Phil Parkinson’s Wrexham have been tipped to potentially notch yet another promotion this season, and they have been told how to do that by Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna.
Wrexham have now recorded three successive promotions under Phil Parkinson, which has seen the club rise from the depths of the National League to the Championship, one promotion away from the Premier League.
Wrexham will not be settling for consolidation this season, which is clear based on the calibre of players they are targeting ahead of the 2025/26 Championship season.
As a result, it wouldn’t be completely out of the picture for Wrexham to once again find themselves in the higher echelons of the Championship table, potentially even gunning for promotion.
Whilst it would be remarkable for Wrexham to win promotion straight after coming up from League One, it has been done recently by Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys’ manager, Kieran McKenna, in the 2023/24 Championship season, gave clues about how his side went about their astonishing promotion.
Wrexham could follow in the footsteps of Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich Town
Humphrey Ker believes that Wrexham will be successful in the next Championship season, despite the huge step up in quality amongst the opposition.
Ipswich Town have already set out the blueprint on how to manage expectations, if, against the odds, you do make a positive start to the Championship season.
Many expected Ipswich’s fine form not to be consistent by the end of the campaign, but they managed to secure automatic promotion.
Per Rayo, McKenna was asked about promotion back at the end of August 2023, following the early games in their season, in which they would go on to notch a move up to the Premier League.
“We’ve ignored it,” said McKenna. “We focus on performances and results.
“There are certainly no deluded heads in that dressing room. We know how hard we’re having to work in every game.
“We’re doing some things well but we know we can still improve. The margins are going our way and we know that if you keep improving and doing the right things then you give yourself a better chance.
“We know how tough the division is – you can see it in every game. Anyone can beat anyone.
“There’s certainly no chance of anyone getting ahead of themselves.”
Phil Parkinson must manage expectations next season amongst his players
One thing that Parkinson must ensure ahead of next season is that complacency doesn’t seep into the cracks.
Following three successive promotions, with all three falling in fairly convincing fashion, it would be easy for the Wrexham players to become complacent, but that won’t slide under Parkinson.
Wrexham could easily do something incredible next season, but as McKenna ensured in his ranks in their successful Championship promotion-winning season, there must be ‘no deluded heads’ in the side, and that can only be the case if Parkinson makes that clear for the players with little to no Championship experience.