Parkinson Reflects on Five Years at Wrexham
Phil Parkinson (centre) with Ryan Reynolds (left) and Rob Mac hold the National League Trophy in 2023
Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson has reflected on the club's progress in the five years since his appointment but emphasized there remains "a lot more work" to be done.
Parkinson was appointed by the club's Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac in July 2021 following the departure of Dean Keates.
The 58-year-old has guided the club from the National League to the Championship and is currently the division's longest-serving manager.
"It's an amazing stat when you look at that and it shows the nature of the industry and the job," Parkinson said.
"It's been a great five years and I've really enjoyed it."
Under Parkinson's leadership, Wrexham have achieved three successive promotions and last season finished seventh in the Championship, narrowly missing out on the play-offs.
Ahead of the new campaign, Wrexham's squad returned this week to pre-season training at the Carden Park resort near Chester.
"This is where we started," Parkinson told Wales.
"When I first came in five years ago, we were training on the same pitch.
Me and Steve have been talking about how the squad's evolved over the years, the group we inherited in that pre-season and the staff.
You look around now, we've built a really strong medical team, sports science department and where we were in that period and how things have progressed.
And of course, there's still a lot more work to be done."
Upcoming Matches and Transfer Plans
Wrexham will face Cardiff in the EFL season-opening derby. Discussions continue around whether the club will pursue evolution or revolution in their transfer plans.
Off-Field Developments
Progress on the pitch is matched by off-field developments including the construction of the new Kop Stand and a new pavilion at Colliers Park, Wrexham's former training ground now owned by the Football Association of Wales and Wrexham University.
"What is great for us, people can see the stands coming up and the module at Colliers taking shape as well," Parkinson added.
"As the club's progressed on the pitch - the training facilities in particular - it's been difficult to keep pace.
Even though Colliers are great with us and the pitches are good, to have our own base there now is going to be a huge advantage because we're up against teams with state-of-the-art training grounds.
Even in League One, a lot of teams have got really top-class facilities and we need that to attract players.
It's progress we needed to make and when we come back from America, that should be ready to go into."
Pre-Season Tour and Friendlies
Wrexham are scheduled to face Sunderland, Liverpool, and Leeds United during their tour of the United States later this month.
Before the US tour, they will travel to Poland to play Wisla Krakow in their opening pre-season friendly this Saturday, followed a week later by a friendly against Manchester United in Helsinki.
"In terms of going to Krakow and Helsinki, that helps generate the revenue which we need to put into the budget to help us going forward," Parkinson said.
"And obviously, the America trip is important.
So, as we've always done, we've embraced those trips and I think it's a very exciting pre-season for us."
