Apollo secured guarantees Reynolds and Mac aren't leaving Wrexham
When Apollo Sports Capital bought into Wrexham AFC, they weren’t just acquiring a minority stake. They were locking Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney into a commitment they can’t easily break.
Apollo took under 10% of the club while Reynolds and McElhenney kept control. The announcement was straightforward enough, but there’s far more happening behind the scenes.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire laid it out plainly on the Mirror. Wrexham shifts 100,000 shirts every year because of Welcome to Wrexham viewers, not because of lifelong supporters.
Take Reynolds and McElhenney out of Wrexham and those sales disappear overnight. The documentary brings in fans who buy kits and follow the club globally, and that only works because Hollywood owns the team.
Apollo knows exactly what they’ve bought. Their money is protection against Wrexham becoming another mid-table Championship side once the cameras stop rolling.
How Apollo locked in Atletico Madrid’s owners before doing the same at Wrexham
A month before Wrexham, Apollo bought 55% of Atletico Madrid. The contract kept Miguel Ángel Gil and Enrique Cerezo running the club despite Apollo owning the majority.
That’s how Apollo operates. They buy football clubs but keep the people who built them in charge.
If they insisted on continuity clauses for a majority stake in an established La Liga club, they absolutely demanded them for a minority stake in a club worth £350m purely because of two actors. It’s not a theory. It’s how you protect an investment.
“I would imagine that Apollo and the other American investors probably have some form of golden handcuffs agreement with Reynolds and Mac, which says that you’ve got to commit to your involvement with the club for at least the next five years, because we might want to extract value going forwards.”
Maguire’s assessment strips away the PR language. Apollo handles $908bn in assets according to Apollo Global Management and calls itself a provider of long-term patient capital.
Nobody values Wrexham at £350m without paperwork guaranteeing the owners stay put. The Atletico deal proves Apollo’s approach.
Original owners remain locked in even when they sell control. Wrexham is a smaller stake in what’s essentially a TV brand, which makes keeping Reynolds and McElhenney around even more vital.
Look at what happened between the 2020 takeover and today’s £350m price tag. That growth is precisely why Apollo needs Reynolds and McElhenney stuck in place.
A documentary empire built on two owners who can’t leave
Wrexham’s three straight promotions delivered proper football success. The commercial boom, though, came from Reynolds, McElhenney, and the cameras.
Reynolds tackled similar questions last December when the Allyn family bought in. He said directly that he and McElhenney would stay as majority owners, explaining that the club’s expansion needed experienced partners.
Embed from Getty ImagesTheir joint statement talked about building sustainability and reaching the Premier League without abandoning the town. With Apollo’s backing, those aren’t just words.
The money going into the new Kop stand and stadium work shows they’re serious about staying. But it’s the deal structure that actually guarantees it.
Wrexham fans worried about Reynolds and McElhenney eventually walking away got their answer with the Apollo investment. The contract prevents exactly that.
You don’t invest in a £350m valuation without legal protection written in. Apollo’s history shows they lock owners in as standard procedure, and with Wrexham’s entire brand depending on Reynolds and McElhenney, those guarantees matter even more.
Reynolds and McElhenney sold more than equity. They sold their freedom to leave without facing enormous financial and reputational damage. Apollo made absolutely certain of it.
About The Author
