Ruben Selles was the first manager in the EFL to be relieved of his duties this season after an awful start to the campaign at Sheffield United, and Wrexham’s Phil Parkinson may not be far behind.
Wrexham’s Remarkable Rise
In February 2021, Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney completed their takeover of Wrexham AFC who were playing in the National League at the time. The Welsh club would finish the season eighth in the table, narrowly missing out on a playoff spot by a single point.
Manager Dean Keates would leave the club the next day with Phil Parkinson replacing him. Parkinson’s first season in charge would be slightly more successful as Wrexham finished second on 88 points.
However, they would miss out on the title to Stockport County on the final day, sending them into the notoriously difficult National League playoffs. As they had finished second in the table, Wrexham went straight into the semi-finals where they would play Grimsby Town.
After a thrilling 90 minutes the two teams were tied at four goals each, but unfortunately the Red Dragons would once again fall at the final hurdle, as Luke Waterfall would give Grimsby the win in the 119th minute. The next season, the Reds would find themselves embroiled in an incredible title race with Notts County.
Unlike the previous two seasons however, Wrexham would get over the line this time, winning the League with 111 points, four clear of County. A key figure in their triumph was former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster who came out of retirement in March.
Wrexham were back in the Football League for the first time since 2008. This didn’t faze them in the slightest and they would go on to accumulate 92 points and achieve back-to-back promotions.
Now finding themselves in League One, how would they fare? As it turned out, incredibly well.
They would finish second once again, becoming the first team to achieve three consecutive promotions in the history of England’s top five leagues. This season they, of course, find themselves in the Championship and this is where many expected them to struggle, and so far, those people are being proved right.
New Season Struggles
After the first five games of the season, Wrexham sit 21st in the table with only four points to their name, which has sparked rumours of a potential managerial change.
https://talksport.com/football/3551645/wrexham-talks-phil-parkinson-future-ryan-reynolds-qpr
Those who expected Wrexham to struggle in the Championship did so because even when they were in the 5th tier, following the takeover, Wrexham had a team that would have easily been able to compete in League One but the step up from League One to the Championship is by far the biggest step up in quality that they have faced so far. Some were even speculating on Parkinson’s future before the season had even begun as many were unsure if he was good enough.
It has been difficult to judge Parkinson since he got the job because of how much Wrexham had been spending and the quality of their squad, but now that Wrexham are now the small fish in a big pond, some believe that Parkinson has been exposed. Aside from their opening game against Southampton which they were winning in the 89th minute and somehow managed to lose, they haven’t really played any of the top teams in the division.
They lost to West Brom who have made a good start. They drew with Sheffield Wednesday who are in crisis.
A win over Millwall followed but they were brought back down to earth at the weekend, losing 3-1 at home to QPR. They are still in the EFL Cup having beaten Hull City on penalties and Preston North End 3-2 at Deepdale.
Something that is surely not helping Parkinson is the number of players at his disposal. Wrexham’s squad currently consists of 33 players, the joint most in the division.
You would think that this would be a positive as Parkinson would have many different options he could turn to. But, having that many players can certainly be a hinderance.
Only a certain number of players can make the squad, meaning a lot of players have to miss out and they won’t like that one bit. In addition, because they have been giving out such high wages to tempt players from higher divisions, once the ability of the squad passes players by (which has already happened in some cases) the club will struggle to offload said players as clubs in League One and Two won’t be able to afford their wages.
The Future
No matter if this is Parkinson’s last season in charge of Wrexham, you cannot deny that he has done a fantastic job, despite the levels of investment. To give credit to Ryan and Rob, not only have they provided the club with significant financial backing, but in a time where incredibly rich people invest in football clubs for the sole purpose of making money, despite not knowing anything about the sport, the pair really seem to have embraced the football club and genuinely want it to succeed for reasons which are not solely financial.
If Parkinson is given the sack, it would be interesting to see who would take the job. Given the amount of money that a new manager would have at their disposal, it is surely an attractive proposition.
