Key Takeaways
- Wrexham will begin their first season in the EFL Championship this weekend against Southampton, which some are referring to as the “Les Reed Derby”.
- Reed, who now works for the Red Dragons but was previously employed by the Saints, spoke to RG about the club's rapid rise through the English footballing system.
- “You can’t help but get passionate about Wrexham Football Club," Reed said in an exclusive interview.
Wrexham AFC players pose for a team photo (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
We are just a handful of days away from the 2025/26 EFL Championship season, with a plethora of eye-watering matches on the horizon. However, arguably the most enticing fixture of the weekend will take place on Saturday morning at St. Mary’s Stadium, as Southampton lock horns with Wrexham, a game that could otherwise be dubbed the Les Reed Derby.
Born on December 12, 1952, in the London suburb of Wapping, Reed was one of the 97,000 in attendance for the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final at Wembley, where England won their first and only major trophy at the senior level after beating Germany 4-2 in extra time. Reed played for England at the schoolboy level and bounced around from lower-league sides like Cambridge United, Watford, and Wycombe, but he never managed to make the grade as a top-level footballer.
Reed decided to start pursuing his coaching badges whilst he was still playing and studying for a physical education teaching degree at college. He commenced his coaching career with non-league sides Finchley and Wealdstone, winning the Football Conference and FA Trophy with the latter, before joining the Football Association as a development officer in 1986.
Making His Mark in England And Abroad
Whilst he was never able to fulfill his childhood dreams of playing for the Three Lions, Reed nevertheless left an indelible mark on the England national team, working at the FA for nine years in a variety of roles from Regional Director of Coaching as well as coaching at the FA National School, shaping several future England internationals like Joe Cole, Sol Campbell, and Michael Owen. In 1990, he traveled to Italy for his first of three World Cups with England, before eventually departing in 1995 to become Alan Curbishley's assistant at Charlton Athletic.
“Alan Curbishley took his initial coaching course as well as his full license with me as his tutor. I must have impressed him because when he went from Charlton’s reserves to the first team, he called me and asked me to go to the Championship as his assistant,” stated Reed in an exclusive interview with RG. “I had to make a decision – do I stay with the FA and keep coaching England youth teams? I decided I might not get another opportunity like this, so I went to Charlton. We got promoted to the Premier League, and I think that’s where my reputation began to develop – that was the turning point. That phone call from Alan probably took me in a direction and gave me the confidence and a reputation that I've had ever since then.”
Reed returned to the FA in 1998 as the Director of Technical Development; two years later, when England coughed up a two-goal advantage in the Euros and lost 3-2 to Portugal, England manager Kevin Keegan allowed Reed to respond to nearly all of the questions from journalists in the post-match presser. But whilst he has made a name for himself in English football over the past half-century in one capacity or another, he’s also worked abroad in a number of countries like Northern Ireland, South Africa, the Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong, South Africa, China, Thailand, Ghana, and Zimbabwe.
He worked as Charlton Athletic manager and Fulham’s Director of Football before joining Southampton on April 16, 2010, as the club’s Head of Football Development and Support. One year later, Reed was promoted to Vice-Chairman, overseeing the youth academy, scouting and recruitment, sports medicine and science, and kit and equipment management and playing an instrumental role as Southampton elevated themselves from England’s third tier to a consistent Premier League presence, in addition to reaching the 2017 EFL Cup Final. Reed departed in 2018 and worked as the Technical Director at the FA, but it wasn’t long before he was back in club management.
Working His Magic at Wrexham
In the spring of 2021, Reed received an intriguing proposal from Wrexham Football Club, asking him to join as an advisor to the board. Wrexham were in the process of a takeover by actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds through Wrexham Holdings LLC, and they immediately entrusted Reed with making major decisions like replacing their manager (his choice, Phil Parkinson, has remained in charge for the past four years), as well as picking which players to retain and which to cut ties with. Four decades after playing for Watford under the administration of famed rock star Elton John, Reed was now going to be working in a different celebrity ownership.
“Elton bought the club he supported as a local boy when they were struggling and saved it, but Ryan and Rob are just as crazily passionate about the people, the fans, the community. They want people to be having fun and enjoying good football, they want to win, they want to be excited, and they want to be the best. Just like Elton, they understand that they may be the driving force behind it, but they don't necessarily know the landscape, know the game, know the intricacies of the industry, and therefore get good people around them who do know.
They’ve been similar experiences for me – at one end, I was on the pitch, running around, but playing in the reserves as Watford were getting promoted, whereas at Wrexham, I’m working closely with the Chief Executive on football strategy matters like appointing a new women's head coach and building out the infrastructure at the club for the future.”
“The team, and the results on the pitch, have far outstripped the speed at which we've been able to build the infrastructure. There’s still an awful lot to do in terms of rebuilding parts of the stadium and potentially even a new stadium. The academy had to be built, we’re the only team in the Championship without a training ground and instead use the FA of Wales’ national center."
"I would work with the CEO and the Board in terms of advice around those infrastructure matters as well as with Phil to rebuild the squad for the Championship transfer strategy and advising the Board whether it’s a good deal, whether we’re paying too much or too little, or what it will take to get this player.
That's chaotic at this time of year, so part of my role is to try and take as much pressure off Phil as possible. Wrexham are just one of my clients, and I work remotely. 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 who want to find the next Wrexham or the next Southampton.”
Eyes on The Prize
With Reed helping to steer the ship, Wrexham have been able to make the most bang for their buck and skyrocket through the English footballing pyramid. After finishing second in 2021/22, Wrexham finished atop the National League the following year, ending a run of 15 straight seasons in the fifth division, before placing second in EFL League Two and returning to the third division for the first time since 2004/05.
They didn’t stay there long, finishing second and becoming the first team in the history of England’s top five divisions to be promoted in three straight seasons. What’s more, they’ve accrued a worldwide fanbase thanks to the sports documentary television series Welcome to Wrexham, which has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards and two Critics' Choice Television Awards since launching in 2022.
Reed’s experience and wisdom have proven vital in the ascent of Wrexham, who are the third-oldest professional football team in the world. They have spent a total of €12.8 million on eight new players this summer, many of whom boast Championship and Premier League experience like England international defender Conor Coady, and all signs point to Wrexham continuing their squad rebuild as they prepare for their first season in the second division since 1981/82.
A successful Championship team needs to bring that average age down and have more robust, youthful athletes in the team. We’re trying to become the profile of a strongly competitive Championship club, and whilst we will do our best to keep expectations under control, it’s inevitable that attention is going to be on Wrexham.”
“You can’t help but get passionate about Wrexham Football Club, it goes with the job, but the important thing is to remain calm and keep the hand on the tiller because there are no guarantees that even if we get off to a great start, we’ll be able to sustain it. We have to keep calm, remain stable, build the right team, and then do our homework on our opponents. But that won't change the fact that we will go out to win. This isn't about ‘Let's just apply tactics that help us survive on this level. We want to be competitive at this level, we want our fans to have the same thrill that they've had over the last three seasons.”
