Reynolds and McElhenney push on with Wrexham's Racecourse Ground plans
Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have welcomed the decision for the club to take over the Racecourse Ground lease and allow them to push ahead with stadium development.
The lease is currently held by Wrexham Supporters Trust, who wanted a binding covenant that the Hollywood-owned League Two club could not be moved away from the ground.
WST members have now agreed to surrender the Racecourse lease under the terms of a deal that will see Wrexham continue to play at the ground until at least June 30, 2115. Wrexham will also make a payment of £187,000 upon surrender of the lease.
Co-chairmen McElhenney and Reynolds said: "We were delighted to receive the support of the directors of the WST and share their understandable desire to protect the long-term future of the club.
"Our legacy at the club will not be defined while we are its custodians, so we wanted to address the anomaly in the WST lease for the Racecourse Ground that did not include the requirement for the team to actually play at the stadium, only not allow it to be used for any other purpose.
"We didn't want anyone in the future to be able to exploit that position.
"The payment of £187,000, is an equivalent amount to that contributed by fans to save the club.
"To know that we will provide the funding to effectively pay everyone back who contributed to save the club is worth every penny and gives us a great deal of satisfaction.
"We would appeal to the 824 members who have a vote, to do so in favour of the proposal and allow the club to continue on this wonderful journey we are all on."
Wrexham plan to redevelop the Kop stand — the site currently stands empty — and boost capacity to around 15,600.
It had been hoped to be built in time for the start of the 2024-25 season but funding issues have meant the project will be delayed.
Wrexham expect the stadium development will see the men's national team to play at the Racecourse — the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts matches, having staged its first Wales home game in 1877 — more often.
