PARKY EYES A CAREER HIGH!
PHIL Parkinson says ending Wrexham’s 14-year exile from the Football League would equal anything he has achieved as a manager.
The Dragons will clinch the National League title this afternoon if they win at Dagenham & Redbridge and Stockport County lose at home to FC Halifax Town.
“It would be right up there,” said Parkinson, whose CV includes promotion to the Championship with Colchester United and an historic appearance in the EFL Cup final with League Two Bradford City.
“You just can’t underestimate the magnitude of getting a team back into the EFL. I know a lot of other teams can say the same thing, but Wrexham shouldn’t be in Non-League.
“To get this club back where it belongs… you can feel what it means. Not just now, but every day since
I came in, you can feel the supporters are desperate for it. Our job is to bring that wait to an end.”
Wrexham’s rise to the summit of the National League has been fueled by the backing of Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who bought the club in 2021 and have spent the season making a fly-on-the-wall documentary – Welcome to Wrexham – about their first season.
It is the sort of attention that can derail a dressing room (ask George Honeyman for his thoughts the Netflix documentary Sunderland Til I Die) but Parkinson says his team have enjoyed the extra pressure and will do so again at the Vic this afternoon.
“With everything going on, there is a lot of added publicity and extra exposure that you wouldn’t normally get with a club at this level,” he explains. “We’ve also had sell out crowds all the time here. The atmosphere has been incredible, like a throwback with the whole crowd singing and getting behind the team. They’ve had such an uplift from the owners coming in and there’s maybe an expectation that wasn’t here before.
“That’s great. That’s what we want. But it meant we had to get players who would stand tall and say ‘OK, I enjoy being in the spotlight – the bigger the crowd, the better I play’.
“I feel we’ve got a good core of those players who’ve really embraced the cameras being around us, the big away followings, the pressure games.
“What they’ve got – above all – is belief. When we beat Dover 6-5, we were 5-2 down with 25 or 30 minutes to go. But even then, there was an incredible belief amongst the players and the supporters that we could come back. That will be there on Sunday.”
Potential
Of course, belief will only get Wrexham so far. To win the title, Wrexham are relying on a Halifax team that has already qualified for the play-offs beating an expensively-assembled Stockport side with everything to play for.
Perhaps it is a long shot, and Parkinson – whose side face Bromley in the FA Trophy final at Wembley next weekend – knows his side will probably have to win promotion the hard way.
“One thing we’ve said to the lads right through the last month is that they have to be ready – mentally and physically – to go to the last minute of the play-off final if that’s what it takes.
“If it happens before that, fantastic. But we have to be prepared. And if there is a disappointment on Sunday then what a great game we’ve got to look forward to, playing at Wembley the following weekend.
“Not many players ever get the chance to do that, and some supporters never get to see their team at Wembley.
“That will lift us if it doesn’t go our way and if the play-offs come then I guarantee they’ll be ready for that.”
And if Wrex- ham do finish the job, Parkinson says the sky is the limit.
“This club is a sleeping giant, it really is,” he says. “It’s a club that represents the whole of North Wales.
“It’s not since I’ve been here that I’ve really seen the passion for this club. When you walk round Wrexham, you don’t see any Liverpool or Manchester United shirts. If you live in Wrexham, you support Wrexham. There’s so much potential here
“The hard job is getting out. If we were to get over the finishing line – either on Sunday or through the play-offs – then this club can take off.”