Phil Parkinson has been the figurehead behind Wrexham’s rise through the leagues, but he has had quality coaching around him.
Wrexham are dreaming of promotion to the Premier League, having enjoyed incredible success under Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds.
The Hollywood duo, naturally, take most of the headlines, but Phil Parkinson has been the one to knit everything together.
Parkinson has also been backed up by Steve Parkin and Aidan Davison, two experienced coaches who have seen it all in the game.
Parkinson has even given David Jones the chance to kickstart his coaching career, having ended his playing career at the STōK Cae Ras.
David Jones’ journey back to Wrexham
Jones actually started his career in the Wrexham ranks as a child, but left for a move to Manchester United at the age of just 10.
United saw potential in Jones, and he rose up through the ranks, making four first-team appearances under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Jones enjoyed a couple of strong loan spells with Preston North End and NEC Nijmegen before being sold to Derby County in the 2006-07 season.
Jones immediately helped Derby – Wrexham’s opponents this weekend – win promotion to the Premier League, coming off the bench in the play-off final victory over West Bromwich Albion.
The former midfielder ended up becoming a promotion-winning expert in the Championship, helping both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley go up to the top flight.
Jones spent two years with Sheffield Wednesday before dropping down to League Two with Oldham Athletic, but played just six times before leaving in January 2020.
Jones appeared to have ended his playing days at that point, but joined Wrexham as a player-coach after 18 months out of action.
Arriving at the age of 36, Jones only played six times in the first season of the Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds era before hanging up his boots for good.
Parkinson clearly saw real coaching quality in Jones and kept him on as a full-time part of Wrexham’s first-team coaching staff.
We saw Jones take some media duties in the EFL Trophy last season, and Parkinson hailed Jones for his coaching with Ollie Rathbone just this week.
A quality performer in his playing days at both Premier League and Championship level, Jones is now playing a key role in Wrexham’s rise.
Who knows, perhaps Jones will become a manager in his own right down the line – and maybe even at Wrexham.
Roy Keane once negotiated David Jones’ Manchester United contract
Going back to his Manchester United days, Jones was a hot prospect at Old Trafford.
Becoming a first-team regular under Ferguson is a difficult task, and negotiating a contract at United required some assistance.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2020, Jones admitted that he didn’t have an agent to negotiate a new deal for him at Old Trafford.
Roy Keane and Gary Neville then stepped up, negotiating Jones’ contract with Ferguson in order to ensure that he was receiving a ‘fair deal’.
“I didn’t have an agent back then, and this is when Roy Keane and Gary Neville pulled me aside after training one day and offered to help with the contract,” said Jones.
“They were both fantastic. We sat down in the players’ lounge, and they went through everything with me. Even that was an experience to learn from!
“They wanted to make sure I was getting a fair deal for where I was at in my career, and it was actually Roy and Gary who negotiated the contract with the manager on my behalf.’
“After I’d signed, I bought them both a bottle of wine as a thank you. The cheapest commission I’ve ever had to pay in my whole career,” he added.
Much is made of the dressing room culture at United under Ferguson, and Jones experienced the very best of it with Keane and Neville.
The Wrexham dressing room is similarly tight-knit, and Jones surely sees some parallels between the two sets of players in terms of the camaraderie around the squads.