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BBC News
15 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Have your say - are you happy with Wrexham's start to the season?
Wrexham have had a tough welcome to life in the Championship, with one-goal defeats against Southampton and West Bromwich Albion to start the Parkinson's side are not alone, they are one of five teams to be without a point after two Championship have also had to face two sides with promotion aspirations, and were not outclassed in either a 2-1 defeat at St Mary's Stadium to start the season, Wrexham returned to the Stok Cae Ras for two games this injury-time goals from Ollie Palmer helped Wrexham come from 3-1 down against Hull City to force a penalty shootout in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, a shootout which the north Wales side would go onto hosting a second-tier game for the first time since 1981-82, Wrexham were beaten 3-2 by the Baggies on Saturday - and suffered an injury to Josh Windass in the first step up to Championship life was always set to be the most challenging for Wrexham, so how would you assess their start to the season?Have your say here!
BBC News
7 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Wrexham 'will get better'
Conor Coady says Wrexham "will get better" following their gut-wrenching 2-1 defeat by Southampton on the opening day of the 2025-26 Championship Parkinson's side appeared destined to secure all three points at St Mary's Stadium following debutant Josh Windass' first half late goals from Ryan Manning and Jack Stephens earned Will Still a dramatic victory in his first competitive match in charge of the summer signing Coady believes Wrexham can take a huge amount from their league opener - their first fixture in the second tier since the 1981-82 season."It's hugely disappointing. We'll look back at the performance and pick out some really good bits," said the England defender. "The whole football club has got to learn, including myself. But I thought we really hurt Southampton at times. We had our moments in the game, we had a couple of chances in the first half, me as well."Just those little moments in the game, can we get them right because if we do and we go 2-0 or 3-0 up, I think it's a perfect performance."So really disappointing, but can we take positives? I think we can."We will get better. Let's not forget, Southampton were Premier League last season and Wrexham were League One so we're in a position now where we're fighting with these teams and showing that we can play." Coady impressed on his debut for the north Wales outfit following his switch to the Stok Cae Ras from Leicester centre-back produced a vital block to prevent Adam Armstrong from scoring in the opening half and ended the contest having blocked three shots and made 10 clearances - both the most of any player on the the 32-year-old feels Wrexham's performance showed they are more than capable of competing in the Championship following three successive promotions from non-league."We know what we are and we know we're here to upset and disrupt a few teams in this division. We'll keep building and improving," he added."It's amazing to see where this club has gone. I have so much respect for what the club have done since the National League to get to this point."I think we're at a point now where we don't want to just enjoy being here, we want to improve and mix ourselves with teams like this and maybe go higher."To do that we have to make sure we're dominant at this level, and we'll make sure we get to that level as quickly as we can." Around 3,000 Wrexham supporters made the trip to the south coast of England on Coady admits he was left in awe of the club's away following."It super excites me this football club. I've never seen an away end like that," added Coady."I thought they were outstanding. That's my first experience of a Wrexham away end, the noise from minute one to minute 97, I think they were outstanding."Please keep on doing that, because we need them more than anything."But in terms of the club, I'm loving it. It's been easy for me to settle because the club is filled with amazing people."
BBC News
10-08-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Parkinson rues lack of red card in Southampton defeat
Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson has questioned whether Southampton should have been reduced to 10 men before a thrilling late comeback at St Mary's Stadium saw the Saints win Saturday's Championship opener Welsh side led for much of the match thanks to a Josh Windass penalty after Kieffer Moore was shoved over in the area by Ronnie Edwards, only for Southampton to snatch victory with two goals in time added Parkinson believes that Southampton defender Edwards should have been sent off for his foul on Moore that led to Wrexham's 22nd-minute spot kick."I want to look at the moment again when he [Moore] is clean through [on goal] and gets pushed down for the penalty," Parkinson said after the game."I've just spoken to the ref [James Bell] and said my interpretation of that rule is that if it's an intentional push it's a straight red."We saw that from the touchline, we saw it again on the footage at half-time and I can't see how he's not got that right, it's a game-changing moment if they go down to 10 men."I know the ref feels there was a covering defender but if you're just about to strike the ball on goal and the player intentionally pushes you to the ground, for me the ref's got to make that call right."
BBC News
09-08-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wrexham to wait on Moore injury
Wrexham are waiting to discover the extent of an ankle injury to new signing Kieffer Moore after the Wales striker was forced off during Saturday's 2-1 defeat by who joined from Sheffield United last week, hurt himself as he had a shot blocked in the second half of Wrexham's opening game of the Championship 33-year-old, who had impressed with his link-up play at St Mary's Stadium, tried to continue but was replaced by Sam Smith in the 54th minute."We've lost Kieffer, which is obviously a blow. His performance was outstanding, everything we know he brings to us," said Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson."We've just got to assess that injury as quickly as we can. It was his ankle ligaments." Wrexham had taken the lead when Josh Windass scored a first-half penalty after Moore was shoved to the ground by Ronnie Southampton defender did not even receive a yellow card. Although he seemed to have denied Moore a clear scoring opportunity and made no attempt to play the ball, referee James Bell appeared to think Jack Stephens was close enough to offer cover."He was clean through and he gets pushed down for the penalty. I've spoken to the ref and said, 'Look my interpretation of that rule is if it's an intentional push it's a straight red'," said Parkinson."I saw it from the touchline and the footage again at half-time. I can't see how he's not got that right because it's a game-changing moment as they're down to 10 men."I know the ref feels there's a covering defender, but if you're about to strike the ball on goal and the player intentionally pushes you to the ground the ref's got to make that call right.""I went to see the ref. Just a calm chat. I can't see how he's not got it right. It's got to be a red card where he was in terms of the pitch. I'm sure the ref will look at that and see we've been harshly treated."
New York Times
06-08-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Wrexham are now a Championship club. Can they be a Premier League one next year?
Southampton is where it all began for Phil Parkinson — his first steps in a playing career, which would eventually top 500 senior appearances, having come as a teenage apprentice on the south coast. This week, however, the Wrexham manager's boyhood club simply offer a stark reminder of just what his current employers are now up against in the Championship, one division down from the Premier League, after three successive promotions. Advertisement Not only have Southampton, who host Wrexham in Saturday's season-opener for both teams, spent 12 of the previous 13 years in the top flight but this season will also see their club coffers swollen by an additional £49million ($65.2m) in parachute payments following their relegation from the Premier League back in May. Add that to already impressive revenue streams from their 35,000-capacity St Mary's Stadium — in 2023-24, Southampton's most recent campaign as a second-division outfit, commercial and matchday income combined was not far short of £30million — and lack of finance certainly can't be offered in mitigation if they fail to make a good fist of trying to bounce straight back into the domestic elite. Those figures only bring home why the challenge facing Parkinson's side over the next nine months will be like none they've faced before. And it's not just the Championship clubs in receipt of Premier League parachute payments who could inflict damage — those whose natural habitat tends to be towards the lower reaches of the second tier are generally a cut above the division below. In the past decade, no fewer than eight sides promoted to the Championship have been relegated straight back to League One. Another seven, including Plymouth Argyle in May this year, went down after two years in the second tier, while just four of the 30 clubs promoted from League One since 2014-15 registered a top-10 finish in that first campaign up. Of the four, only Ipswich Town (2023-24, second) and Sunderland (2022-23, sixth) earned promotion or a play-offs place. Sobering statistics, though a further delve into those 10 years does offer hope that Wrexham can at least hold their own between Saturday and May's season finale at home to Middlesbrough. Almost all of those relegated after either one or two seasons in the Championship were towards the 'modest' end of the financial muscle scale compared to their second-tier peers. Advertisement Wigan Athletic, for instance, went down in 2022-23 with an annual turnover of £15.9 million, while Peterborough United did the same a year earlier despite income rising by 168.5 per cent to a little over £18m. Rotherham United's demotion in 2020-21 came on the back of £15.7m in revenue. Wycombe Wanderers (2020-21), Charlton Athletic (2019-20), Rotherham (again; 2018-19), Wigan (again; 2014-15) and Milton Keynes Dons (2015-16) complete the list of eight promoted teams to go straight back down from the Championship, and all had a similar tale to tell. In a division where Deloitte put the average turnover in 2023-24 at a little under £40million and combined losses at £411m, money talks. But thanks to the Welcome to Wrexham documentary charting the ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, finances at Wrexham are on an altogether different level to those clubs who generally find the Championship too hot to handle following promotion. In the Welsh club's last set of available accounts, for the 2023-24 campaign that ended in promotion from fourth-tier League Two, turnover stood at £26.7million. That was, by some distance, a record for the league's basement division. Better still, had Wrexham been in League One at the time, it would have been the second-highest income banked by a club not receiving parachute payments in the third tier's history, only surpassed by Leeds United's £27.4million in 2009-10. It seems certain that a new divisional record will be set when Wrexham's 2024-25 accounts are published in the spring, with a slight rise in revenue expected. Perhaps the most pertinent aspect of Wrexham's turnover in League Two is how it was higher than 11 Championship clubs in that same 2023-24 season. And this despite those in the second tier receiving millions more in central funding from both the EFL and Premier League. Advertisement Now they are in that division themselves — and so, based on last year's figures, are set to receive £10.7million in central funding/solidarity payments from those two bodies, up from the £2.185m they got last season in League One — Wrexham's income levels are likely to compare favourably with many of their 23 contemporaries. Nowhere near the quartet of clubs who will bank £49million in parachute payments alone, admittedly. But certainly on a par with the best of the rest, who in the 2023-24 Championship were Bristol City (annual turnover: £43m), Sunderland (£38m), Ipswich (£37m), Stoke City and Middlesbrough (both £33m). With the owners' avowed intent to bring other investors on board, as they did with the Allyn family last year, there's a chance of further money flowing into a club who, certainly in a commercial sense, look Championship-ready. McElhenney, Wrexham's co-chairman, has gone on record many times to state he doesn't recognise the word 'consolidation'. This can-do attitude has again been evident this summer, as Wrexham have set about once more making a splash in the transfer market. On Tuesday, Kieffer Moore, the Wales international striker, became the club's fourth seven-figure signing in less than three weeks. Two of those were record transfers, too, as first Liberato Cacace and then Lewis O'Brien bolstered Parkinson's squad. These new additions will have moved the dial in terms of wages. Just how far remains to be seen, but Wrexham did have plenty of headroom here with the ratio of wages to turnover standing at 41 per cent in 2023-24, comfortably the lowest in the EFL. By contrast, the Championship regularly sees clubs spend more on wages than they earn in revenue. In 2023-24, the mean ratio of wages to turnover stood at 93 per cent, according to Deloitte. Wrexham's ratio has inevitably risen following the big-name signings this summer but is still believed to be at a level causing envy among their peers. Further incomings are expected, including a possible foray into the Premier League loans market, before the transfer window closes on September 1. Advertisement The big question now, though, is whether this unprecedented splurge has left Wrexham equipped to go toe-to-toe in a division they were last in 43 years ago. The Athletic would suggest the answer is 'yes', but with the caveat that a concerted push for promotion to the Premier League — the avowed intention of the club's Hollywood-star owners — remains a little way off. The signings of Conor Coady, Josh Windass, O'Brien and Moore represent a big upgrade in key positions, while George Thomason, Ryan Hardie, Danny Ward and Cacace also add considerable strength in depth. Now with precious Championship experience on board, Wrexham look in decent shape as the start of the season looms. That's not to say there aren't concerns with 27 days of the window remaining. Coady's arrival is a huge coup, but Max Cleworth and Lewis Brunt — the most likely choices to play on either side of the England international defender in a back three — lack experience at this level. It's the same with Arthur Okonkwo in goal. All three are about to be exposed to a whole new level of quality. How they cope will be crucial to determining just how quickly Wrexham adapt. Wing-back carries similar imponderables. Nobody truly knows how Cacace will settle following his move from Empoli; the New Zealand international has spent the past five years playing top-flight football in Belgium and Italy. Ryan Longman, meanwhile, does boast Championship experience on the opposite flank with Hull City and Millwall, even if he never really showed his best at those clubs. Where Wrexham do seem well-staffed is in midfield and attack. O'Brien would walk into most Championship sides, while the number of suitors chasing Windass following his exit from the division's troubled Sheffield Wednesday spoke volumes. Moore's ability to lead the line at 6ft 5in (196cm) will be a big plus, as will the 32-year-old's experience, having played over 200 games in the second tier. The pursuit of Ipswich's Nathan Broadhead, who played 18 times in the Premier League last season, to go with the earlier capture of Hardie, Plymouth's 2024-25 top scorer, including 10 in the Championship, and holdover Sam Smith returning to action in last weekend's final friendly — a 3-1 loss to FC Groningen, from the top division in the Netherlands — means Parkinson should have plenty of viable options up front. Advertisement It'll be a similar story in midfield, particularly once Ollie Rathbone returns to fitness after an ankle injury suffered in pre-season. He will do battle with former Bolton Wanderers captain Thomason and Wrexham stalwarts such as Matty James, Elliot Lee, George Evans, George Dobson and Andy Cannon. O'Brien's versatility in being able to play either in a deep-lying role or further advanced will further help a squad that has flitted during pre-season between a 3-5-1-1 set-up and a box midfield, whereby two attacking midfielders played off a lone frontman as another two anchored the midfield. The first formation, deployed successfully on last season's promotion run-in, would suit Windass or Hardie playing off either Moore or Smith. O'Brien could then join Thomason (or Rathbone, once he's fit) on either side of James in the holding role. Should, however, Wrexham revisit the box midfield they used on tour in New Zealand recently, O'Brien and James would surely form a decent barrier for the back three, allowing Windass and Hardie to push forward in support of the lone striker. In the wake of the Championship fixtures being released in June, Opta rated Wrexham's opening four games as the joint-fifth toughest start among the 24 clubs. Considering Saturday's trip to Southampton will be followed by meetings with three teams who finished in the top half last season (West Bromwich Albion, Wednesday and Millwall), that analysis seemed fair. But back on June 26, when those fixtures came out, only Hardie had been added to a squad that should have finished mid-table in League One last year, according to Opta's expected goals and expected goals against metrics. Now, with Coady, O'Brien and Moore on board, maybe this will have changed how Championship teams see Wrexham. They certainly look ready for a division that, this season, appears even more open than usual. Advertisement Just four of the second tier's clubs will receive Premier League parachute payments, compared to six last season — and one of those, Leicester City, are facing a possible points deduction after being charged with breaching profit and sustainability rules (PSR). This potentially opens the promotion door to a host of teams, including perhaps Birmingham City after another strong summer of recruitment following their own promotion in May, along with Coventry City, West Brom and Bristol City. Parkinson's side are not quite in that bracket, even allowing for the £12million and counting already invested in the squad. But, thanks to those inflated income levels made possible by a TV documentary series where filming has already started on a fifth season, Wrexham do seem equipped, both on and off the field, to bridge the gap.
