Ryan Reynolds given Wrexham reality check as Premier League claim made

Wrexham have endured a rocky start in the Championship, despite spending big on players, but former Liverpool star Dietmar Hamann thinks they can still reach the Premier League

Wrexham’s challenging start to life in the Championship has been dubbed a “wake-up call” for their Hollywood owners’ Premier League aspirations. The Red Dragons managed to secure just one point from their first three league games, suffering defeats against Southampton and West Brom, and managing only a draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

Phil Parkinson’s squad finally celebrated their first victory after defeating Millwall 2-0 away last weekend, thanks to goals from summer signings Kieffer Moore and Lewis O’Brien. Despite co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac splashing out £33million during the transfer window, Wrexham’s return to the second tier after a 43-year absence has proven difficult.

The club welcomed 13 new players following their promotion from League One in April, including record signing Nathan Broadhead. The forward was snapped up from Ipswich Town for an initial fee of £7.5m, potentially rising to as much as £10m with add-ons.

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The star-studded owners have not been shy about their ambition to take Wrexham to the top flight, but former Liverpool ace Dietmar Hamann believes their early results will serve as a stark reminder of the challenge ahead. However, the ex-German international remains optimistic that they can pull off an astonishing fourth consecutive promotion this season if they can build on their win at Millwall.

Speaking to Adventure Gamers, Hamann said: “It’s a wake-up call for Wrexham. Everybody’s talking about getting promoted to the Premier League again, but obviously, with every division you go up, it gets harder.

“In the Championship, there are a lot of teams who’ve been in the Premier League and want to return. I think it’s just a natural progression. They had their first game at Southampton and lost 2-1 in the last minute.

“That was probably one of those games where if they had won, they might be in a different position now, gaining momentum and confidence. But they lost, and all of a sudden, they’re losing games, which rarely happened in the last two or three seasons.

“It’s different. When you win games, everybody’s happy, and it’s not that hard to manage a football team. But if you lose, you have to find the right words. Obviously, that’s a learning curve and experience for them as well because they haven’t had that for two or three seasons.”

He added: “Can they still go up? Yes, I think they can. But I don’t think it’s a problem if they don’t because they won’t be getting relegated. I don’t see any danger of that. And if they stay one year in the Championship and have another go, I don’t think it will do them any harm.”

Wrexham made big moves on Monday’s transfer deadline day by signing three new players. The latest additions include Coventry midfielder Ben Sheaf and Blackburn defender Dominic Hyam, both of whom were signed on permanent deals.

Manchester City’s Issa Kabore also joined on a season-long loan, rounding off a hectic summer for manager Parkinson. The ex-Bolton and Sunderland boss is now looking to utilise the international break to integrate his new signings ahead of Wrexham’s next match at home against Queens Park Rangers on 13 September, with several team members recuperating from early-season injuries.

“As a staff, we’ve been saying that we wanted to get to this period and have these two weeks now to work with the lads,” Parkinson told The Leader newspaper.

“More for the injured boys, but also Callum Doyle and Libby Cacace, to get some real training in them. There’s a lot of people not where they need to be yet but these two weeks will give us a great chance to do that.

“We’ve had some uncharacteristic injuries in terms of picking up little muscle injuries, but it’s because the new players have come in at different stages. But none of them are too serious and hopefully by the next game, we’ve got a few more players available.”

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