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
Danica Patrick reflects on 'emotionally abusive' relationship with Aaron Rodgers: 'wore me down to nothing'
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Former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick shared the agony of her relationship and breakup with NFL star Aaron Rodgers, during an appearance on the Sage Steele Show.
“The breakup with Aaron in 2020, because it was sudden,” Patrick said when asked what was the most painful experience.
“It felt like it was my life. So when you live with somebody, it’s your whole life… And because the nature of the relationship was emotionally abusive, so that wore me down to nothing.”
Danica Patrick and Aaron Rodgers made their red carpet debut at the 2018 ESPY Awards in July. (AP)
Patrick claims that Rogers “leaves a trail of blood.”
“Someone that you know, people could never imagine that I would lack any confidence, or belief in the simple things about who I am. Everything was torn to bits. He leaves a trail of blood. I don’t think I’m saying too much earth-shattering stuff after we — there’s been enough out there,” Patrick said.
“But it gave me the greatest gift, which is myself. It gave me the greatest gift of how much I needed to show up for myself and take care of myself.”
Rodgers and Patrick went public with their relationship in January 2018 after first meeting at the ESPY Awards in 2012.
FORMER NASCAR DRIVER DANICA PATRICK ANNOUNCES PIVOT TO TENNIS
Danica Patrick on the starting grid before the Montreal Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. (David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports)
At the time, a rep for the “Pretty Intense” podcast host and entrepreneur confirmed to Fox News that the pair were an item.
Meanwhile, Patrick told The Associated Press that she and Rodgers first crossed paths in 2012 at The ESPY Awards.
“I told him a long time ago I’d always root for him as a player,” she recalled to the outlet. “Now I am probably going to cheer for the whole team. Take out the word ‘probably.’ Now I’m going to cheer for the whole team.”
In November 2019, the pair appeared to be going strong, with Patrick even joking on “The Jenny McCarthy Show” about a proposal.
When asked when she’d get married, Patrick jokingly responded, “Um, [tomorrow] — wait, no, what?”
Back in August 2017, Rodgers opened up to ESPN, explaining it’s not always easy dating when all eyes are on you.
Aaron Rodgers recently gushed over his girlfriend Danica Patrick. (Getty Images)
“When you are living out a relationship in the public eye, it’s definitely… it’s difficult,” he said. “It has some extra constraints because you have other opinions about your relationship, how it affects your work and, you know, just some inappropriate connections… There’s some horrible media outlets that… you say something or do something, where there’s a story, and they just go with it and run with it.”
The couple then confirmed their breakup in July 2020.
Patrick later opened up on the breakup during an appearance on National Geographic’s “Running Wild with Bear Grylls” and told the survivalist that she learned a ton about herself during the public breakup.
“I think we learn the most about ourselves through relationships, but there’s nothing like heartbreak to really throw you in the deep end of that,” Patrick said, according to Yahoo! Entertainment. “But I’ve learned a lot and as broken open as I was on the sad end, I have felt so much joy in so many more instances and so many more unlikely places than I ever have, so it’s like my heart got broken open to both ends of the spectrum.”
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Twenty-two seasons ago, LeBron James entered the NBA with almost unbelievable expectations, the fate of a franchise in Cleveland and a league hungry for a new star on his back.
Twenty-two years later, the Lakers’ star exceeded even the most outlandish predictions, winning championships in three different cities, scoring more points than anyone in league history and authoring the kind of sustained greatness that’s unmatched across sport.
And if you needed proof, more was offered Friday.
A panel of media voters selected James to the league’s All-NBA second team — the 21st year he’s been voted all-league on one of the three teams. His 21 All-NBA appearances is six more than Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Kobe Bryant andf Tim Duncan, who are tied with the second at 15.
Despite turning 40 in late December, James played 70 games and averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists while shooting 51.3% from the field and 37.6% from three. His 78.2% shooting from the free-throw line was a career best.
Clippers guard James Harden made All-NBA third team, his eighth All-NBA selection and first since 2020.
League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell made first team All-NBA.
Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards and Evan Mobley joined James on the second team while Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Haliburton, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Williams were with Harden on the third team.
James, who suffered a sprained medial collageral ligament in the Lakers’ final game of the first round, has a $52-million player option for next season. If he declines the option, he’d be an unrestricted free agent.
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Tensions were high in the early going between the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream Thursday night.
The two teams were 48 hours removed from a battle that came down to the final seconds, which the Dream won, 91-90. So, maybe there was some carryover.
With less than 30 seconds to go in the first quarter, Caitlin Clark and Rhyne Howard exchanged some words and had to be separated. Howard was playing full-court defense on Clark, who was dribbling up the court.
Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard (10) argues with Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) in the first half at State Farm Arena. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
Refs whistled the play, and the two bumped into one another. Both appeared to extend an arm, and Clark began to walk away from the situation before Howard took a step forward. But one of Howard’s teammates quickly stepped in and led Howard away.
“I’m not scared of you,” Clark appeared to say, and she was backed by her teammates.
Despite the tense moment Thursday, they shared a funny one earlier this month in the preseason, when Howard jokingly picked at Clark’s ear after their exhibition, prompting a laugh from Clark.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark talks to a referee during a game against the Atlanta Dream at State Farm Arena. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
‘AROUND THE HORN’ PANELIST QUESTIONS IF ESPN CANCELED SHOW DUE TO POTENTIAL ‘WOKE’ LABEL
It was a slow night overall for Clark, who had just six points heading into the fourth quarter. She had 27 points two nights earlier against Atlanta.
Indiana trailed, 75-71, with just over two minutes to go, but it ended the game on a 10-1 run. Clark added five points in the fourth quarter to finish with 11.
Clark’s teammate, Natasha Howard, led the way with 26 points, while Rhyne Howard dropped 24.
The scuffle between Clark and Howard came five days after Clark and Angel Reese had to be separated. Clark was called for a flagrant foul on Reese, who then had words for Clark.
The incident prompted an investigation into alleged hateful comments toward Reese by fans at the game. Reese reposted a TikTok that said she is “unsafe” playing in Indiana.
Caitlin Clark, right, of the Indiana Fever yells at Rhyne Howard (10) of the Atlanta Dream after an altercation during the first quarter at State Farm Arena May 22, 2025, in Atlanta. (Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
The Fever are back in action Saturday against the reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty in Indianapolis at 1 p.m. ET.
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