Wrexham were were unable to mark the 160th anniversary of their first match with a win as Huddersfield Town earned a hard-fought goalless draw.
The Athletic picks out the main talking points.
Huddersfield’s slide a cautionary tale…
With landmark moments — the Prince of Wales Fire Brigade were those first visitors to The Racecourse on October 22, 1864 — all the rage on Tuesday evening, Huddersfield Town being in north Wales felt to be a timely reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in football.
This week seven years ago, the Yorkshire club beat Manchester United in front of a sold out John Smith’s Stadium to sit 11th in the Premier League. Even allowing for the battling 1-1 draw at Chelsea that secured Town’s top flight status for another year the following May, beating Jose Mourinho’s side proved to be the highlight of a two-year stint among the elite.
On the same autumnal Saturday, Wrexham also collected a welcome three points. This, though, came five levels lower in the National League, a stoppage time own goal from Dagenham & Redbridge defender Craig Dobson gifting the Welsh club a 1-0 win against ten men in front of just 1,492 fans at Victoria Road.
Huddersfield only returned to the EFL in 2019 at a time when Wrexham had just been condemned to yet another season in non-League. Who could have predicted that a little over five years on these two clubs would be content with a point apiece from league combat?
In many ways, this was the perfect fixture to follow the weekend win at Rotherham United. As with Steve Evans’ side, Town had spent last season competing two divisions above Wrexham in the Championship.
That quality was evident, particularly in a back-line containing experienced duo Tom Lees and Matty Pearson plus Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Nigel Lonwijk. The trio proved a cut above your usual League One defence, maintaining both their discipline and shape throughout.
As a result, the hosts struggled for opportunities with Ryan Barnett’s first half run and shot their only on-target effort. As if to illustrate how well they have adapted to the third tier, however, Wrexham ensured that a rare blank on home soil did at least earn a point by proving equally solid at the back.
“I told the players in the dressing room that before the Rotherham game we would have taken four points from these two games,” says Phil Parkinson, who will have to do without Steven Fletcher in the coming weeks due to a knee injury.
“Two divisions separated ourselves and Rotherham and Huddersfield last year and we have gone toe-to-toe with both.”
Town’s slide down the leagues offers a cautionary tale, underlining how the Premier League — the stated target of Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney — is not necessarily the land of milk and honey that many believe.
Sure, Huddersfield had the euphoria of beating Mourinho’s United and then avoiding relegation at Stamford Bridge against all the odds. But they also lost a demoralising 47 of 76 matches across those two top flight seasons.
Worse still, they over-stretched themselves financially to such an extent when trying to compete with the very best that it’s taken two subsequent takeovers — plus a tumble into League One, a level they last competed at in 2012 — to get back on an even keel.
Parky and the riddle of the empty seat
In a managerial career fast approaching 1,000 games, Wrexham’s Parkinson has experienced just about everything the job can conjure up, including one truly bizarre episode featuring Tuesday’s visitors Huddersfield.
Peter Jackson’s dismissal in the spring of 2007 had opened up a vacancy that interested Parkinson, then working as Alan Pardew’s assistant at Charlton Athletic. After an exhaustive interview process lasting around a month, Town duly offered him the job.
Parkinson, however, had developed misgivings. He wasn’t sure of the club’s direction and told the hierarchy so. Charlton, then still in the Premier League, were also desperate for him to stay.
Despite that, Huddersfield called a press conference to announce their new manager for 9.30am on April 5, 2007. This duly went ahead despite Parkinson having by then turned down the offer, with a seat pointedly left empty between chairman Ken Davy and chief executive Andrew Watson.
Cue a totally surreal half-hour or so as the Town pair gave their side of why the ‘unveiling’ had fallen flat. Parkinson, for his part, kept quiet. But, four years later, he did tell The Yorkshire Post there were “no regrets”.
“A contract had not been finalised or anywhere near being finalised and I told the club I wouldn’t appear at the press conference,” he added. “But for some bizarre reason, the club decided to hold it anyway.
“I think they were under pressure from the supporters to make an announcement but hearing they had arranged the press conference helped make my mind up.”
Parkinson’s intuition has proved pretty reliable down the years. He left Bradford City in 2016 fresh from qualifying for the League One play-offs after realising he could not work with new owners, including chief executive Edin Rahic who was later blamed by fans for the club’s subsequent slide back into League One.
As for Huddersfield, they turned to Andy Ritchie but it was another five years — and a change of owner, as the ambitious Dean Hoyle took charge — before they escaped the third tier. Parkinson, meanwhile, stayed at The Valley and eventually succeeded Pardew as manager in 2008.
Settled side paying dividends
Injuries may be starting to bite with Fletcher now joining Jack Marriott and George Evans on the long-time absentee list, while Max Cleworth has also been out a month.
But Wrexham still boast the second highest number of ever presents in League One with five — Arthur Okonkwo, Eoghan O’Connell, Tom O’Connor, James McClean and George Dobson. Only Exeter City in the third tier can match that tally, while a quartet of players have started every Reading match.
Who’s next?
Another trip down memory lane for Parkinson this Saturday, as Charlton await his side in south London.
(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images)
