With Wrexham heading into uncharted territory with their first campaign back in the second tier, the Red Dragons must surely be looking at the success of Derby County, Portsmouth, and Oxford United for pointers.
Wrexham defied the odds to secure a third-successive promotion this term, and now have the prospect of Championship football to look forward to.
It’s not going to be easy for Phil Parkinson and co. who have big teams like Leicester City and Southampton to compete with, as well as League One rivals Birmingham City.
Whether Wrexham are content with merely existing in the second tier or have aspirations for more, the best place to start would be to look at how the teams promoted from League One last season got on this year in the Championship.
- READ MORE: Sam Smith’s record underlines Wrexham’s pursuit of £1.5m striker with ‘proven Championship quality’
How did League One promoted sides fare in Championship in 2024/25?
Here, The Wrexham Insider studies the success of the three promoted sides, Derby County, Portsmouth, and Oxford United, to see how they managed to survive in the Championship and what lessons Wrexham can take away.
Portsmouth
The League One champions for 2023/24 spent just over £4m across the two transfer windows to equip themselves for life in the Championship. It worked, too, with Pompey finishing in 16th place, five points above the drop zone.
Interestingly, more than half of that was spent on young players Hayden Matthews (in January) and Abdoulaye Kamara. The pair made just 11 appearances between them this term, but Portsmouth may well see that as money invested in the future rather than the here and now.
Portsmouth’s best signing by some distance, though, was the capture of Josh Murphy on a free transfer. The former Norwich City man registered seven goals and a massive 14 assists this season, and proves you don’t have to break the bank to bring in players that can make an impact.
There are plenty of great free agents Wrexham could look at this summer, and that could well be where they find the most success.
Another key aspect of Portsmouth’s success is the fact they stuck with manager John Mousinho through thick and thin, trusting in his philosophy and ability. We would imagine Wrexham would take a similar approach with Parkinson next season.
Derby County
League One’s second-placed team in 2023/24, Derby County, had the closest shave with relegation this season, but ended up surviving on the final day of the Championship campaign.
Interestingly, it would be pretty fair to say that Derby would not have stayed up were it not for cutting their losses with Paul Warne in the New Year and moving to install John Eustace as manager instead. The run of form the Rams went on after Eustace arrived was incredible, picking up 21 points from their final 14 games to escape the drop.
What has gone under the radar a little, though, is the fact that Derby also spent a fair bit of money throughout the season. An outlay of just under £8m saw signings such as Sondre Langas (£4m), Jacob Zetterstrom (£1.5m), Ebou Adams, and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen (£850,000 apiece) arrive at Pride Park.
But, it’s worth noting Derby also sold one of their top performers, Eiran Cashin, to Brighton for around £9m in the January window. So, financially speaking, they actually ended up in profit over the season.
Given the Championship revenue Wrexham can expect this summer, we don’t imagine they’ll be waiting for a big player sale before spending. With this in mind, the Derby example is probably the least likely to be one Wrexham look to emulate.
Oxford United
Oxford United triumphed in the League One play-offs last season after finishing fifth, and they ended up securing a 17th place finish in the Championship this term.
Of the three promoted teams, Oxford spent the least with an outlay of just £3.2m across the season. Of that, a huge £1.6m went on the signing of Ole Romeny, but the striker only managed one goal in 14 appearances for the U’s.
Meanwhile, Oxford largely relied on free transfers and signing players from the lower leagues. That’s not a bad idea in many ways, and we have already picked out five players Wrexham should sign from relegated teams like Plymouth and Luton this summer.
On the sidelines, Oxford lost patience with Des Buckingham way back in December. Gary Rowett then came in and steadied the ship, and while it’s hard to say whether this was what ultimately helped Oxford stay up, it’s difficult to argue that Rowett did a good job with the team he had.
Wrexham don’t want to just survive, they want to thrive
While Wrexham, and particularly Parkinson, will be keen to look at these examples and use them to their advantage next season, it is pretty clear that the Red Dragons are not intending to simply tread water in the Championship.
Indeed, Wrexham can learn more from the likes of Ipswich and Norwich, teams that won back-to-back promotions from League One and then the Championship, as they look to make their mark on the second tier in 2025/26.
Wrexham could use up to £39m this season, if Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds are really feeling ambitious. Either way, we firmly expect the Welsh outfit to go above and beyond the spending of Derby, Portsmouth, and Oxford this summer, probably combined.
There’s a chance Wrexham’s transfer strategy changes, with loan signings put to good use. That would be a sensible move, but we also expect to see some big-money signings and lucrative contracts handed out to free agents, too.
Wrexham’s ability to handle life in the Championship has been questioned already, but we’ve no doubt they’ve got what it takes to at the very least match the teams that came before them. And, we wouldn’t be surprised to see them pushing into the top half of the table if they spend how we believe they could.