Wrexham Transfer Rumors and Pyramid Updates
The English football season has officially come to a close, but Phil is just getting started on summer business.
After an eventful final weekend for English football, Phil has been spotted meeting with agents.
The Wrecap:
Manchester United Stun Manchester City to Win the FA Cup
If you read my Wreader last week…you know this wasn’t what anyone predicted. With a third Manchester derby tapped to finish the chase for the cup, this year’s FA Cup final was always going to be exciting. But to many, it felt inevitable that City would win, securing at least a double for the second straight year. They are the stronger side by whatever metric you choose to use. Then, to make matters worse for United, the night before the match it was leaked that United planned to sack manager Erik ten Hag after the final, regardless of the outcome. If it wasn’t before, it seemed a United loss was preordained.
I guess no one told United that. Alejandro Garnacho scored the opener for United at the 30’ mark and Kobbie Mainoo added a second just nine minutes later. City held an impressive 74% possession in the first half, but they didn’t do much with it and entered the tunnel shocked to be 2-0 down at halftime. That score wouldn’t change until there were just three minutes left in the second half when Phil Foden assisted Jérémy Doku to take one back in the dying embers of the game - and even that was a bit of a gift as United keeper Andre Onana botched what should have been an easy save. A surprise seven minutes were added on, but City failed to take advantage of them - along with their 19 shots, 7 corners, and 74% overall ball possession. So United beat the odds (as strange as that may sound) to claim the FA Cup for a 13th time. Only Arsenal hold more, with 14 victories.
As for ten Hag, United has since announced the manager position will be evaluated as part of the end-of-season review. So while he still may be on his way out, it seems the Cup victory has bought him at least a few more weeks in charge.
Southampton return to the Premier League
It was a tight battle for the final spot in the 2024/2025 Premier League table. Leeds United and Southampton, both relegated to the Championship just a year ago, faced off in the English Football pyramid’s final fixture. It was a tight battle and only one 24’ goal separated the teams. It came off the boot of Southampton’s Adam Armstrong and ushered in a tense contest that saw eight yellow cards brandished by the ref. But despite an added 12 minutes at the end of the match, Leeds couldn’t find the back of the net and will return to the Championship for a second season as Southampton earn the coveted promotion.
Pyramid Changes:
Now that everything is set for next year, here’s a quick look at which squads are moving up and down the pyramid for next season:
The Week Ahead
TST Group Stage
The second annual The Soccer Tournament will begin in North Carolina next Wednesday, so I’ll be spotlighting it again next week, but here is the schedule for the men and women’s group stages:
Men
6/5/24 10:15am - vs FC Roha Eagles (ESPN+)
6/5/24 6:00pm - vs Saturdays Football (ESPNU & ESPN+)
6/6/24 5:00pm - vs Desimpedidos (ESPNU & ESPN+)
Women
6/5/24 12:30pm - vs Angel City 7s
6/5/24 9:30pm - vs Streetball FC Canada
6/6/24 8:00pm - at US Women
News from the Week:
Mullin wins PFA League Two Player of the Season
Announced just moments after I published last week’s Wreader, Paul Mullin won the fan-voted PFA League Two Player of the Season award. After missing the early part of the season due to his gnarly pre-season collision that saw him puncture a lung and break four ribs, Mullin turned it on again toward the end of the campaign, ending with 24 goals - tied with Matt Smith (not that one) for the second highest total in the league, four behind Macauley Langstaff. Add to that 6 assists, a 75% accurate pass rate, and a league-leading .72 goals/90min rating, it’s clear what won over fan opinion. (Ok, yes, maybe a certain program on FX helped, too.) No one could have faulted the fans for picking Langstaff over Mullin, but our assumptive next captain pulled it out in the end.
Get to Know League One
With a new league comes new competition. Throughout the summer editions of the Wreader I’m going to provide a little profile of each club, two per week, for those subscribers new to the English Football Pyramid.
Rotherham United FC
Location: Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England
Founded: 1925
Nickname(s): The Millers
Ownership: Tony Stewart
Last Season: 24th in the Championship, relegated to League One
Ten years ago, as the 14/15 season was kicking off, Rotherham were flying high. Stop me if you’ve heard this one: after a frustrating few years in League Two, they earned back-to-back promotions in 2013 and 2014 and skyrocketed to the Championship. Everything was coming up Rotherham. Since then, however, they’ve been what the baseball community might call a “AAAA Team:” too good for League One, not good enough for the Championship. After three straight sub-20th finishes, they were relegated back to League One in ‘17, only to earn promotion the next year. Then they were relegated, promoted again, relegated, promoted again, and, after stringing two years together at the second tier, relegated again this season with a last-place finish. They did, however, win the EFL Trophy in 2021.
They’ll have some reshaping this summer with 14 players ending their contracts, but their top three players of last year, Hakeem Odoffin, Christ Tiehi, and Viktor Johansson, are not among them. As a whole, the squad’s numbers in the Championship are… non-threatening, to say the least, but it’s a different story when they drop to League One. Each season they’ve been relegated down to League One they’ve finished above 4th. The last two promotions were earned automatically with second-place finishes and each campaign has included more than 60 goals and a +20 goal differential. I would expect them to be in the playoff positions or higher for most of the season.
Blackpool FC
Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Founded: 1887
Nickname(s): The Seasiders, The Tangerines
Ownership: Simon Sadler
Last Season: 8th in League One
A beloved and storied club, Blackpool FC has been one of the more prominent names in English Football since the birth of the Football Association. While their heyday was in the 50s and 60s, when they were runner’s up in the first tier during the 55/56 campaign after winning the FA Cup three years earlier, more recently they’ve been bouncing around the Championship and League One. They spent a season in the Premier League in 10/11, before steadily dropping through the leagues until falling to League Two in 16/17. Since then, they’ve been on the rise again, reaching the Championship for 21/22 and 22/23 before finishing 8th in League One last year.
The squad’s current top scorer, Jordan Rhodes, joins Karamoko Dembélé and James Husband - the top two rated players on the squad - on Blackpool’s out-of-contract list, along with seven others. If they can retain a few of those players, and add a few key components, they’ll enter the season looking threatening. After all, they missed the playoffs by just three points this past season. I’d predict them to be fighting for a similar, or better spot during the home stretch next year.
Rumor Round-up
While we wait for Wrexham’s official transfer business to start, I wanted to begin rounding up some of the rumors that are floating around. I’ll be expanding this section next week and beyond but for now, nothing very substantial has surfaced that I’ve seen. There are a lot of “possible target” think pieces abound, but there’s been very little legitimate transfer news.
Parkinson Locking Down Current Squad
Local Wrexham fan Wonderboy on Twitter has reported that Phil has been seen meeting with agents of players with one year left in their contract, as well as free agents. That list includes 15 players, most of whom are starters, so it’s unsurprising this is a priority for Phil. Here’s who is currently set to depart at the end of next year:
Jack Marriott, Tom O’Connor, George Evans, Sam Dalby, James Jones, Andy Cannon, Jacob Mendy, James McClean, Ryan Barnett, Anthony Forde, Jordan Davies, Ollie Plamer, Max Cleworth, Billy Waters, and Liam Hall.
Squad Depth
Below is the squad as it stands. I’ll keep this depth chart updated as time and transfers go by. My depth rankings are based on the assumption Phil keeps the same 5-3-2 formation and everyone is healthy.
No changes from last week
Arrivals
James McClean »»» Contract extended for a second year
Harry Dean »»» Signed to a professional contract from the youth squad
Departures
Aaron Hayden »»» Released »»» signed a 2-year deal with Carlisle United
Rob Lainton »»» Released, currently a free agent
Callum McFadzean »»» Released, currently a free agent
Jordan Tunnicliffe »»» Released, currently a free agent
Owen Cushion »»» Released, currently a free agent
Dan Davies. »»» Released, currently a free agent
Ben Tozer »»» Released, currently a free agent
Luke Young »»» Released, currently a free agent
Max Hayes »»» Released, currently a free agent
Michael Hayman »»» Released, currently a free agent
Jack Pilkington »»» Released, currently a free agent
Jake Roberts »»» Released, currently a free agent
Dan Wright »»» Released, currently a free agent
Scott Butler »»» Released, currently a free agent
Known Offers
Steven Fletcher
Aaron James
Mark Howard
Arthur Okonkwo
Now that most of the top-tier league campaigns have come to a close, I expect transfer rumors and deals to start heating up. We’ll see what next week brings for the Reds!
