Sports
In Exeter, a match to show how Reynolds and McElhenney have supercharged Wrexham’s rise
At the end of a week when the true impact of Hollywood coming to Wrexham was laid bare by a balance sheet containing almost as many new records as music store HMV, it felt appropriate that the Welsh club should make the long trip to Exeter City.
The Devon club are in their 21st season of fan ownership, the same model that kept Wrexham afloat for more than a decade before Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney rode into town.
Like Saturday’s 2-0 victors, Exeter had a stint in the National League — five years in their case, between 2003 and 2008 — after being taken to the brink of financial ruin by previous owners.
Today, though, the Devon club is rightly considered one of the best-run in the EFL, making the most of limited resources to establish themselves as a League One outfit. Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson is certainly a fan.
“This is a good club and it’s total respect over the job they’ve done,” he says. “I love their story with the fan-owned situation and how, like ourselves, this club has had tough times but kept themselves going.”
Exeter’s mid-table standing these past three years is no mean feat in a division that has seen them go up against some relative behemoths, with Birmingham City the latest member of the Premier League alumni to visit St James Park after Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County, Ipswich Town and Portsmouth had all made the trip to the south west.
Wrexham may never have played higher than the second tier in their history, but this week’s revelation about the huge £26.7million turnover generated by last season’s League Two promotion at the STōK Cae Ras means they can be added to any list of League One clubs with exceptional financial muscle.
To put that figure — which is likely to have risen slightly for the current campaign — into context, Portsmouth, champions of this division in 2023-24, raked in £13.6m over the same financial period and runners-up Derby £19.4m.
Exeter’s accounts for the last full financial year are not yet available, but in 2022-23, annual turnover at St James Park stood at £5.8m, including £1.39m in transfer revenue. A profit of £312,000 was made in a season when the club finished 14th in League One.
Such prudency, and in particular the nurturing of young talent to sell on for profit, has characterised this era of fan ownership at St James Park. In the absence of a major benefactor, it has had to.
Sell-on clauses are particularly important, providing Exeter with timely windfalls on top of the initial fees paid for the likes of Ollie Watkins and Ethan Ampadu, sold to Brentford and Chelsea respectively in 2017.
Just two summers ago, Ampadu’s switch from Stamford Bridge to Leeds United earned his boyhood club more than £1m. Jay Stansfield’s move from Fulham to Birmingham City also proved lucrative, with the sell-on clause in his 2019 transfer to Craven Cottage expected to bring in a further £2m.
Not so long ago, a similar level of husbandry seemed to be Wrexham’s only hope of a brighter future after years of mismanagement and poor decision-making had culminated in the fans riding to the rescue in 2011.
For the next decade, the supporters’ trust ran the show with the backing of around 4,000 members paying their annual subs.
On-field success proved just out of reach, Wrexham bagging 98 points in 2011-12, only to be pipped to the Conference title by Fleetwood Town and then losing to Newport County 12 months later in the play-off final. The irony of Fleetwood and, to a lesser extent, Newport both benefiting from a rich backer was lost on no one.
Off the field, however, the trust transformed a club initially losing £750,000 per year to one that was debt-free and had cash in the bank when bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in February 2021.
Once Hollywood had arrived in north Wales, spending restraints went out of the window as the new owners attempted to turbo-charge an escape from non-League via a series of loans.
This ambition remained once back in the EFL, albeit — as the latest set of accounts reveal — with Wrexham now being run along more sustainable lines.
An £11m wage bill in 2023-24 may be beyond the comprehension of not only last year’s League Two clubs, but also most of Wrexham’s divisional peers this time around.
Sealing the win from the spot 👏
🔴⚪️ #WxmAFC pic.twitter.com/QpMqN85reC
— Wrexham AFC (@Wrexham_AFC) March 29, 2025
But it was made possible by that record-breaking turnover of £26.7m, raised in part by a seven-fold increase in sponsorship income to £13.1m, plus other substantial boosts to matchday and retail receipts.
This new-found sustainability on the back of such huge income levels also brings one very big benefit. Namely, how Wrexham — unlike others in League One, whose business model relies largely on selling players — can hang on to their best talent with a view to pushing even further up the leagues.
The performances of Max Cleworth and Arthur Okonkwo at this level have not gone unnoticed. The duo being calmness personified in the comfortable win over Gary Caldwell’s side will only have sharpened that interest.
Likewise how Sam Smith, Ollie Rathbone (who scored the game’s opener on Saturday), Ryan Longman, Lewis Brunt and George Dobson — all signed in the past 12 months amid a notable shift in recruitment policy that has started to bring the average age down and give the side more mobility — once again underlined their contribution to the promotion push.
The vast financial resources that have allowed Parkinson to recruit such talent mean there’s no real ceiling to how far the Welsh club can go. Unlike, perhaps, Exeter, due to the limitations of a fan-run setup that inevitably go with the commendable aspects, which on Saturday included a team of volunteers clearing rubbish from the stands within 15 minutes of the final whistle.
Wrexham are not fully there on the sustainability front. They did lose £2.7m in 2023-24 and a similar deficit is forecast for this season.
But, after all those years in north Wales of trying to make every pound do the work of a fiver as the supporters’ trust commendably kept the lights on, the time really has arrived for Wrexham to dream big.
(Top photo: Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)
Sports
Trump support drove wedge between former Mets star teammates, says sports radio star Mike Francesa
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New York sports radio icon Mike Francesa claims differing views on President Donald Trump created a divide within the Mets clubhouse.
Francesa said on his podcast Tuesday that a feud between shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who was recently traded to the Texas Rangers, was ignited by politics. Francesa did not disclose which player supported Trump and which didn’t.
“The Nimmo-Lindor thing, my understanding, was political, had to do with Trump,” Francesa said. “One side liked Trump, one side didn’t like Trump.”
New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) gestures to teammates after hitting an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York City. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)
Francesa added, “So, Trump splitting up between Nimmo and Lindor. That’s my understanding. It started over Trump… As crazy as that sounds, crazier things have happened.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Mets for a response.
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New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) and Brandon Nimmo (9) celebrate after a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 27, 2023, in New York City. The Mets won 7-2. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)
Nimmo was traded to the Rangers on Nov. 23 after waiving the no-trade clause in his 8-year, $162 million contract earlier that month.
The trade of Nimmo has been just one domino in a turbulent offseason for the Mets, which has also seen the departure of two other fan-favorites, first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Edwin Diaz.
All three players had been staples in the Mets’ last two playoff teams in 2022 and 2024, playing together as the team’s core dating back to 2020.
Brandon Nimmo #9 of the New York Mets celebrates an RBI single against the Philadelphia Phillies during the eighth inning in Game One of the Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Heather Barry/Getty Images)
In return for Nimmo, the Rangers sent second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets. Nimmo is 32 years old and is coming off a year that saw him hit a career-high in home runs with 25, while Semien is 35 and hit just 15 homers in 2025.
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Many of the MLB’s high-profile free agents have already signed this offseason. The remaining players available include Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette and Framber Valdez.
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Sports
FIFA responds to fan outrage, establishes new World Cup ticket tier with $60 prices
FIFA announced an affordable admission pricing tier for every nation that’s qualified for the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The supporter entry tier will make tickets available at a fixed price of $60 for every match, including the final, for each nation’s participating members associations.
The new tier comes after supporters’ groups from Europe called out FIFA on the dynamic pricing of tickets, which changes the value based on the popularity of the teams playing in each match.
“In total, 50% of each PMA allocation will fall within the most affordable range, namely supporter value tier (40%) and the supporter entry tier (10%),” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday. “The remaining allocation is split evenly between the supporter standard tier and the supporter premier tier.”
FIFA will also waive the administrative fees for fans who secure participating member association tickets. But if their teams do not advance, they can seek refunds.
Tickets sales were rolled out by FIFA in phases, with a third of the tournament’s inventory claimed during the first two phases. The third phase started on Dec. 11 and will go through to Jan. 13. During this period, fans have the opportunity to allocate tickets for a match based on a random selection draw.
Before the new tier was introduced, the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey would cost fans more than $4,000. The high prices raised concerns among European supporters.
“The prices set for the 2026 World Cup are scandalous, a step too far for many supporters who passionately and loyally follow their national sides at home and abroad,” the FSA, an organization of supporters for England and Wales, said in a statement posted on its website on Dec. 12. “Everything we feared about the direction in which FIFA wants to take the game was confirmed — Gianni Infantino only sees supporter loyalty as something to be exploited for profit.”
FIFA previously stated it adopted the variable pricing because it was common practice for major North America sporting events.
“What FIFA is doing is adapting to the domestic market,” a FIFA official said in the conference call. “It’s a reality in the U.S. and Canada that events are being priced as per the demand that is coming in for that event.”
A FIFA official told reporters before the first tickets went on sale that world soccer’s governing body expects to make more than $3 billion from hospitality and tickets sales and is confident the tournament will break the all-time World Cup attendance record set in 1994, the last time the men’s competition was held in the U.S.
That 1994 World Cup featured just 24 teams and 52 matches. The 2026 tournament will be twice as large, with 48 teams and 104 games.
FIFA said it received 20 million requests during the random selection draw sales.
SoFi Stadium will host eight matches, beginning with the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12. The Americans will finish group play in Inglewood on June 25, playing the winner of a March playoff involving Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania. Two Group G matches — Iran versus New Zealand on June 15 and Iran-Belgium on June 21 — also will be played in SoFi, sandwiched around a Group B match between Switzerland and the winner of another European playoff, this one featuring Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland.
The teams for the three knockout-stage games to be played at SoFi Stadium — round-of-32 games on June 28 and July 2 and a quarterfinal on July 10 — haven’t been determined, but the possibilities include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Austria and Algeria.
Staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.
Sports
Titans star Jeffery Simmons calls burglars ‘f—ing cowards’ after home break-in during game vs 49ers
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Tennessee Titans star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons ripped into those who burglarized his home while he played against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
There were “at least six suspects” who burglarized Simmons’ Nashville home, which came shortly after 7 p.m., the Metro Nashville Police Department told ESPN.
That was the exact time frame the Titans were facing the 49ers in the Bay Area.
Jeffery Simmons of the Tennessee Titans looks on during halftime against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Nissan Stadium on Nov. 30, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jeff Dean/Getty Images)
“What if any of my family members was in my house??” Simmons wrote on social media while showing security camera footage of the burglars trying to enter his home. “All that materialistic s—- you can have but this is crazy!”
Simmons also called the burglars “f—ing cowards,” though he was complimentary of the Metro Nashville PD.
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“I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Titans’ security team for their professionalism and swift response,” Simmons said in a statement. “Their dedication to ensuring the safety of our entire Nashville community does not go unnoticed. I remain thankful for God’s protection and grace.”
The suspects were said to have gained entry to Simmons’ home “after smashing out window glass,” while “multiple items were taken” in the process.
It’s unclear exactly what was taken from Simmons’ home.
Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) reacts after sacking Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (not pictured) during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 7, 2025. (Scott Galvin/Imagn Images)
Meanwhile, Simmons was able to find the end zone despite the loss to the 49ers, so a good personal performance came to a screeching halt once he found out the news.
But unfortunately, Simmons isn’t the only NFL star who has been burglarized while playing a game.
Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had it happen last season, as did Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. All of those burglaries were in connection with a South American theft group that was specifically targeting NFL and NBA players.
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Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders also saw $200,000 worth of property taken from his residence while they were playing the Baltimore Ravens earlier this season.
The Titans’ security team said it is “actively working” with local police to recover the stolen items.
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