Wrexham’s James McClean rises the trophy as they win the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Wrexham fans celebrate after their team won the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds, left, and Rob McElhenney, right, speak before the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Fletcher leaves Wrexham ‘not by choice’ as ambitious team rebuilds for life in Championship
WREXHAM, Wales (AP) 鈥 Wrexham continued its squad reconstruction ahead of a season in the second-tier Championship by releasing one of its most renowned players 鈥 against his will.
Wrexham’s James McClean rises the trophy as they win the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
WREXHAM, Wales (AP) 鈥 Wrexham continued its squad reconstruction ahead of a season in the second-tier Championship by releasing one of its most renowned players 鈥 against his will.
Steven Fletcher, a former Premier League player who scored some crucial goals to help Wrexham earn a , took to social media to say he’d be leaving the ambitious Welsh club.
鈥淚t鈥檚 with a heavy heart, and not by choice, that I unfortunately have to announce my departure from what I can only describe as the most magical club I have ever played at!鈥 .
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
The 38-year-old striker said he fell back in love with soccer by joining Wrexham, a club whose notoriety has rocketed since being bought by Hollywood celebrities Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and becoming the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary 鈥 鈥淲elcome to Wrexham.鈥 鈥淚n my 22 years of stepping onto a pitch, I have never experienced anything like this club,鈥 the former Scotland international wrote.
鈥淭o my team mates 鈥 you are family!鈥 he added. “I have never experienced a dressing room like it in my career, and I can鈥檛 believe I don鈥檛 get to walk in there every day next season.”
Fletcher finished a long message by thanking Reynolds and McElhenney for the opportunity to play for Wrexham.
Wrexham will need to improve the quality of its squad after rising to the second tier, a level the club hasn’t played since the 1980s and just one more promotion away from the Premier League.
Another striker who might be leaving is , a star player in previous promotion campaigns but who was overlooked by Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson for much of the second half of the season.
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