It feels like yesterday that Wrexham were celebrating their final game of the season and League One promotion, but the Red Dragons are back in action again this weekend.
Those celebrations after the historic third-successive promotion are now over, and it’s back to business for Wrexham and Phil Parkinson.
With one new face through the door already, and more to come, there’s a lot of work to be done in pre-season. The Red Dragons will be keen to get match sharpness, get some good results, and reconnect with their fans at home and abroad.
Wrexham’s pre-season tour kicks off on Friday with a game against Melbourne Victory in Australia, and we’ve got plenty of talking points and questions to be answered ahead of the match. So, here are the three key things to look out for from the upcoming game.
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Key things to look for in Wrexham’s next game
Ryan Hardie will want to get off to a good start
The one confirmed Wrexham transfer so far this summer came pretty early on, with the arrival of Ryan Hardie from Plymouth Argyle.
Wrexham had been tracking the Scottish striker for a while, and got a deal completed for the bargain fee of £700,000.
Now, all eyes will be on Hardie ahead of his Wrexham debut, with many wondering how Parkinson will use the forward. With Sam Smith and Jay Rodriguez the preferred partnership in the latter stages of last season, will Hardie jump the queue and stake his claim on a starting spot?
Will Ollie Palmer get minutes under his belt?
Speaking of the pecking order at Wrexham, there’s one striker whose future is very much in the air right now: Ollie Palmer.
With Paul Mullin already gone, many believe Palmer will leave next, but he has been named in Parkinson’s squad for the tour Down Under.
We suspect Palmer will get some minutes at some point, not least of all due to the fact that he’s one of the most popular Wrexham players; this tour may be about preparing for the new season, but it’s also about connecting with new fans in Australia, and Palmer definitely helps in that regard.
Phil Parkinson may adjust his tactics ahead of Championship challenge
We’ve seen Parky Ball — as the fans like to call it — work pretty effectively in the lower leagues, but the step up to the Championship is going to be a massive one for the Wrexham boss and his squad.
The long ball tactic will be found out very quickly at that level, and Parkinson may be tempted to try out different formations and styles of play during the pre-season tour. Now is the time for experiments, rather than discovering things aren’t working two months into the campaign.
Obviously, Parkinson is a rather traditional coach who knows what he likes, and it would be pretty dramatic for him to completely shift his approach to football. But, we would be surprised if there aren’t some tweaks here and there, with the gaffer surely open to a bit of pragmatism ahead of the new season.