouth.
Construction is still ongoing, meaning supporters were unable to sit behind the goal Wrexham attacked during the goalless stalemate with Watford. Manager Phil Parkinson, who took a moment before kickoff to observe the steelwork, said he was pleased with how things were progressing. "Everyone's been waiting a long time for the development of the Kop and now, over the last six months or so, we've all seen it emerging out of the ground," Parkinson said. "It's very impressive. We're pleased at the progress of that and it's going to be amazing when we'll be able to get supporters into it."
The Kop had previously stood derelict for more than a decade, closed off to fans, before Reynolds and McElhenney completed their high-profile takeover of the then-non-league club in 2021. Reynolds has often referred to the Racecourse as "a church," and both owners have consistently tied the club's revival to the wider fortunes of the city of Wrexham, ruling out any move away from the historic site despite it being potentially simpler and cheaper to build a stadium elsewhere.
The new stand, designed by the same firm behind Wembley Stadium and Las Vegas's Sphere, will also feature a giant LED screen — measuring around 7 metres tall and 18 metres wide — supported by a large steel truss already visible above the construction site, built using an estimated 1,500 tonnes of steel. New dressing rooms and a tunnel will also be relocated to the Kop end, positioned closer to the Turf pub, from where Wrexham players traditionally used to walk onto the pitch in the club's early history. Parkinson and the club's sports science team have reportedly had input into the layout of the new facilities. Additional media areas and a fan plaza near the railway station are also part of the wider development, intended to serve as a gateway into the city.
Midfielder Ollie Rathbone said the emerging stand reflected the scale of change taking place at the club. "Now you can actually see a physical thing up behind the goal, I think it's a reminder just how quickly the club is progressing," Rathbone said. "It's like a symbol of how exciting this period has been for the club and for the town and how it's hopefully not going to stop and it's just going to keep getting bigger."
A stadium official who previously worked on Inter Milan's San Siro redevelopment noted the speed of the build, saying that what was "just a dirt lot" a year ago has since become a clearly defined structure with visible steelwork and foundations.
With season tickets sold out and demand from international fans continuing to grow following the club's rise in global popularity, the Wrexham hierarchy sees the expansion as central to sustaining the club's growth rather than a symbolic gesture. Further development of the rest of the stadium has not been ruled out, with an eventual capacity of 30,000 considered a long-term possibility.
A small number of supporters could potentially be allowed into part of the new stand before the end of the current season, though full completion is expected only ahead of the next campaign. Whether that debut will come in the Premier League remains to be seen, but Parkinson pointed out that his side currently sit two points better off than at the same stage last season, when they missed out on the play-offs on the final day.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.