Who would have thought that Ollie Palmer would not only play for Wrexham again, but be the goalscoring hero to carry them through to the next round of the Carabao Cup?
All summer it has looked glaringly obvious that Ollie Palmer would follow Paul Mullin out of Wrexham and end his time with the Red Dragons.
There’s no denying Palmer is a bona fide Wrexham legend after the goals he’s scored in the past few seasons to help them rise through the Football League, but the veteran played a bit-part role last season.
With the arrival of Ryan Hardie and more specifically Kieffer Moore this summer, you’d be forgiven for thinking Palmer’s time at Wrexham was over. But, one seemingly meaningless tweak may have changed everything for the big man.
Ollie Palmer’s goal record wearing number 35 is superior to his time as number 9
Those two goals against Hull City marked the first brace Palmer has scored since 2023. If he’s intent on staying at Wrexham, they could be the two most important goals he’s scored for the club in a very long time, too.
But, we really shouldn’t be surprised that Palmer has found his shooting boots again, and it’s all because of his squad number.
This summer, the number 9 shirt was taken away from Palmer and he returned to the number 35 shirt he held when he first joined the club. Turns out, the number 35 is a real lucky charm for the striker, and the statistics prove it.
Including the two goals on Tuesday night, Palmer has scored 17 goals in 23 games while wearing the number 35 (with 15 of them coming in the half-season after he joined in 2021/22).
In contrast, Palmer scored 27 goals in 127 games while wearing the number 9, which he got ahead of his first full season and had it until the start of this season.
To break that down, that’s a ratio of 0.73 goals per game in the number 35 shirt, and a rate of 0.21 goals per game wearing number 9. Clearly, he’s better off with his former number, then.
Is it worth keeping Ollie Palmer this season?
Phil Parkinson now faces a real dilemma with Ollie Palmer. He could still move the striker on and either sign another target man or risk it and wait for Kieffer Moore to return from injury.
However, given Palmer’s contract, you would imagine any deal to sell or loan him out would involve Wrexham still paying a large portion of his wages.
Add that to the cost of signing another forward, which could be around £7.5m if Wrexham go for Nathan Broadhead, and financially it doesn’t really make sense to ditch Palmer just yet.
Bear in mind Wrexham fans are still gutted about losing Paul Mullin this summer, perhaps keeping Palmer around as an impact substitute could be a blessing in disguise, and help maintain some of that legacy Wrexham built during their National League days.