Back-to-back-to-back, ole ole…
History made, Championship status confirmed.
Almost two years to the day since signing off from their 15-year stay in non-League with a trip to Torquay United, Wrexham moved to within one step of the Premier League after clinching an unprecedented third consecutive promotion.
No wonder Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the two actors whose arrival in 2021 breathed fresh life into not just a previously ailing football club but an entire city, struggled to contain their emotions at the final whistle as fans invaded the pitch to salute another remarkable success.
Tears flowed as the reality sank in that next season will bring more English football powerhouses to this corner of north Wales.
“I’m so pleased for the owners,” said manager Phil Parkinson. “They’ve done an amazing job, though they must think this job is easy! They deserve this success. The job they have done here has been done with intelligence.
“The public doesn’t see what we see, their humbleness as people. I love it when they are over here, because it spreads through the club. The support they give the lads and ourselves as a staff is second to none.
“There are lots of ways an owner can be supportive, such as making sure we get a key player when it matters the most. But then there’s actually offering support when the results don’t go quite as you want them to. Equally, they allow us to do our job, as they’ve always done since the very start.
“They are invested in all the decisions, but they trust us in our decision-making. That’s why we’ve had success these past three years.”
It’s hard to imagine any promotion, even a possible future leap into the Premier League, ever matching the emotion of the day Wrexham booked their return to the EFL by beating Boreham Wood.
Saturday, though, certainly deserves a place in the club’s pantheon of great occasions as a raucous and appreciative home crowd hailed a feat that has never been achieved before, as Parkinson’s trailblazers confirmed their rapid rise from non-League to the Championship via three straight promotions.
A few had given it a good go since the Football League was reorganised into a four-division pyramid in 1957. Most notably, Stevenage in 2011-12 and Wycombe Wanderers in 1994-95, both claiming sixth place in the third tier on the back of winning consecutive promotions.
In 1961-62, Peterborough United also finished one place higher in the old Third Division, just two years after leaving the Midland League.
But Wrexham now stand alone after Charlton Athletic were swept aside via a double from Sam Smith and Ollie Rathbone’s eighth goal of the season, putting the midfielder level with Steven Fletcher at the top of the club’s scoring charts.
“We have made history,” said Smith, the club’s record signing after joining from Reading for £2million ($2.7m) in January. “This is a club like no other, where anything can happen.
“No one expected us to get promoted out of this league. I’d like to think we can push on (and reach the Premier League), and be a part of it.”
Promotion had been the hot topic of conversation for days in North Wales. At the Miners Rescue Station just a few hundred yards from the Racecourse, Michael ‘Scoot’ Hett, lead singer with The Declan Swans and a breakout star from the Welcome to Wrexham documentary, spent Saturday morning showing tour groups from the United States around the historic building.
Every second local passing by the entrance as Hett outlined why the Miners Rescue is so interwoven with Wrexham’s history interrupted to ask the same question. “Is today the day we go up?”
A quick thumbs up indicated Scoot’s confidence, even if promotion was also dependent on events at Leyton Orient. Wycombe Wanderers claiming all three points would mean the promotion party having to be put on hold, regardless of what happened later at the SToK Cae Ras.
No wonder, therefore, the pubs and clubs of Wrexham were rammed as proceedings got under way at Orient’s Brisbane Road. The Turf, like the Miners an institution for generations that is now known around the world thanks to the Welcome to Wrexham documentary, was among those hostelries packed to the rafters.
Even Reynolds pitched in to help with a shift behind the bar in the outdoor fanzone.
It was the same story elsewhere, minus the Hollywood A-lister serving thirsty punters, with Fray’s Sports Bar at the bottom of Town Hill among many doing a roaring trade.
The first half at Orient being something of a non-event meant there was little to get the hundreds squeezed inside Fray’s excited. All that changed after the break, however, as Wycombe started on the front foot.
As the ball fizzed across the home penalty area several times in the early exchanges, plenty of Welsh hearts were in mouths. Orient striker Jamie Donley then wasted an excellent opening at the other end. It did nothing to ease the tension until the moment arrived in the capital that all Wrexham had craved.
A right-wing cross from Dan Agyei caused sufficient uncertainty between Wycombe goalkeeper Will Norris and his defenders for Randell Williams to sneak in and power a header into the net.
Cue bedlam inside Fray’s. Up went the belief levels, Wycombe suddenly looking every bit like a side which had been beaten 4-0 on their last outing by Charlton just five days earlier. The chant “Town are going up, ole ole…” rang out with a renewed vigour.
Even seven minutes of stoppage time could not save Wycombe, meaning it was over to the club dismissed as a “circus” by Nathan Jones just five days earlier to deliver their part of Saturday’s dream double.
The Charlton manager had attempted to backtrack in the meantime, insisting he really believed Saturday’s opponents were “a very well-run, excellent club”.
Wrexham, though, refused to forget, with a placard outside Bank Street Social Cafe reading, ‘Up The Big Top Reds’. There was no escape for Jones once inside the Racecourse, either, as an energised crowd responded to him barking orders to his players with a rendition of “football in a circus, doo doo doo…” to the tune of Black Lace’s Do The Conga.
Once Wrexham were two goals in front inside 18 minutes, the baiting stepped up a gear as the gloating home fans chanted, “You’ve seen the circus, now f*** off home”.
Parkinson had some sympathy for his opposite number, having once tried to sign Jones in his first management job with Colchester United.
“It (the circus comment) ignited the atmosphere even more,” said the 57-year-old. “The players didn’t need any extra motivation at all, but the supporters were bouncing today.”
Smith making it 3-0 with a bullet header nine minutes from time was the signal for the promotion party to get started.
Watching from on high in the Mold Road Stand, Reynolds and McElhenney were clearly relishing every moment. As they should. The Hollywood pair took an almighty punt when deciding to spend £2million buying a club that even its most devoted fans feared would never again experience football’s glories.
Many laughed, even in Wrexham, when McElhenney cited the Premier League as their intended destination at the duo’s first press conference. Now, though, the promised land sits just one more promotion away.
Before that, of course, comes the Championship, a tough league featuring a host of former top-flight clubs benefiting from tens of millions of pounds in parachute payments, money they receive after relegation from the Premier League.
“We are going into one of the most competitive leagues in world football,” said Parkinson. “It will be a huge challenge. I remember going up with Bolton (in 2017) when we were under a transfer embargo and we kept them up on the last day of the season.
“I still think that ranks right up there among my best achievements. We will do what we did this year: recruit the right players and try to get the squad as strong as we can. And, above all, enjoy the ride.”
After the pitch had been cleared following the now traditional celebratory pitch invasion, the team returned to further acclaim. Every player had their moment in front of the Tech End, some such as Max Cleworth and Rathbone needing to be pushed forward by their team-mates.
Fittingly, the heroes from previous promotions were not forgotten, as songs about Paul Mullin, Ollie Palmer and Elliot Lee were given an airing. Mullin and Palmer have not made a matchday squad since February, while Lee’s role during the run-in has been mainly from the bench.
But their deeds in helping start Wrexham’s rise have most definitely not been forgotten, judging by the reception the trio received. Quite right, too, as this has been a collective success with many heroes, the latest being Smith after the record signing delivered when it mattered most to earn the gratitude of Reynolds.
Asked what the Deadpool star had said to him on the pitch, the 27-year-old said: “He said I was a ‘beast’ and that my goal had been a kung-fu finish. He also asked if I’d been watching him in his films (for inspiration).”
Wrexham’s final-day visit to Lincoln City’s Sincil Bank next weekend will come 17 years to the day since the club said farewell to the EFL at the same venue. If those bleak memories had not already been exorcised by moving up two divisions in as many years, this latest promotion should surely have done the trick once and for all.
(Top photo: Kya Banasko/Getty Images)
