Wrexham are preparing for another huge transfer window as Phil Parkinson prepares for life in the Championship.
Wrexham’s summer transfer windows have been busy affairs ever since Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds completed their 2021 takeover.
2021 brought Paul Mullin, 2022 saw Elliot Lee arrive, James McClean signed on in 2023 and Ollie Rathbone came in last summer.
Phil Parkinson will hope for similar success this summer, with Wrexham allegedly ready to splash the cash.
New signings will arrive, but difficult exits must also be sanctioned as Wrexham look to continue moving forward.
Luke Young was McElhenney’s favourite player, but Wrexham still allowed the midfielder to leave as the club’s progress shows no sign of slowing down.
Rob McElhenney on letting players leave Wrexham
Similarly difficult decisions are bound to arrive this summer.
Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer spring to mind, with the two strikers completely frozen out under Phil Parkinson since the end of the January transfer window.
Mullin and Palmer have been heroes of Wrexham’s rise, but the time has come for the duo to move on.
That is just the reality of Wrexham’s rise, and McElhenney has reflected on that whilst speaking to Men In Blazers.
McElhenney pointed out that the ‘tragic flaw’ of players working so hard to win promotion with Wrexham is that they often end up being replaced.
McElhenney finds that ‘tragic’, so takes extra time to make every player feel so valued at Wrexham until the day they leave.
“It’s brutal. It’s brutal,” said McElhenney.
“That system that I was just celebrating, of promotion and relegation, there’s a tragic flaw in that as well, which is, very often times, the players who are helping you achieve, helping the club achieve that goal and winning, are winning themselves out of a job.
“That is tragic. That’s tragic because they’re giving everything that they can to help you win, and then their reward for that is to be let go as someone else takes their place. We are very cognizant of that.
“We have so much empathy, I want to say empathy but I don’t know what that feels like, so compassion, I guess, would be the word, for the guys that have put so much of themselves into this, and that’s when I want to stay present.
“I want them, from the time that they won all the way up until that moment, to really feel how grateful we are for the service that they put in and, hopefully, Vegas can fill some of those gaps,” he added.
Wrexham’s National League heroes starting to break apart
Such a rapid rise means Wrexham will go through some squad churn with each promotion.
Wrexham’s starting XI from the promotion-clinching win over Boreham Wood in the National League is starting to be chipped away as the club continues to rise.
Ben Foster retired quickly into the League Two campaign whilst Ben Tozer and James Jones have already gone.
Blackpool want Sam Dalby with the striker likely to leave Wrexham this summer, with Mullin and Palmer expected to follow.
Eoghan O’Connell, Thomas O’Connor, Ryan Barnett, Andy Cannon, Jacob Mendy and Elliot Lee are still going strong in the Wrexham squad but will be aware of the reality at Wrexham.
The Wrexham faithful will never forget anybody from this journey, though, and if any of those National League heroes move on this summer, they will certainly receive well-wishes from supporters having contributed so much over the years.