It has been nothing short of a meteoric rise for Wrexham.
The Red Dragons have become the first team in the history of English football to achieve three consecutive promotions, advancing all the way to the EFL Championship, where they kicked off their time in the second tier with consecutive draws to Southampton and West Brom before holding Sheffield Wednesday to a 2-2 draw.
They got off the mark on August 30 after winning 2-0 against Millwall, only to fall to a 3-1 defeat to QPR in their first match after the September international break, and they will be seeking to bounce back at the weekend against Norwich City.
One of the most important figures in Wrexham’s rise has been Les Reed.
Born in Wapping, England, Reed never quite managed to make his mark as a player at Cambridge United, Watford, or Wycombe Wanderers, but he has nevertheless established an indelible legacy in the UK thanks to his work over the past four decades. After starting off as a coach in non-league football, coaching both Finchley and Wealdstone, Reed worked at the FA for nine years in a variety of roles, including Regional Director of Coaching and coach at The FA National School, before departing in 1995 to become Alan Curbishley’s assistant at Charlton Athletic.
He then returned to the FA, where he spent several years before working at Charlton again as a consultant, an assistant coach and the manager, before briefly serving as first-team coach at Fulham and then taking over as Director of Football. Reed hasn’t just left a massive footprint in England, but in other countries like Northern Ireland, South Africa, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Ghana, and Zimbabwe, first making inroads overseas with his coaching initiatives in Ghana in 1982.
Reed has racked up a laundry list of employers across his football career, but it’s safe to say that his masterpiece came at Southampton. When Reed took charge on April 16, 2010, as the club’s Head of Football Development and Support, Southampton found themselves in trouble both on and off the pitch, with the club’s ownership group facing administration.
Reed steered the ship and allowed Southampton to start punching above their weight and soaring through the ranks, earning back-to-back promotions in his first two full seasons and consolidating their presence as a perennial Premier League side, in addition to reaching an EFL Cup Final. Reed proved instrumental in their ascent and was even promoted to Vice-Chairman, overseeing four main areas: the Youth Academy, Scouting and Recruitment, Sports medicine and Science, and Kit and Equipment Management, before departing the club after eight years.
He returned for a brief spell at the FA before being offered a position as an advisor to Wrexham’s board in the summer of 2021. Wrexham were just wrapping up a season that saw them finish eighth in the English fifth tier, and that had seen Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds take ownership of the club. They needed someone with the wherewithal to guide them to the promised land, and they zeroed in on one of the most experienced names in the industry.
“My role is twofold: to work closely with the Chief Executive on football strategy matters like appointing a new women’s head coach (Jenny Sugarman). We are looking to build out the infrastructure at the club for the future to potentially challenge for promotion, as well as build the academy and a potential training ground/stadium for the future,” stated Reed in an exclusive Joy Sports interview.
“I got involved because my business is about advising owners on acquisitions of football clubs, so I still do that in the background with other interested parties, people who want to find the next Wrexham or the next Southampton. Advising would-be owners is preferable because they don’t make the mistakes before they buy the club, but I’m often called in after they’ve bought the club when they find a few skeletons in the cupboard and want some of them fixed. Wrexham are my primary client, but that doesn’t mean there’s not another one around the corner.”
“I can’t divulge my other clients because I’m bound by nondisclosure agreements, but I get a lot of inquiries from American investors because of the potentially undervalued clubs compared to how much it costs to buy franchises in the USA. But also, I think Wrexham’s had a little bit to do with that. It’s become a bit more popular; there are other Middle Eastern investors, but they range from high-net-worth individuals to private equity, venture capital investors. It’s a big market at the moment for investment in European football.”
With Reed running the ship, Wrexham have been able to soar through the English football pyramid and make their way to the doorstep of the Premier League. He’s helped to pull the strings and advise them on which decisions to make and which to avoid. However, Wrexham is far from his only gig.
“I also work for UEFA on a number of development programs and teaching clinics. I ran a few programs with them around sporting directorship, scouting and recruitment. I work for the Professional Footballers Association here in England, training future sporting directors through the University of Portsmouth. We run a program on football business management and sporting directorship, and another university course that is delivered by a company called Focus in Switzerland and Zurich. Hopefully, we’re developing the next Les Reed, and it will help me increase the network of people who might be valuable to a client who’s looking to appoint a sporting director or a head of recruitment, or something like that in the future.”
Wrexham will be looking to secure a third straight away win at Carrow Road before facing off against Reading on Tuesday in the third round of the EFL Cup.