Wrexham legend Ollie Palmer and Paul Mullin are the two players with the most appearances for the club under Phil Parkinson. But a current player is on track to surpass them.
Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer both played vital roles in landing Wrexham to where they are today, with their goals and overall output playing particularly crucial roles in the National League and in League Two.
Last season, the pair’s input fell off. Phil Parkinson axed both players after the January transfer window, with Parkinson saying that Mullin and Palmer fell out of favour at Wrexham.
Now, Mullin is on loan at Wigan Athletic and Palmer joined Swindon Town on a permanent deal. Most importantly, both are back in the goals after tough endings at Wrexham.
As the club moves onwards and upwards, names like Mullin and Palmer get left behind. But a certain Max Cleworth is really adapting to each new division.
Max Cleworth on track to smash Wrexham record held by Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer
As things stand, Mullin and Palmer are the two players with the most Wrexham appearances under Parkinson, who was appointed back in 2021: Mullin with 172 games for Parkinson’s Wrexham and Palmer with 156. The player with the third-most appearances under Parkinson is Cleworth.
The Dragons academy graduate, now 23 years old, has 152 Wrexham appearances under Parkinson, and having played every minute of every Championship game so far this season, Cleworth is well on track to surpass Mullin and Palmer for Wrexham appearances under Parkinson this season.
Last season, Cleworth featured 42 times in League One and scored an impressive seven goals. He’s yet to score this season but already has three assists to his name, which is one more than he managed in the entirety of the League One campaign last time round.
Wrexham’s stance on selling Max Cleworth
Cleworth is quickly becoming one of the best young defenders in the whole of the English Football League. But his contract at the Racecourse expires in 2027, meaning next summer he’ll only have a year left on his current deal.
Suppose Wrexham struggle this season but Cleworth impresses, there could easily be Premier League interest next summer, or interest from higher up in the Championship. But Wrexham’s stance on selling Cleworth is already clear.
Speaking in the summer, CEO Michael Williamson said: “He’s not available. He’s not for sale. But the issue is, what does Max want? That’s the hard part because when you take a step back, we would say absolutely not but then I also know who we are as a club and how we support players.
“Rob and Ryan really care about the players as individuals and as people, so in situations like that my feeling is hypothetically it would probably come down to what would the player want.”
For Wrexham, it could be a difficult decision to make. But they’d certainly get a good fee for Cleworth who has bags of potential.