Phil Parkinson was appointed manager of Wrexham in July 2021, with the club having since gone on an incredible journey under his stewardship.
The Altrincham native was the first managerial appointment of the Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac era at the Red Dragons, with it proving to be arguably one of their best decisions in the last four years.
He has guided them to three consecutive promotions, from the National League to the Championship, something that had never been achieved before.
Now, he is looking to secure the Welsh club’s first-ever home win in the Championship since the rebrand in 2004; however, Birmingham City stand in his way, and their manager Chris Davies has let his opinion be known on Parkinson.
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Chris Davies believes Phil Parkinson has done an ‘exceptional’ job at Wrexham
A victory will be Wrexham’s first league win in 46 years against Birmingham, with it giving them a first in the Championship this campaign at the Racecourse Ground.
Matty James has detailed how Wrexham can win in the ‘Hollywood Derby’ on Friday night, believing the key to success is shutting out the outside noise and focusing on the game.
Chris Davies shares this view with the Red Dragons midfielder; however, another point he was keen to raise with Sky Sports was the job that Phil Parkinson has done at the Welsh club.
He said: “Phil Parkinson has done exceptional work at that club to get them three promotions in a row, from the National League into the Football League and upwards.
“We know they are a really challenging prospect, especially at home. I know because I’ve been there, what type of game we are in for, but we have a lot of belief that if we play our game as well as we can, then we can get the result we want.”
Chris Davies explains his players’ preparation for the Wrexham clash
The Birmingham and Wrexham clash will be broadcast by Sky Sports on Friday night, in the knowledge that there will be significant American interest through the docuseries from the clubs, particularly ‘Welcome to Wrexham’.
This means there will be a lot of attention on the game, something that Chris Davies has been attempting to prepare his squad for, and he has explained just how he has gone about it.
He said: “I always try to encourage them to have the blinkers on and focus on what’s important and what is in front of us, which is a game of football, and anything else outside that is just noise and a distraction that is unnecessary to concentrate on it.
“But players will get their attention drawn to things on social media and all the things that they absorb, but it is not hard for me to do it because I don’t engage in it, but I do encourage them just to focus on the job as a professional and not to worry about anything else because what matters is what is on the pitch; everything else revolves around that place.”