Dean Saunders predicts how long Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney will stay at Wrexham

Former Wales international Dean Saunders has given his verdict on how long Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney will stay at Wrexham.

The 60-year-old managed the Red Dragons between 2008 and 2011 and has been keeping a close eye on the meteoric rise of his old club under the two Hollywood actors.

Wrexham have earned successive promotions under Phil Parkinson in the last two seasons and are currently third in League One.

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A common taunt from the North Wales side’s opponents is that Reynolds and McElhenney will soon get bored of running the club and sell up, but Saunders believes the project has turned into “something they love”.

However, the ex-Liverpool and Aston Villa striker has warned that the pair will need to keep spending big if they want to achieve their dream of taking Wrexham all the way to the Premier League.

Saunders told Goal.com: “It’s how deep are your pockets. After watching how much it cost to run Wrexham in the Conference, I could see how much was going out and coming in.

“They will be putting their hand in their pocket now but, because of who they are, they have managed to get sponsorship deals from all angles – TikTok, the TV show has made them millions.

“I would actually guess that they haven’t had to put that much money in because they have so much coming in from commercial deals that it’s probably balancing the books.

“But when you start putting your hand in your pocket for a number of years and you start getting stick off the crowd, you start getting dodgy results, the money you are putting in is not showing on the pitch, some owners get bored.”

Quizzed further on whether he thought Reynolds and McElhenney were in it for the long haul, he added: “If they are in it for the wrong reasons then they can get bored. But I think these two lads, it’s like a hobby that has turned into something they love.

“It does mean you put more money in than you want to, but I can’t see them getting bored of it. I can see them expanding it.”

Wrexham’s co-owners have previously expressed their desire to increase the capacity of the Racecourse Ground from 13,000 to as much as 55,000.

Saunders insists there is huge potential for the club due to the demand for tickets sparked by interest from within Wales and overseas.

He said: “From Wrexham to Cardiff is like three hours and in that space there are no Football League clubs. The catchment area for Wrexham is amazing.

“Once it catches fire, they could get 30-40,000 in the stadium. They might see the potential in that.

“I don’t know what they are thinking, and they are a long way away as well – they aren’t there every day – but so far, so good.”