- Records broken with three successive promotions
- Adjusting to life in second tier of English football
- Parkinson advised to tinker with tactical approach
The Red Dragons have enjoyed a meteoric rise, with the EFL history books being rewritten when celebrating three successive promotions. Hollywood co-owners have helped to lift the Welsh outfit into the second tier of English football.
Competing in the Championship was always going to be difficult, even with big spending taken into account, and Wrexham have picked up four points from as many games at the start of the 2025-26 campaign. They have been warned that they could be dragged into a basement battle if Phil Parkinson does not tinker with his tactical approach.
Former Football League star turned pundit Don Goodman told Coin Poker: “If you look at those first five games in all competitions, they conceded 12 goals, so I think the clean sheet away at Millwall will please Phil Parkinson. It’s been a baptism of fire. They found it tough. It may surprise some people that they’ve found it difficult because I think some people got a little bit carried away with this rise through the leagues. But I’m really confident it hasn’t surprised Phil Parkinson. He would have understood the big, big gulf for most League One teams between League One and the Championship, and that’s why there’s been so many new signings.
“They’ve signed Ben Sheaf, and that just tells me there is a recognition that they need to change the way they go about things. Because I think in the Championship, you tend to be in a relegation battle if you’re in the low 40s in terms of possession. That’s where Wrexham are at, there’s only a couple of teams that have had less than them.
“I think only Derby County and Oxford United at this point have averaged less possession than Wrexham, and neither of those two teams have won a game of football yet. The trend is usually that clubs with super low possession, and high thirties or low forties is super low, usually end up in a relegation fight. That is pretty factual, I would say. So, currently I do think that the gap remains similar because Wrexham have got work to do.”
Goodman went on to say, with it being pointed out that Tom Brady’s Birmingham appear better suited to life in the Championship, as, after landing the League One title with 111 points last season, they like to see more of the ball: “Wrexham, on the other hand, you feel are going to have to adapt a little bit more. But when you look at them bringing in the likes of Conor Cody, Callum Doyle, Lewis O’Brien and Ben Sheaf, these are players with quality on the ball. I do think that Phil Parkinson will recognise that if he wants to win games and get points, they’re going to have to control the ball. I’m not saying they need to have 55% of the ball, I’m saying there are pockets of games. where you’re going to have control of things. I think the signings that they’ve made are maybe a slight recognition of that.”
Reynolds and McElhenney helped to make funds available during the summer transfer window of 2025 that allowed Wrexham to splash out over £30 million ($41m) on new recruits. The challenge now is bringing the best out of a much-changed squad and getting everyone performing at their full potential.
