The Gillingham owner, Brad Galinson, issues warning and wants to find a fix as costs spiral amid ‘the Wrexham effect’
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rad Galinson has a warning for anyone looking to invest in English football’s lower leagues. “Almost every single club in the EFL is about seven days away from suffering the same fate as Sheffield Wednesday,” the Gillingham owner says. “Everyone is chasing dreams.”
Many have blamed the “Wrexham effect” for spiralling costs as investors from all over the world have flocked to buy clubs down the pyramid. Only two in League One have a playing budget of less than £3.5m this season compared with 13 two years ago, and several are thought to be operating on more than £10m.
In a division where the median loss among the 24 clubs last season was £5.2m, the majority of that money is being spent on player salaries. Galinson, an American who has provided an interest-free loan of almost £7m to help cover Gillingham’s £13m in losses since he bought a majority stake in the Kent club in 2022, says there has been similarly rapid inflation in League Two budgets over the past five years.
