Big Phil Parkinson question mark is looming over Wrexham AFC | OneFootball

Phil Parkinson has done an excellent job at Wrexham, but there will be concerns over his limitations ahead of their Championship campaign.

As Wrexham prepare for the Championship having gained three successive promotions from the National League, the Red Dragons are building a squad to go again and be more than competitive in the second-tier, but the big question will be with regards to the level of manager Phil Parkinson.

Wrexham have enjoyed a rapid rise from non-league football to just one promotion away from the Premier League, with the owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds delivering what they set out to achieve when they first took over the club, and quite a lot more.

Now, as they prepare for a season in the second-tier of English football, there will be a belief they can once again challenge for promotion this season, and they have certainly tried to again be ambitious in the transfer window.

Ryan Hardie has moved to the Racecourse Ground from Plymouth Argyle, with Danny Ward arriving on a free transfer from Leicester City, whilst New Zealand international Liberato Cacace has joined alongside Bolton Wanderers captain George Thomason, Sheffield Wednesday’s top scorer last season Josh Windass and Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O’Brien.

With reports suggesting they are also closing in on the signing of Nathan Broadhead from Ipswich Town, the Wrexham squad is beginning to resemble a genuine promotion challenger for the 2025/26 Championship campaign.

However, as the squad evolves and develops, question marks over the ability and quality of manager Phil Parkinson at a higher level will perhaps be the biggest area of concern ahead of the new season.

Parkinson has done an excellent job at Wrexham and elsewhere

Parkinson took charge of Wrexham in the summer of 2021 and has become a club legend over the last four years with him spearheading their charge to the cusp of the elite in English football.

Having missed out in the play-offs in his first season after an extraordinarily entertaining loss to Grimsby Town, Wrexham then set a record points tally in their title race with Notts County to win the National League title in 2023, before automatic promotions from League Two and then League One in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Parkinson’s style of football is known for being often tediously defensive, but the first couple of seasons in charge of Wrexham produced some frankly ridiculous games and saw them score a variety of goals with quite an attacking style, or at least an effective style in the final third.

Last season, particularly in the second-half of the campaign, saw Wrexham moulded into more of the archetypal Parkinson-led team, with the north Wales outfit grinding their way to the remarkable feat of second place in the third-tier, behind big spending and record-breaking Birmingham City.

With a win percentage of over 60% and the full backing of the club as well as supporters, Parkinson is in a very secure position, but concerns over his past in the Championship and limitations of his preferred style of football may be what holds Wrexham back from a fourth successive promotion.

The squad is strong as the pressure heightens on Parkinson

Having gained promotion from League One with Bolton Wanderers, Parkinson’s style of football did manage to see the Trotters, who had near-liquidation level off-field issues to deal with, avoid relegation on the final day of the 2017/18 season in dramatic circumstances, but the Whites were fortunate as they amassed just 43 points to stay up. For example, last year saw Cardiff City finish rock-bottom with 44 points.

His previous stints in the Championship have come at Hull City and Charlton Athletic, and both ended badly for the Chorley-born former Bury and Reading midfielder.

Having led Colchester United to the second-tier in 2006, he departed the U’s for Hull, but was sacked by December, with the Tigers having won just five of his 24 games in charge of the club.

In November 2008, he took charge of Charlton having been assistant manager to Alan Pardew, and oversaw the Addicks’ relegation to League One by the end of that campaign, before being sacked in January 2011 after a play-off campaign at the end of the 2009/10 season and then an inconsistent start to the 2010/11 season.

Perhaps the club with the most pressure on him came when he managed Sunderland between October 2019 and November 2020, with the COVID-19 interruption of the 2019/20 season earning him a stay of execution, despite a consistent 13-month underperformance from the Black Cats.

That level of pressure has not been reflected at Wrexham, despite the fanfare and now celebrity status of the club, with interference from those above him seemingly minimal and complete trust afforded to him in the running of the playing side of things.

That different working setup may be what allows Parkinson to thrive at a higher level for the first time in his managerial career, but concerns have to be raised.

Throughout his time as a manager, which is now at over 20 years, Parkinson has done excellent jobs with Colchester, Bolton, Bradford and Wrexham – but all of those jobs have almost exclusively been outside of the second-tier.

The limitations of his style of football can be tolerated when results are coming, but with the likelihood of a strong and competitive Championship season on the horizon, patience may well be tested.

Parkinson is already a club legend at Wrexham and his achievements will never be forgotten or reversed, but it could well be that he himself is about to reach his ceiling with the club.