Wrexham’s Carabao Cup campaign kicks off on Tuesday as Phil Parkinson takes on former club Hull City in the first round of the competition.
Wrexham lost 2-1 at Southampton over the weekend, opening the Championship campaign in heartbreaking fashion.
Josh Windass opened the scoring and appeared to have given Wrexham the victory, before Southampton scored twice late on to turn the game on its head.
Wrexham couldn’t begin the season with a win, but at least have a chance to turn it around in the Carabao Cup.
Hull City visit the STōK Cae Ras on Tuesday night, as Wrexham begin the competition with an all-Championship clash.
The game will see Ryan Longman come up against his former club, while Windass will be in contention to face his hometown side.
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Phil Parkinson’s arrival at Hull City
The meeting also sees Phil Parkinson come up against his former club, having been appointed Hull City boss back in 2006.
Parkinson had worked wonders at Colchester United, guiding them to promotion from League One in the 2005-06 campaign.
As noted by the Lancashire Evening Post, Parkinson almost became Preston North End boss but would instead join Hull City, as Paul Simpson headed to Deepdale.
Parkinson’s move to Hull materialised after some real drama.
The now-Wrexham boss resigned as Colchester manager, but the U’s took extreme measures by taking out a temporary injunction to block a move elsewhere.
Colchester finally backed down as Hull stumped up £400,000 in compensation, with chairman Adam Pearson sharing his excitement over the deal.
Pearson felt that Hull had landed ‘one of the brightest managers in the game’ and believed the fee paid for Parkinson’s services would ‘pay for itself very quickly’.
“We are delighted to announce the appointment of Phil Parkinson as the new manager of Hull City, and that he will commence work in Hull on Friday,” said Pearson after securing the deal, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“It has been a long two weeks of negotiations since Peter Taylor left on 13 June. However, we have finally secured one of the brightest managers in the game and one who has been coveted by many, many clubs in the Championship over the last year.
“It has been a difficult two weeks; however, the approach of specifically only wanting Phil Parkinson as the new manager has brought its ultimate reward. We have paid significant sums of compensation to Colchester United and the fee is in excess of the £300,000 received for Peter Taylor; however, it is an investment that will pay for itself very quickly,” he added.
Phil Parkinson’s swift Hull City exit and eventual Wrexham success
Pearson clearly had major faith in Parkinson, but his time on Humberside came to a rather abrupt end.
Parkinson was sacked by Hull on December 4, less than six months after the Tigers heralded his arrival.
Five wins, six draws and 13 defeats in 24 games saw Parkinson lose his job, though Pearson still predicted ‘significant’ success for him in the future.
“It is with regret that on behalf of Hull City I wish to announce the departure of manager Phil Parkinson, a course of action myself and Phil reluctantly confirmed this morning,” said Pearson, as quoted by The Guardian.
“The club would like to thank Phil for all of his undoubted hard work and unstinting commitment to the role of manager over the last four months. Unfortunately, results have not gone the way either Phil or the club would wish.
“On behalf of everyone connected to Hull City, I would like to wish Phil all the very best for his future managerial career, where he is sure to go on and achieve significant future success in the game,” he added.
Hull hired Phil Brown as Parkinson’s replacement, and they achieved promotion to the Premier League inside 18 months of his appointment.
Parkinson did achieve success elsewhere, just as Pearson predicted, and he has masterminded Wrexham’s rise to the Championship with three straight promotions.
Being sacked by Hull was the first major knock of Parkinson’s young managerial career at the time, and he didn’t land another managerial job for more than two years following his departure.
Sackings are part and parcel of management, but that first setback will have hurt Parkinson, especially as he was only given 24 games in charge of Hull.
Parkinson has bounced back brilliantly, racking up more than 100 games in each of his next three jobs with Charlton Athletic, Bradford City and Bolton Wanderers.
A stint with Sunderland didn’t quite work out, but Parkinson has now written himself into Wrexham history, and nobody will ever forget his incredible work under Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.
Parkinson will now look to kickstart this season and grab his first victory of the campaign against Hull, some 19 years since being axed by the Tigers.