Worldwide WrexhamAFC appoint new manager Phil Parkinson
03.07.2021
Seasoned manager Phil Parkinson takes the helm at Wrexham AFC, 34 days after former gaffer Dean Keates departed with the 20/21 National League season. Under Keates, Wrexham missed out on playoff places by a single point, and Wrexham’s A-lister bosses declined to renew his contract.
The Reds’ co-chairman, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, revealed their delight at Parkinson’s appointment, stating that ‘he was our man and we got him’. After a playing career spanning three decades and exceeding 500 appearances, Parkinson proved his mettle as a successful manager across the EFL.
In his first managerial appointment at Colchester, Parkinson achieved promotion to the Championship, a feat he later replicated with Bolton Wanderers. Following an impressive managerial career dotted with underdogs stories and electrifying cup finals, Parkinson arrived at Sunderland, whom he left for fellow sleeping giants Wrexham AFC.
Wrexham’s new gaffer clarified his ambitions immediately after joining the club. Following a ‘very easy’ decision to join the Reds, Parkinson pledged to ‘create an environment and culture which gives us the best chance of promotion’. With experience in that department, Parkinson beat 60 other applicants to the Wrexham role. Buoyed by a raft of new signings, lucrative sponsorship deals with Tiktok and Reynolds’ own Aviator Gin, and the upcoming documentary Welcome to Wrexham, Wrexham show plenty of promise going forward.
While Parkinson previously stated that he was ‘pleased’ he’d arrived at Sunderland after the Sunderland Till I Die cameras stopped rolling, the manager now says he’s ‘ready to embrace’ Welcome to Wrexham as it continues filming. Parkinson suggested an awareness that the documentary may become ‘important for the area and the image of the club’. As things stand, Wrexham fans have reason to believe the same about their club’s latest appointee.
