Wrexham maintains its playoff position in the English Championship with a victory over Oxford United, capitalizing on a rival's draw and fueled by a recent response to a loss against Birmingham City. The club, famous for its documentary 'Welcome to Wrexham', is aiming for an unprecedented fourth consecutive promotion.
With a cheeky Vegas offer, back-to-back crucial wins and a rival’s slip-up, Wrexham’s Premier League dream remains firmly alive. The Welsh club, who have shot to prominence in recent years via the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary that has charted their climb from non-league football to the Championship, sit inside the English second-tier’s playoff places with two games remaining.
The Red Dragons defeated near certainties to be relegated Oxford United 1-0 on Wednesday, while fellow playoff contenders Hull drew 2-2 to confirm Leicester City’s relegation to third tier. Wrexham leapfrogged Hull into sixth place - the last of the four playoff positions - as a result, and now sit firmly in the driver’s seat to give themselves a shot at an astonishing fourth straight promotion.
The two are locked on 70 points apiece, but Wrexham are ahead with a goal difference that is superior by two goals.
“The dream is still alive and we feel we’re in a good place,” manager Phil Parkinson said after the win against Oxford United. “Nothing more we can do than win and we just concentrated on making right decisions from the bench and getting another three points. “To get 70 points is a good statement in our first season in the Championship and now we want more. It was important we did our job, and we did that to a man.
” The past week has been an impressive response after a 2-0 loss at the Tom Brady part-owned Birmingham City threatened to derail their season earlier this month. The NFL legend shared an Instagram story of the result poking fun at Wrexham’s owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, who legally changed his surname from McElhenney last year, saying “it’s always more fun to beat your friends.
” But the Hollywood stars may have the last laugh in the coming weeks, however, even if things will not be easy. Awaiting on the weekend is a trip to champions Coventry, who under the tutelage of Chelsea great Frank Lampard sealed their title and promotion to the Premier League last weekend.
With Coventry already having achieved their goals, Mac took to social media to offer Lampard and his team an all expenses paid celebratory trip to Vegas courtesy of him and Reynolds. Goal freak won’t stop in huge WC statement; Aussie young gun’s stunning Premier League nod After Coventry, Australians Riley McGree, Sammy Silvera and their fifth-placed Middlesbrough will make the trip to the Racecourse Ground on the final day of the regular season.
The tough run-in means that if Wrexham do still have a shot at promotion once 44 games have been played, they will truly have earned it. The Championship’s playoff structure pits third against sixth and fourth against fifth in two semi-finals played over two legs. With the added revenue that comes from the Premier League’s broadcast rights as well as sponsorship deals, the victor will pocket almost half a million dollars for the following season.
, earned that big payday last year and their impending mid table finish in the Premier League will make Championship clubs hopeful of kicking on in the top flight. If Wrexham cannot overcome the likes of Ipswich Town or Millwall , or Southampton or Middlesborough, it will not be disastrous for the club, however.
Regardless of how this season ends it will be the highest they have ever finished in the English football pyramid. They impressed by making it to the Round of 16 in the FA Cup - where they lost 4-2 to Chelsea in extra-time at home after leading 2-1 and being reduced to ten men in the 93rd minute. Reynolds and Mac are also cashing in financially. They recently sold shares in Wrexham at US$475m valuation.
In their first interview as owners five years ago, they were asked what their perfect ending to this script would be. With ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ recently renewed for another three seasons, they will be eager to get their sooner rather than later. They made that clear to the club hierarchy at the beginning of the current season - their first in the English second tier in 43 years.
Wrexham chief executive Michael Williamson told the Telegraph in a pre-season interview that his aim was a mid-table finish and to be competitive. But when he proposed this to Reynolds and Mac, they immediately responded by asking what it would take to reach the top two and gain automatic promotion.
“If we can find ourselves in that position towards the back end of the season, I give us a very good shot of being in the play-offs,” Williamson added. “And then, ultimately, if we’re in the play-offs, I give us a very good shot of getting promoted just because of who we are and what we are and the DNA, the resilience and what it means to this town and for the squad.
”Of course, the Premier League is still missing from Reynolds and Mac’s Wrexham story, but so too is a Wembley trip that ends in joy rather than despair. In the past two seasons, they have finished second in League One and League Two respectively - earning automatic promotion on both occasions. Their return to league football followed winning the National League with a record points tally of 111 in 2022/23.
The finished second but lost a playoff semi-final 5-4 in extra time at home to Grimsby Town, who stormed through the playoffs from sixth to get promoted. But Hollywood A-listers watched on alongside Reynolds and Mac as their team lost to Bromley. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney talk in the commentary box prior to the Sky Bet Championship match between Wrexham AFC and Swansea City. If they can get to the playoffs, history is also stacked against them.
The last side to finish sixth - with fifth-placed Middlesborough six points and 15 goals clear on goal difference, so it is unrealistic that Wrexham could finish any higher - and win the playoffs was Blackpool back in 2009/10. It is quite ironic that the leading man for a club who has been built by fame, fortune and a documentary shies away from the spotlight.
Josh Windass has netted 15 goals this season - 14 in the league and one in the FA Cup - including five in his past six appearances. The 32-year-old insists his recent tally is actually six from six, however, claiming he got a touch on George Thomasson’s corner which made its way into the back of the net in last weekend’s 2-0 win against Stoke. He famously does not celebrate his goals.
There is no chance fans would see him jumping in the air, fist pumping, doing a knee slide or taking his shirt off. He opts to get straight back to work, as he did after scoring the winner at Oxford two days’ ago.
“You’re going to get a boring interview because there’s not much to say apart from that we need to win the next two games,” Windass replied when asked what his team need to do to stay in the playoff places. “It’s not easy to get goals at this level but he’s producing goals when it matters most,” he said. Windass and Wembley have a special connection.
His father Dean famously volleyed Hull to the Premier League in the 2007/08 Championship playoffs final against Bristol City. Windass scored Sheffield Wednesday’s winner in the final minute of extra time in the 2022/23 League One playoff final against Barnsley. Reynolds and Mac would struggle to come up with a better script than that.
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