WREXHAM’S Hollywood A-list owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac have publicly promised manager Phil Parkinson a ‘job for life’.
It’s nearly been five years to the day since the American pair took over the then-National League club and they have gone on to enjoy back-to-back-to-back promotions under the guidance of Parkinson.
Mac famously persuaded Parkinson to drop down three divisions in the summer of 2021 via an impassioned phone call after he had twice turned down Wrexham’s overtures.
Now with the club sitting in the final Championship playoff spot and contending for a fourth consecutive promotion – this time to the ultimate promised land of the Premier League – Parkinson has become untouchable in the eyes of the Hollywood owners.
During an interview with The Athletic, both Mac and Reynolds hailed the 58-year-old as the architect of Wrexham’s fortunes.
Mac said: “Phil has been the lynchpin of this entire thing.
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“For him to take that risk and to come on that journey with us — no, create that journey and the blueprint — has been… critical is not the word… essential is not the word.
“I don’t know I have the words to fully describe how integral Phil has been to the story and success of Wrexham. He said to me very early in our conversations, ‘One thing I know for sure is you will fire me one day’.
“I said, ‘Really?’. He said every football manager knows at some stage he will get fired. I said, ‘OK, that’s fair, and I get that’s part of the gig’.
“But, Ryan and I talk all the time, and I just don’t see a scenario where Phil Parkinson gets fired. It doesn’t make any sense. He has been the architect, the creator of this. From our perspective, he’s got the job for life. Unless he finds another job he wants to go off and do, he’s our coach. He’s our manager. He’s our guy.
“I know that sounds silly and maybe irresponsible to say publicly, but the truth is that’s how we feel. And we have always worn our hearts on our sleeves. Always been as honest as possible.”
Reynolds insists Parkinson has brought a culture to the club that would be hard to ever replace or replicate.
“They say the Welsh are born with the heart of a poet and the fist of a fighter. And that description fits pretty well. Phil brings that spirit into the locker room in a way no one else does.
“You can offer him all the skill in the world, but he will pass instantly if he feels that character is not going to reach the heights he expects to reach. It’s the Venn diagram of football and the entertainment industry. Or any industry. Pick your own. It’s always the same.
“Where they all intersect is culture starts at the top down. If ‘Mr Bigshot Movie Star Guy’ shows up late to set, and is rude and entitled, I promise you in two, three or four weeks it works its way down to the person working on their first movie.
“Phil has made this all about the locker room. All about those players really feeling a sense of community.”
Reynolds and Mac bought the club for £2 million back in 2021, but it is now worth around £350m and that valuation would soar with promotion to the Premier League.
The club’s infrastructure and commercial efforts are among the best in the country at this point and they’ve reinvested that into Parkinson’s playing squad with implicit trust.
Parkinson has taken Wrexham up 74 places in the football pyramid and he is now the seventh-longest serving manager in the EFL and Premier League.
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