Wrexham are chasing another promotion under Phil Parkinson but the boss has come in for criticism in 2025.
The League One season is hurtling towards its climax and Wrexham are in the mix for a third straight promotion.
That is beyond what many would have expected in Wrexham’s first season back in the second tier since relegation from League One in 2005.
Wrexham have though been a little inconsistent in 2025, losing five times in 13 games since the turn of the year.
Six wins in that run have kept Wrexham in the hunt but fans criticised Phil Parkinson following Tuesday’s defeat at Reading.
Wrexham’s goals have dried up a little in 2025 and some are questioning Parkinson’s style of play with promotion on the line.
Copyright 2025 Kara Durrette
Copyright 2025 Kara Durrette
NFL owner gave Rob McElhenney great advice
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have stuck by Parkinson throughout and we certainly can’t imagine a situation where he is in danger of being sacked any time soon.
Parkinson has been a promotion specialist, not just at Wrexham but also at Colchester United and Bolton Wanderers in the past.
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When Parkinson was going through a tough time early in his Wrexham career, McElhenney turned to an NFL owner for guidance.
As seen on ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ (Season 1, episode 11), McElhenney met up with Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie in search of advice.
“If you had to distill down one piece of advice, what would it be?” said McElhenney.
Lurie has owned the Eagles – McElhenney’s boyhood team – for more than 20 years now, so he knows all about longevity and tough decisions.
Lurie told McElhenney that sport is so unpredictable that you can feel like everything is in place for success – and then go backwards.
“One, enjoy every minute of it. Sports, the reason it’s popular is because it’s unpredictable. The moment you think you’ve got a really good team, you’ll probably have some bad games and it will kill you,” said Lurie.
That may be how McElhenney feels in 2025 with Wrexham seemingly taking a step back from the force they were earlier in the season.
McElhenney then admitted that going from a fan to an owner was a strange transition, highlighting that difficult decisions – such as sacking managers – now carries so much more weight given that he knows the man in the hot seat rather than just watching from afar.
“I’m on a text chain with a group of my friends from Philly that I grew up with. Over the years, I had the luxury of, on Sundays, having any opinion that I wanted to have, about what plays are being run, what players should be benched, what coach should be fired, what’s Howie [Roseman, Eagles general manager] doing, and it’s a release and it’s easy for us because we can have very strong opinions, but now, I’m on the other end of it where those conversations that I’m having, those are real people – they’re no longer characters on my television screen,” said McElhenney.
Lurie then offered great advice, telling McElhenney that every decision must be with the long-term in mind – not just a short-term fix.
Lurie hammered home that McElhenney must not be afraid to make big decisions if he feels that the long-term trajectory of the club is in danger.
“It forces you to really think through a lot of decisions and think about things not just in the short term and ‘what’s going to gratify me for the next month of my life’ – what is the best for the team over the course of the next 12 months, 24 months, five years and what are your values in terms of what kind of coach do you want, what kind of collaboration do you want, what kind of culture do you want – that, to me, is something I never thought about as a fan,” said Lurie.
“But then you’ve got to also then identify where do you think the trajectory is going to go, and that’s where the hard decisions are. If you thought you were on an upward trajectory and you had a down year, and you’d say ‘okay, that was a down year but we’re really on an upward trajectory with that coach and with that coaching staff, then you continue. If you reach the conclusion that you think you’re on a downward trajectory and you needed fresh leadership, then you’ve got to make a change and don’t be afraid to make a change, at the same time, don’t be afraid to keep a great coach like I did with Andy [Reid] over the years.
“There was a lot of criticism – ‘why would you keep Andy Reid? We didn’t win the Super Bowl that year’, well, many of the years, we were in the NFC Championship game, so you’ve kind of got to decipher that but make your own judgement and don’t shy away from really tough decisions,” he added.
Rob McElhenney could take inspiration from Jeffrey Lurie
Those words from Lurie may have come four years ago, but the advice will no doubt stick in McElhenney’s mind as this Wrexham journey continues.
Lurie kept the faith with Andy Reid but also with current head coach Nick Sirianni.
The Eagles went 2-2 through the first four weeks of the 2024 season before going 12-1 in the final 13 games – and then winning the Super Bowl.
There was so much noise around potentially firing Sirianni after that slow start but Lurie kept the faith and was rewarded.
McElhenney was able to celebrate the Super Bowl win and will surely take inspiration from blocking out the noise.
There are very few Wrexham fans seriously calling for Parkinson to go right now but when the going gets tough, that measured approach from Lurie may still guide McElhenney.