Phil Parkinson has taken Wrexham out of the National League and up to the Championship in four seasons.
After sacking Dean Keates in the summer of 2021, Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac decided to make Phil Parkinson the new Wrexham manager.
His first season at the Racecourse Ground saw the former Bolton Wanderers boss take the club to a second-place finish before play-off defeat.
Since then, Wrexham have won back-to-back-to-back promotions and are going to be competing in the Championship come 2025/26.
However, Parkinson’s credentials in the second tier of English football have been questioned this week.
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Phil Parkinson leaving Wrexham mooted by EFL pundit
Ahead of the new season, Ryan Dilks and Justin Peach of the Second Tier podcast have ranked all 24 current Championship managers.
The duo decided to put Parkinson bottom of their list, with Peach pointing out his previous struggles in the division.
He said after praising Parkinson’s work at Wrexham: “But, this is a big but, and is a very important one, as far as Championship pedigree goes, he has struggled, there’s no denying his capability in League One and Two. You’ve got to go back to his days at Colchester in the mid 2000s, then obviously Bradford, massively successful at Bradford City, then Bolton. But in the second tier, the numbers are not comfortable reading.
“Overseen 141 games, lost 78, won just 26. It’s worth bearing in mind that none of those teams had the resources that Wrexham do. But there is probably a debate to be had about the strength of those squads he had at his disposal. Bolton, Hull, is it better than Wrexham’s now, maybe
“But Phil Parkinson is bottom, Championship background has not been great.”
Dilks went on to suggest that because of Wrexham’s ambitions, he would be surprised if Parkinson is still manager this time next year and expected a ‘big name’ to come in as a replacement.
He said: “When he took over Wrexham, he was a League One manager batting below his level now, he’s above that level.
“I personally would be stunned if he is still the Wrexham manager come the end of the season because of their ambitions, which we all know. I think the next chapter in this Wrexham story sees them getting a big name as manager to take them to that next level, because I don’t think Phil Parkinson’s going to be able to do that.”
Last time Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac discussed sacking Phil Parkinson
Wrexham trust Parkinson and will not be parting ways with their manager anytime soon.
Reynolds and Mac last discussed sacking their manager back in Season 1 Episode 11 of ‘Welcome to Wrexham‘ series.
The club had a fairly slow start to 2021/22, and with fans getting restless, the topic was brought up by the owners.
Reynolds said: “First off it was a coup that we even got him. You let him go seven months later, I think it’s just a bad look. I think you can’t do business like that, you can’t work with people like that.”
Mac added: “I don’t mind giving him time, the problem is he’s asking for a significant amount of money for the January transfer window.
“The decision we have to make is whether or not, not only do we keep him, ok that’s one thing, give him a full season, fine. But we’re essentially doubling down not only for this season but next season because the players we sign, it’ll be two to three-year contracts.”