Wrexham wasted timely Liverpool, Leicester City windfall in alarming fashion: View | OneFootball

It was during the summer of 2018 that Wrexham received a large windfall for one of its former youngsters in goalkeeper Danny Ward.

There was much excitement at the time as the Wales international, who came up through the club’s academy, was sold to Leicester City by Liverpool for a sum of £12.5m.

Ward left Wrexham for Anfield in early 2012 for an initial fee of £100,000 despite only making one appearance for his hometown club in a Welsh Cup tie against Airbus in December 2011.

According to reports, it was estimated that the Red Dragons gained as much as £2m from the deal between Liverpool and Leicester due to a 15 per cent sell-on clause in the keeper’s contract.

Bryan Hughes handed hefty budget

While the club’s manager when the transfer was made was former Wolves defender Sam Ricketts, the money did not fall into his hands due to the time taken for such transactions to be processed.

It went instead to ex-Wrexham midfielder Bryan Hughes, who was appointed to take charge in February 2019 following Ricketts’ departure to Shrewsbury and later that of Graham Barrow.

As an interesting coincidence, it was Hughes himself who was previously believed to have netted the club its largest transfer fee after joining Birmingham City in 1997 for a figure approaching £1m.

How fitting then that he should be the beneficiary of a sum which would surely provide a big boost in the North Wales side’s bid to finally gain promotion from the National League.

As reported by The Leader, at the start of the 2019/20 season, Hughes was working with a playing budget of more than £1.2m.

It was a significant amount for a club then under fan ownership, long before it had Hollywood millions to spend.

In fact, supporters dug deep on several occasions over the years to boost the war chest available to managers via ‘Build the Budget’ fundraising campaigns.

Poor recruitment leads to demise of Hughes

When the Ward money initially came in, fans were understandably champing at the bit to see how it would be spent.

Hughes initially guided Wrexham into the play-offs after joining toward the end of the 2018/19 season where they lost in the quarter-final to Eastleigh.

A further promotion push was expected after he was given funds, including from the Ward transfer, during the summer.

However, the recruitment decisions that followed triggered a chain of events that ultimately led to him leaving his position less than two months into the new season, with Wrexham sitting in the National League relegation zone.

The reality was that most of the players Hughes brought in simply weren’t good enough.

Signings such as strikers JJ Hooper and Leighton McIntosh, defensive midfielder Adam Barton, right-back Jazzi Barnum-Bobb and goalkeeper Dawid Szczepaniak mostly came from clubs in the lower echelons and failed to make a mark.

Even the likes of former Manchester United starlet Devonte Redmond and the then young prospect Mark Harris on loan from Cardiff City could not aid Hughes’s cause.

After a winless run of eight games early in the 2019/20 season, Hughes parted ways with Wrexham in September after a 3-2 defeat at fellow strugglers AFC Fylde saw them plunge into the relegation zone.

Fans voice anger over money being 'wasted'

Hughes would later describe the club’s decision to relieve him of his duties as “harsh and a bit premature”.

In truth though, Wrexham’s poor performance caused much anger among the fanbase, not only at the manager but at the Wrexham Supporters Trust (WST) which ran the club at the time.

The main question on people’s lips was where the Danny Ward money had gone.

An answer was received in December 2019 during a Q&A session with board members.

Directly referencing how the Ward money was spent, they said: “Part of the funds were received in the current financial year.

“This allowed us to invest more in the squad this season from the summer (and) upgrades to parts of the stadium. We also had to keep funds back for a corporation tax payment as well.”

The feeling among supporters was that the money had been wasted, not least on poor recruitment by Hughes.

Despite attempts by his successor Dean Keates to steady the ship in his second spell at Wrexham, the club went on to suffer its lowest-ever finish in 2019/20.

The Red Dragons finished 19th on points per game, narrowly avoiding relegation after the season ended early due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

An open letter issued by the WST board in April 2020 highlighted how the pandemic posed a “serious threat” to the financial health of the club.

Keates’ first team budget for the 2020-21 season was later cut by nearly £300,000.

The club’s prospects soon took a dramatic upturn when the proposed takeover by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney was announced shortly into the season and the rest, as they say, is history.

However, the case of the Danny Ward money and how it was used will always serve as a reminder of the need to be careful with your spending.