Wrexham sit second in League One and have enjoyed a superb start to life back in the third tier under Phil Parkinson.
Wrexham secured back-to-back promotions in April, beating Forest Green Rovers 6-0 at home to secure a spot in League One.
Phil Parkinson’s side got the job done in League Two but needed some major additions over the summer.
Parkinson has made nine signings since winning promotion but has still relied on some of his tried and tested stars from the lower leagues.
Eoghan O’Connell, Max Cleworth, Thomas O’Connor, Andy Cannon, Elliot Lee, Ryan Barnett and Ollie Palmer continue to play key roles.
Wrexham’s summer signings will contribute eventually but for now, this has been a case of Parkinson and co keeping the momentum going.
Shaun Harvey on Wrexham improvement
Wrexham certainly started well, beating Wycombe Wanderers 3-2 in an entertaining clash at the the STōK Cae Ras on the opening day of the season.
This was a far cry from last season’s start, a 5-3 home defeat at the hands of Milton Keynes Dons.
Wrexham looked undercooked as the League Two season started and were duly swept aside by the Dons.
As the dust settled on that defeat, many felt that Wrexham had returned from the United States too late.
Wrexham had been over in America for pre-season games but certainly weren’t on top form upon returning.
That sparked a change in the plans this time around as Wrexham again headed to America but returned early, allowing for one home friendly before the season started.
Director Shaun Harvey has now told The Leader that Wrexham ‘learnt the lessons’ of last season’s situation and rectified it this time.
Harvey feels that Wrexham have now ‘found the right balance’ between ‘massive’ commercial benefits and season preparation.
That is part of why Wrexham have started the season so well in Harvey’s eyes, believing that the Fleetwood Town friendly really helped Wrexham gear up.
“We learnt the lessons of the first USA tour which was a massive success in its our right but we all recognised that you can do things better,” said Harvey.
“We found the right balance between the benefits of going to north America to continue the development of the club from a commercial perspective, with the need to ensure that we prepared and got ourselves ready for the start of the season.
“Where we are today is testimony to the fact that was better. The key difference in pre-season was the desire to have a domestic friendly fixture back at The Racecourse before the season started. In the Fleetwood fixture, you could see an element of getting rustiness and travel out of the system, and to do that in a pre-season friendly rather than the first league game of the season, I think that has helped shape those first 10 games of the season in a big way,” he added.
Wrexham 2024 v Wrexham 2023
Harvey is delighted with how Wrexham have started the season and the numbers certainly look impressive.
Wrexham have won six of the first 10 games and sit second in the League One table.
Big-spending Birmingham City are the only team ahead of Wrexham right now and that is no great shame.
If you look at Wrexham’s first 10 games of last season, Phil Parkinson’s side claimed four wins, four draws and two defeats.
Wrexham have certainly improved on that start, which produced just one win from the first five league games.
Life under Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds has been very good to Wrexham but there are always factors that can be improved.
Wrexham certainly appear to have learned and improved from the 2023 pre-season situation and have reaped the benefits this term.