Universities and football clubs score winning partnerships

Premier League football clubs and Russell Group universities have long had tremendous pulling power for the United Kingdom, but now some universities outside the top flight are teaching higher education institutions a thing or two about maximising links with local football clubs to enhance their global reputation and recruitment efforts.

The latest to see the potential is Wrexham University in North Wales where the fortunes of the local team, the third-oldest professional football club in the world, have been transformed since the takeover by Hollywood heavyweights Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds in 2020.

Now back in the English Football League after a 15-year exile, Wrexham is riding high in League Two and pushing for promotion.

Its reputation as a team reborn gained global recognition thanks to the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series on streaming service Disney Plus which has helped it to win a new fanbase of international football supporters, particularly in the United States.

Wrexham rebrand

The university has been quick to capitalise on the football club’s newfound fame, rebranding itself simply as Wrexham University from its former self as Wrexham Glyndwr University, named after the medieval Welsh prince Owain Glyndwr who first suggested establishing universities throughout Wales in the early 15th century.

It has hired its first head of international relations, Katy Davenport, an American who was living in the area and previously worked as an international officer at the nearby University of Chester, across the border in North West England.

And it is looking west, as well as east, for international students and hoping to benefit from the flood of American and other foreign tourists making a beeline for Wrexham since the arrival of the Hollywood magic, according to a webinar organised by the IC Global Partnership, a network of global higher education professionals dedicated to internationalisation.

“It wasn’t until Rob and Ryan took over the club that I started to realise how football could be so transformative for the community,” Davenport told last month’s webinar, titled “Score a winning partnership: football, universities and community engagement”.

She admitted the TV documentary’s “no holds barred portrayal of Wrexham as a post-industrial city with friendly locals and a football club on the up” presents interesting challenges and opportunities, particularly when marketing to American audiences.

“It has certainly put Wrexham on the map, especially with American audiences and we’re trying to get the message across that as well as football, they should also consider Wrexham as a place to come for a quality education.

Blue-collar town appeal

“There’s no getting away from talking about Wrexham being a working-class, blue-collar town, that you’ll be coming to. That’s not normally seen as a selling point and makes us quite different from the red brick and Russell Group [universities] when we go to the United States,” she said.

Nevertheless, Davenport insists the Welsh university’s representatives have been getting a positive response at recruitment events in the United States, adding: “A lot of Americans can identify with a town like Wrexham as they have a similar working-class background.

“We may not necessarily be the prettiest of places, but a lot of Americans say to us, ‘I see a bit of Wrexham in me’, and we respond: ‘Why not come here for your education?’”

The webinar looked at how higher education and football clubs could support each other and, as well as Wrexham, looked at the experience of universities in and around Leicester, and Leicester City Football Club, which also had its fortunes transformed after civic-minded foreign owners took over the club.

Leicester makes headlines

Paul Angrave, associate director of public affairs at the University of Leicester, told the webinar’s international audience that outside Leicester, the city is known for two things: the football club winning the Premiership League in 2016 against 5,000 to 1 odds after the club was taken over by King Power and reinvigorated; and, from the university’s perspective, when its archaeologists helped in the discovery of the remains of King Richard III in a car park, which made international headlines.

“Leicester had its own Wrexham story,” said Angrave, a lifelong City fan. “It was a middling club, going up to the Premier League and then down again like a yo-yo.

Things started to change after the football club was taken over by a Thai-led consortium fronted by King Power’s Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who became chairman in 2011 and after a record-breaking season in 2013-14 which saw Leicester return to the Premier League as the Championship League title winners.

The next season saw Leicester City’s ‘Great Escape’ as they narrowly avoided the drop; and in 2016 they won the Premier League in one of the greatest sporting upsets in history.

Today, the opportunity to watch a Leicester City game is an essential part of any visit to the university, particularly for Chinese delegations.

“We can call the football club at five minutes’ notice and get 30 tickets for a game when we have Chinese visitors and they are all delighted to go home with Leicester City scarves,” he said.

Supporting health research

Just as is now happening in Wrexham, King Power proved true to their word about being community-focused owners of the football club and have made donations, both to the university and local hospital trust, particularly to support research to tackle Leicester’s poor record in child health, including sponsoring a professorship, said Angrave.

“Leicester has lots of socio-economic problems and the professorship is looking at premature births,” he told the webinar, adding that the city’s population is very diverse and has a majority non-white population, with many residents having Southeast Asian backgrounds.

“We’ve long welcomed people from all parts of the world and the three local universities – De Montfort, Loughborough and Leicester – are working strategically together and building connections with our communities, which is helping with our international marketing.”

Countering government’s ‘mixed messaging’

This is helping to counter the UK government’s “mixed messaging around international students, visa routes and reviews on immigration” and demonstrates how the three universities are working in partnership to promote the city’s attractions, including its ‘yo-yo’ football club which once again is pushing for promotion back into the Premiership.

Angrave said civic leaders had been involved in promoting the city to international students, adding: “We’re having a really interesting conversation about what Leicester can do to support international students when they are here and how we can work together better.

“It’s an unusual concept in the UK and great that we can get the message across that international students are valued by the community, which is something not always seen at the national level.”

Davenport said she is anxious to learn from Leicester’s experiences of higher education and the local football club working together as two pillars in the community, adding that Wrexham University already has some “incredible” sports courses, including a football coaching programme which the UEFA ‘B’ license.

University and club links

Davenport said links between the university and football club predate the Hollywood takeover as the university stepped in at one point in the not so distant past to save the club and Racecourse Ground (Wrexham FC’s stadium), which is situated next to the campus, from going bust.

Wrexham University owned the Racecourse Ground between 2011 and 2022 and sold the grounds back to the club a year after Reynolds and McElhenney completed their stunning takeover of the Red Dragons, according to the Goal sports news site.

The move was complicated because the Wrexham Supporters Trust wanted assurances about what would happen if and when the Hollywood pair sold on the club to another owner. Goal reported that the club purchased the freehold of the Racecourse Ground from Wrexham Glyndwr University for £2 million (US$2.5 million) in June 2022 – with a covenant agreed at that stage which would see the Welsh outfit remain in their current home until “at least 2115”.

The BBC announced the original agreement of Wrexham Glyndwr University to buy the Racecourse Ground in 2011, with the Supporters Trust calling the deal an “important step” in continuing football at the ground and the university’s then vice-chancellor, Professor Michael Scott, saying the purchase had been made to secure the stadium’s future.

No figures were given about how much the university paid for the club back in 2011, but university officials said at the time the deal had “not put any financial pressure on the university”.

‘Spirit of cooperation’

A spokesperson for Wrexham University told University World News: “The football ground was purchased [back in 2011] utilising university financial reserves at the time. Specific commercial details are confidential, but prices were based on independent valuations in both cases (the purchase several years ago, the leaseback in subsequent years). At all times, the university and the football club acted in an amicable spirit of collaboration and wanting to do the best for Wrexham, as well as our own organisations.”

She said the university originally stepped forward in the club’s hour of need as the only viable purchaser of the stadium, enabling the Wrexham Supporters Trust to concentrate on gaining the ownership of the club itself.

“As well as safeguarding the stadium for future generations, the acquisition also provided a top-class facility which provided a range of uses for the university’s students and staff.

“For the first five years the university took on responsibility for the running, maintenance and upkeep of the facility, before a 99-year lease was agreed with the Wrexham Supporters Trust in 2016, with the trust taking on responsibility for the stadium operation.

“With the club now owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, and its long-term future secure, the university felt it was the right time to facilitate the club taking ownership of the stadium once again.”

Nic Mitchell is a UK-based freelance journalist and PR consultant specialising in European and international higher education. He blogs at www.delacourcommunications.com