‘It’s not a miracle’ – Landon Donovan gives his verdict on Wrexham’s ‘huge spending’

‘It’s not a miracle’ – That’s what Landon Donovan said as he gives his verdict on Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham’s ‘huge spending’.

Speaking with ex-Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard on the ‘Unfiltered Soccer’ podcast, Landon had some honest thoughts on Wrexham, downplaying their “miracle” rise through English football leagues, attributing their success to significant financial investment rather than a miraculous feat.

He noted their high spending in each league and questioned their ability to succeed in the Championship, citing the financial risks of spending heavily (e.g., offering £50,000 weekly wages) without guaranteed promotion.

Tim Howard added that the jump from Championship to Premier League is the toughest due to the financial disparity, but Wrexham’s substantial investment could make promotion possible if sustained.

Landon: “So, they went from League 2 now to the Championship next year. My question, my first real question is, can they do it again? Can they now jump from the Championship to the Premier League, which we know is the hardest jump?”

Tim: Yeah, it’s the hardest jump. By the way, hats off to Wrexham.”

Landon: “Agreed.”

Tim: “They say the hardest jump in all of the promotions is Championship to Premier League. Why?

“Because there is just more money in that league, right?

“There’s more money in the Championship than any other league. And you’re likely well, we’ve seen this, right? You’re likely to even if you can’t pay for players, the Premier League is happy to give to loan you their up and coming stars, right?

“So, we saw that with Burnley a couple years ago. They won the Championship based on the fact or they got out of the Championship based on the fact that they had a ton of loan players, right?

“So, you start to see that you can actually balance out spending with some some loan signings.

“That being said, Wrexham are doing the impossible. I mean, three consecutive promotions.

“Look, money makes the world go around when it comes to to football or sports, and they are pumping a ton of money into that team.

“They’re just better if they continue to do that and they have that financial plan.

“I mean, I think they could possibly do that. And it’s kind of mind-blowing if you think about it.

“Like with the show and the celebrity owners and the like, by the way, this could have easily gone the other way, LD.

“This could have easily gone really bad.

“They could have spent a ton of money on the wrong players and not got this success.

“So, hats off to them.

“And I think I want to say we saw this with like Huddersfield and maybe and maybe like Hoffenheim did it a few years ago where they just they kind of come from nowhere, spend all the money, and they get to the top league.

“So look, I hope because the Premier League is filled with all sorts of crazy stories.”

Landon: “The thing is if you watch the show you think it’s some miracle, right? And it’s not a miracle.

“It’s an amazing story, but they also have spent at the top of every one of the leagues they’ve been in.

“Now the question is, can they do it in the Championship?

“My first thought was no, but I did see a report last week that they were willing, I don’t know who the player was, they were willing to offer a player £50,000 a week to play in the Championship.

“So, the thing is they clearly have the money to do it.

“Are they going to take the risk? Cuz now it’s a big risk.

“It’s not, you know, losing 6 million pounds like they did last year. Now, you could lose 30 or 40 and not get promoted.

“So, it’s going to be interesting to watch. But most of all, cheers to them. They’ve been phenomenal. They deserve it and it’s going to be really fun to watch going going forward.

“So, Wrexham, you chose chill. I’ve got my cores on ice, Timmy. I can hear the how about a cheers? How about a cheers to Rex? Cheers to cheers, guys.”

Social media users reacted as Landon Donovan gives his verdict on Wrexham’s ‘huge spending’…

@WxmBob: The miracle isn’t the money. It’s actually being discovered & CHOSEN by the owners. Out of all the clubs they chose lil ol Wrexham to invest. Criticize the money but not their heart or the fans that kept the club alive before hand, & all the hard work since

@clj.4874: To be fair wrexham were not the biggest spenders in div one, quite a few teams spent more in that league, and as for the 50 a week, dont believe everything you read lol.

@robabel7264: They really need to get that stand completed and have a suitable training ground. It could be hard to get top tier loan players from PL teams when you have to carpool to training every day. I hope they finish mid table and don’t break the bank until infrastructure is in place to be more sustainable. 😀

@brianeleighton: Their goalkeeper was originally an Arsenal loanee to the club. That was when the club was in League 2. I think Wrexham will actually have a bit of a leg up in getting loan players, should they choose to go that route. My reasoning is this. Wrexham, thanks to the documentary, has an oversized media spotlight and global fanbase compared to a number of Championship sides this season. Big Premier League clubs who traditionally deal with tons of media scrutiny might want to give their young players a taste of it on loan at Wrexham.

@TravisHarlan: Pumping money into the team? Maybe the club as a whole and the community but not just the team. They aren’t going out and buying world class players. They are trying to make sure the club can be self sustaining.

@brianeleighton: To be fair, they absolutely have pumped a ton of money into the first team. The club themselves say it. That is why some of the behind the scenes infrastructure isn’t quite up to par yet. However, they haven’t been stupid about it. What I mean is, thanks to the documentary, the club generates stupid amounts of money from their commercial deals. As a result, they spent one of the lowest percentage of revenues on player wages of any promoted side. I believe it was like 41% of total revenues.

@OptimisticCurmudgeon: @brianeleighton But they were up against Birmingham who were spending stupid money, newly relegated Huddersfield who also out spent them, Stockport who lost £7m last season despite using several loan players and had Louie Barry, the top scorer in the first half of the season on loan and Rotherham who was also picked to finish above Wrexham after relegation from the Championship.

@brianeleighton: ​ @OptimisticCurmudgeon Absolutely. Not saying they were wrong to. My point about them only spending 41% of revenues is saying they essentially secured three straight promotions with one hand tied behind their back financially. I think this is because the club wanted the room to be able to drastically increase the player budget this year without violating PSR.

@markcook5985: Landon knows not of what he speaks in terms of wages. Don’t be lazy, do your homework.

@jefferyscholl: Something that no one talks about is the back end financials for Rob and Ryan. they are making BANK from the doc and are also basically Disney Princesses as far as getting more projects green lit. So if they “lost” money on the team (which is not lost it is accounting for them) they are making tons off the doc and their other Disney projects, not even mentioning they get money for their social media which also heavily features the team. And their attitude about it is also not something that can be dismissed.