“Play-offs is the absolute minimum” A look at the remainder of the season for AFC Wrexham

Local TV Sport

Wrexham’s hopes for the rest of the season remain high as they aim to secure promotion in their first season back in League One. Under the guidance of Phil Parkinson, the team’s attacking style and strong squad depth have kept them competitive. With passionate support and momentum from their Hollywood-backed revival, Wrexham will be confident in pushing for a top-seven finish and potentially making a play-off run to continue their remarkable rise through the football pyramid.

Transcript

00:00So, Rich, looking at Wrexham AFC and obviously the season so far, it's been quite a fantastic

00:08campaign considering they're brand new to Ligue 1 in terms of this trajectory, how they

00:13carry on building. Obviously, manager Phil Parkinson has hit 1,000 games in management

00:18as well this season, which is quite special. Obviously, a fantastic win record for Wrexham,

00:24but it just shows the sort of feathers they have in their cap with the likes of Parkinson,

00:28the experience he's had throughout the EFL. I mean, in terms of the season and what you

00:34expect from the remainder of it, there's obviously some crunch games coming up, but it's one

00:39of those where, where do you think Wrexham fans are? What are the hopes for the remainder

00:44of this season? Because that playoff race is quite tight. There are some real big contenders

00:50at the very top of the division this year as well.

00:53Yeah, it's one of those where the expectations have changed quite a bit as the season's gone

00:57on really. I think honestly, most Wrexham fans would have just been quite happy with

01:02consolidating mid-table. I think I had them down to finish about 10th or 9th at the start

01:06of the season, just finish out of the playoffs. But now look at where we are at this time

01:12of the season. You've got to still be aiming for automatics really, and playoffs is the

01:17absolute minimum now. I think Wrexham fans would be rightly disgruntled and furious if

01:22they didn't finish in the playoffs, just because the position they're in, the resources they've

01:26got to reinvest in January and the momentum to go and get promoted again.

01:31It's one of those things where if you're going to get out of League One, I get the argument

01:36that maybe you need a few years to build and get adjusted to the league, and that would

01:39probably suit you better if you got to the championship. But in terms of actually getting

01:43out of League One, I don't think Wrexham will ever have a better chance in the next five

01:46years than this season, just because of that momentum, that feel-good factor, the way they're

01:50winning matches. Once you lose that, it's so hard to pick up again. So I think that

01:56Wrexham fans have to be realistic. The promotion place looks really difficult. Birmingham,

02:03just given the resources they have, they're going to come good. You expect them to win

02:05the league at a canter. Huddersfield are then the form team going in for second, and you'd

02:10say Wrexham could still get second, but realistically, you still expect them and Wickham to be third

02:16and fourth this season. So as things go, in dreamland, in absolute dreamland, Wrexham

02:22fans didn't expect another promotion back-to-back-to-back this campaign. So if that happens, it would

02:28be honestly one of the greatest achievements in modern English football and British football.

02:33I know that there's lots of criticism with the money spent, and that certainly helped

02:36at National League and League Two level, but at League One level, the gulf isn't as big,

02:41and they're coming up against so many established teams. And just to do it without the same

02:47core of players who have been there since the National League, with a manager who knows

02:51exactly what he's doing, it would be an incredible achievement if Wrexham got a third successive

02:55promotion.

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