Football Manager 24 is out and The Athletic’s Richard Sutcliffe is attempting to take Wrexham all the way to the Premier League.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Dry January? It certainly feels like that for Wrexham after a worrying opening month of 2025. This has now seeped into February to inflict further damage on the push for back-to-back promotions.
Three defeats in six League One outings since the turn of the year doesn’t sound too bad. Especially as we have won the other three and still sit third in the table, a point behind Oxford United and six adrift of leaders Stockport County.
But it’s the manner of the performances that is causing the most concern. We’ve been hopeless at times, conceding four goals at home to both Peterborough United and Millwall either side of losing on the road against a Watford side languishing in the bottom half of the table following last season’s shock relegation.
We’ve also gone out of both the FA Cup, admittedly against an Everton side sitting seventh in the Premier League, and the EFL Trophy in recent weeks.
To follow that by kicking off February with the 4-1 hammering on home soil to mid-table Millwall — it would have been more but for Matt Macey, in for the injured Arthur Okonkwo, saving a stoppage-time penalty and Billy Mitchell having a ‘goal’ chalked off for a debatable offside — has really got the alarm bells ringing.
We didn’t manage so much as one effort on goal in the first half, on or off target. Things improved slightly after the break but we were still well beaten, with expected goals (xG) for the two teams standing at 0.66 and 2.61 respectively.
Our season has undoubtedly reached a crossroads after what had previously been a dream start to life back in a third tier Wrexham were last part of in 2004-05, including comprehensive victories over Bristol Rovers, Cambridge United, Bolton Wanderers and Reading during an autumn that saw us cemented as genuine promotion contenders.
Losing to cross-border derby rivals Shrewsbury Town in mid-December was a low, mind. The fans had certainly made clear what was expected ahead of our first trip to the New Meadow in 16 years.
Maybe that pre-match confidence explains why the supporters who were so overjoyed at last season’s promotion are now displaying doubts over my methods. Where before the manager’s rating veered between B and B+, according to a fans’ spokesman, my overall performance has since been downgraded to C+.
Thankfully, owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds retain a bit more faith. This much is made clear at the monthly sit-down with the board that follows the Millwall defeat.
“We’re still massively over-achieving as a club and that’s down to you,” says Reynolds, who had stated at the start of the season that challenging for the play-offs would be a perfectly acceptable performance.
The Deadpool movie star then adds: “You’re still the right man for the job, and to prove that, we’d like to offer you a new contract.”
I’m momentarily lost for words. I was hopeful the muttering that had started among the fans in the stands hadn’t spread to the boardroom. But you never can be 100 per cent sure in football. So, to be offered a new contract to replace the one that is due to expire next summer is brilliant. I gladly accept.
There’s a spring in my step when walking back to the manager’s office, deep amid the warren of corridors that can be found under the main stand. And a renewed belief.
We are a good team. Our results until the last few weeks show that. I also think our recruitment in the window that’s just closed will help us hugely.
Having signed a third senior goalkeeper, Norwich City’s Archie Mair, on January 3, we turned to two out-of-favour players at Championship high-flyers Sheffield United.
Conceding 13 goals in January pointed towards the defence needing a refresh, so we signed Jack Robinson for £85,000. His long throws also mean a return of the weapon that proved so effective when Ben Tozer was at the club.
Midfield was another area where I felt we needed a lift, not least because Steve Parkin recently reported a slight decline in the effectiveness of Jordan Davies and Elliot Lee since the start of the season. With those two considered among the three most influential players at the club, this issue has to be handled sensibly or the risk is negativity spreading within the squad.
More pressingly, it meant we needed a little bit more quality in midfield.
We’ve already got Sean McGurk on loan from Leeds United, who has been a big success in the No 10 role, playing off a lone striker (usually Paul Mullin). But another option is needed, especially if any new face can play in either of the two holding roles or further up the pitch.
Step forward Ismaila Coulibaly, a Mali international we first scouted in late October.
We’d kept a close eye on Coulibaly since and been pleased to see he’s still not featuring at Bramall Lane. His agent made it clear a permanent move was out of the question until Wrexham “reached the Championship at least”. But a loan would be of interest.
So, we committed the final remaining money in both the transfer and wages budgets to land the 23-year-old by offering to pay his full £8,500-a-week wages and a loan fee of £20,000 per month. The deal was done and Coulibaly soon underlined his quality by scoring three times in his first three games for us.
With no money left in the pot, we then ended January by recalling Ollie Palmer from his loan at Colchester United. His seven goals in a dozen League Two appearances suggest he might have a role to play as backup to Mullin and Duncan Watmore, the summer signing who has proved disappointingly susceptible to injury, with two lengthy absences already through knee ligaments and then ankle problems.
With Mullin, like Lee and Davies, showing signs of slight decline in recent months according to my assistant, I can’t afford to be caught short up front.
Palmer made his return via a late cameo from the bench in a timely 3-2 away win against leaders Stockport that served as the perfect response to me signing that new two-year contract.
Todd Kane, usually our assist king at right-back, got the decider to complete a notable league double. There was more good news from the new arrivals, as two long throws from Robinson in the first seven minutes had earlier helped put us in control via Lee and winger Ateef Konate finding the net.
The win moves us level on points with Stockport at the top, with a game in hand.
Any hopes we’d cracked it, however, disappeared within a week.
This came courtesy of back-to-back defeats at promotion rivals Oxford and then against Bristol Rovers on home soil. A red card for Robinson in the 2-1 loss caps a miserable Valentine’s Day in north Wales as a fourth defeat in six home league games since the turn of the year sees us drop to fourth.
I still believe in this team. But there’s no denying this is proving the trickiest period of a fledgling managerial career.
What happens next is likely to decide whether I really am the man to lead Wrexham to the Premier League or not.
(Top photo: Richard Sutcliffe/The Athletic)
2023-12-22 17:27:41
#Football #Manager #Wrexham #League #Premier #League #part
