Wrexham director claims promotion to Premier League would be ‘greatest sports story ever’

And Shaun Harvey, a former chief executive of the English Football League (EFL), has boldly claimed that it would rank as the best story in sport were promotion to materialise.

“Whatever happens, we’ve gone from being a non-league team to the best team in Wales by virtue of league position,” Harvey said at SportsPro London. “Our women’s team have won the league and are going to play in the Champions League.

“In any circumstances, our season should be viewed as, ‘we nearly made it’, rather than ‘we just missed out’. If we do make it to the play-offs on Saturday afternoon, we have the chance of going back-to-back-to-back-to-back promotions. If we achieve it – as others have said, and I agree – it would be the greatest sports story ever.”

Shaun Harvey is a director at Wrexham having previously been chief executive of the EFL (Getty)

Wrexham are projecting to turnover between £45m and £50m this year, the most of any Championship club not benefitting from Premier League parachute payments.

Club data suggests that they now have 27.6m fans globally, with 39 per cent female, and 9.5m supporters in the United States. That has, in part, been driven by the FX documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham.

Ipswich, Millwall and Middlesbrough are vying for the second automatic promotion place behind league winners Coventry City, with Southampton assured of a play-off spot. Derby County are also within striking distance of Wrexham in sixth.

Last year’s Championship play-off winners Sunderland banked an estimated £200m from promotion.