It is fair to say that Wrexham’s third successive promotion has ruffled a few feathers in the football world.
Portsmouth claim Wrexham could ‘distort’ the Championship next season alongside Birmingham City after the pair spent big to achieve promotion from League One.
Wrexham’s owners plan to be ‘aggressive’ this summer in the transfer market but they need to do that in order to ensure Phil Parkinson has the Wrexham squad he believes is capable of challenging in the second tier.
Success will always bring envious eyes and with the rising popularity of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, the Red Dragons are having to deal with jibes on a more frequent basis. The latest has come from a United States footballing legend.
Landon Donovan criticises Wrexham over spending
USA football legend Landon Donovan has played down Wrexham’s success on the ‘Unfiltered Soccer’ podcast, after claiming that the club’s spending was the main factor.
Donovan explained: “If you watch the show, you think it’s some miracle, but it’s not a miracle, it’s an amazing story, but they have also spent at the top of every one of the leagues they’ve been in.”
The former Premier League forward then laid down a challenge to owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney over whether or not they can continue to progress the club.
Donovan stated: “The question now is whether they can do it in the Championship. My first thought was no, but I did see a report last week that they were willing to offer a player £50,000 a week.
“They clearly have the money to do it, but are they going to take the risk? It’s a big risk now, and you could lose £30m or £40m and not get promoted. It’s going to be interesting to watch.”
Tim Howard backs Wrexham to achieve Premier League dream
Alongside Donovan, former Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard has backed Parkinson to help achieve Wrexham’s ultimate goal of reaching the Premier League.
Howard claimed: “They say the hardest jump in all of the promotions is from the Championship to the Premier League, because there is just more money in that league.
“Money makes the world go round when it comes to football or sports, and they [Wrexham] are pumping a tonne of money into that team. They’re just better and if they continue to do that, I think they could possibly do it [be promoted].”
Wrexham are interested in Sunusi Ibrahim as they begin to stretch their recruitment outside of the UK. How the Red Dragons will fare in the Championship remains to be seen but one thing for sure is that they will throw everything at trying to achieve success.