Wrexham are set to embark on a gruelling Championship campaign after three straight promotions under Phil Parkinson.
Thursday was a significant day for Wrexham as the Championship fixture list was confirmed.
The days of National League fixture releases are long gone for Wrexham fans; it’s all about the Championship now.
If anybody needed a reminder of the level Wrexham have reached, it was provided with the very first game of the season.
Wrexham will face Southampton on the opening weekend of the Championship season, locking horns with a recently-relegated Premier League side.
Wrexham will throw more than a few punches in the Championship, and while a fourth straight promotion is unlikely, you can never say never with this team.
Ryan Reynolds on ‘poisonous’ problem Wrexham want to avoid
The journey under Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds has been remarkable so far, and there is so much more to come.
Almost straight after winning promotion to the Championship, McElhenney was already thinking about more Wrexham success.
McElhenney and Reynolds will have plans on how to keep Wrexham moving forward, but so much of any team’s success comes down to recruitment.
Wrexham have had many more hits than misses in the transfer market under Phil Parkinson, and long may that continue.
Speaking to TIME Magazine, Reynolds explained the key to Wrexham’s recruitment – focusing on ‘character over talent’.
Reynolds accepts that he and McElhenney are not experts and will certainly defer to others when it comes to judging players.
Reynolds feels comfortable judging characters, though, and wants to avoid ‘poisonous’ characters signing for Wrexham, even if they may be better players.
“We don’t pretend to be football experts. The average four-year-old in Wrexham knows more about football than we ever will. But we can invest in players, invest in character over talent — that’s more valuable than a poisonous person in a locker room who scores a lot of goals. And we can tell their story,” said Reynolds.
Ryan Reynolds on Wrexham ‘growing too fast’
Wrexham are now taking on some real powerhouses in the Championship.
Transfer records among Championship rivals are enormous, and Wrexham will require significant investment to compete.
Promotion to the Premier League remains the ultimate goal, though that may take some time.
Reynolds added that he remembers people laughing about his Premier League dream, but admits that it is now looking ‘very, very real’.
That situation is bringing both ‘elation’ and ‘panic’ for Reynolds, who admitted his fear of Wrexham growing ‘too quickly’.
Reynolds considers that prospect to be a ‘frightening proposition’, seemingly feeling that some consolidation in the Championship could be beneficial.
“Thinking back to that first press conference there and saying, our objective is to make it to the Premier League. And you know, everybody tittering and laughing a little, and that’s okay. I’m not judging them for that,” said Reynolds.
“But then now it’s starting to look very, very real. I am feeling elation but also panic. Growing is great but growing too fast is a frightening proposition,” he added.
In April of last year, Reynolds was aiming for another promotion and saw that dream materialise in style.
Reynolds isn’t being quite as forward in his promotion hope this time around, even though we are sure that dream burns strong inside him.
Wrexham’s infrastructure is still being improved and perhaps some time in the second tier is required before making that next push towards the Premier League.