Wrexham - All Welsh Affair
- Thread starter zacram
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Good to see my beloved Gills flying in League One
Well done so far mate...cracking achievement getting to League One so quickly and good luck for the rest of this season!
Thanks mate - I was expecting us to really struggle this season in League One but has been rather comfortable so far.
February 2024
After a rough patch in mid December, we managed to bounce back and rack up 25 points out of 27 to close out January and leave us second in the table and in an automatic promotion spot! We were expected to avoid relegation this season to be in with a chance of promotion is incredible.
Still a long way to go in the season but if we can grab a Top 6 finish and make the playoffs that would be quite something.
We make it a full house of first round cup exits this season, losing to Morecambe in a replay. They are League Two opposition so am extremely frustrated to not progress to the next round in a tournament that can be very lucrative financially if you make it a few rounds in.
However, our solid League position has persuaded the board to invest more money into our youth recruitment and academy coaching so we have now achieved "excellent" standard. All very good signs for a League One side and hopefully we have some emerging Welsh superstars in season to come.
Will Russ was named Welsh Young Player of the Year after scoring 34 goals in 52 games for us!
Both the runner up and third place are also at Wrexham, although Mayembe is on loan from Cardiff. Clearly I am managing to get the best out of these young talents that have been released from Premiership sides.
End of 2023/24 Season
We quickly slipped out of the automatic promotion places but managed to finish the season strongly to secure a very unexpected playoff place. Most people expected us to be scrapping at the bottom end of the table but here we are potentially 3 games away from the Championship.
Colchester have been the in form team at the back end of the season as you can see from the above table, but we somehow managed to completely dismantle them in the first leg giving us a massive 3-0 lead heading into the return fixture. A fixture which we ultimately ended up losing but we still find ourselves on the road to Wembley!
WREXHAM ARE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP!
With extra time looking almost inevitable in a cagey encounter our main man, Will Russ came up with yet another goal to secure us promotion! Let's just remember this is the man that scored in our National League playoff a few seasons back and here he is still leading the line.
I really was not expecting promotion at all this season so we have done incredibly well, but staying in the Championship is undoubtably going to be our biggest challenge to date.
In other news, Wales decided to part ways with Hareide after he failed to qualify for the Euros following defeat in the playoff final.
I decided to apply for the role for a second time and this time I do come with a bit more of a reputation and qualifications behind me (this was before promotion to the Championship), even a Welsh Hall of famer, but still unproven on the big stage.
I find myself rejected once again!
Laudrup was tipped for the position pretty early on and the Welsh FA didn't take long to get their man.
Hopefully next time the job comes around i'll be in a position to be considered a serious contender for the role.
We quickly slipped out of the automatic promotion places but managed to finish the season strongly to secure a very unexpected playoff place. Most people expected us to be scrapping at the bottom end of the table but here we are potentially 3 games away from the Championship.
Colchester have been the in form team at the back end of the season as you can see from the above table, but we somehow managed to completely dismantle them in the first leg giving us a massive 3-0 lead heading into the return fixture. A fixture which we ultimately ended up losing but we still find ourselves on the road to Wembley!
WREXHAM ARE IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP!
With extra time looking almost inevitable in a cagey encounter our main man, Will Russ came up with yet another goal to secure us promotion! Let's just remember this is the man that scored in our National League playoff a few seasons back and here he is still leading the line.
I really was not expecting promotion at all this season so we have done incredibly well, but staying in the Championship is undoubtably going to be our biggest challenge to date.
In other news, Wales decided to part ways with Hareide after he failed to qualify for the Euros following defeat in the playoff final.
I decided to apply for the role for a second time and this time I do come with a bit more of a reputation and qualifications behind me (this was before promotion to the Championship), even a Welsh Hall of famer, but still unproven on the big stage.
I find myself rejected once again!
Laudrup was tipped for the position pretty early on and the Welsh FA didn't take long to get their man.
Hopefully next time the job comes around i'll be in a position to be considered a serious contender for the role.
Hampus Silverholt
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Great season for you! Keeping Wrexham in the Championship with a squad of Welsh players would be some achievement
Thanks mate. Looking at wage the difference between us and the rest of the League, I thinks it'll be a long season.
End of Season Review 2023/24
After another very successful season we finally see a small boost to the club's reputation, which alongside playing in the Championship should hopefully attract some better names.
The average attendance grew significantly again alongside our annual revenue despite a very poor season of competition prize money.
The starting XI is pretty close to what I would have selected.
As you can see our CBs both had extremely strong seasons and Will Russ was heavily supported for goals from both Cullen and Mayembe.
Doyle was awarded League One player of the Year and Will Russ picked up Top Goalscorer a year on from winning the same prize in League Two.
The board have agreed to improve the Youth Facilities, although this wont commence until the end of next season so should we find ourselves relegated then I imagine this will be scrapped.
So the board have given us a small increase in wage budget, although £63k p/w for the entire squad is actually smaller than a number of players individual salary.
Start of 2024/25 Season
My debut Championship season has got off to a very good start, winning 3 of our opening 7 fixtures. Amazingly we haven't looked out of our depth at all at this level, which is even more incredible when you consider the budget we are working with at the bottom of this post!l
Despite a positive start i'm under no illusions that this is going to be a comfortable season and having looked back at the previous few seasons the highest points total required to ensure survival was 47, although is usually a little lower than this. So our objective this season is 47 points! and to hang in the Championship.
We finally managed to progress beyond the first round of the EFL Cup at the 4th attempt and also managed to get some revenge on Morecambe in the process, the team that knocked us out of the FA Cup last season.
Transfers have again been difficult as we still struggle to attract the top Welsh talent. I did try splash the budget on Regan Poole after he was relegated with MK Dons but he wasn't even interested in discussing a contract with us.
So this was the best I managed....
I guess Tom Lawrence is our coup signing, although could only manage a loan deal as his wage demands far exceed what I can offer. We are only paying 60% of his wage and that was at a real stretch for us.
Here is a table to highlight just how small our wage budget is!
Granted I have a bit more at my disposal, but unfortunately nobody to spend it on
My debut Championship season has got off to a very good start, winning 3 of our opening 7 fixtures. Amazingly we haven't looked out of our depth at all at this level, which is even more incredible when you consider the budget we are working with at the bottom of this post!l
Despite a positive start i'm under no illusions that this is going to be a comfortable season and having looked back at the previous few seasons the highest points total required to ensure survival was 47, although is usually a little lower than this. So our objective this season is 47 points! and to hang in the Championship.
We finally managed to progress beyond the first round of the EFL Cup at the 4th attempt and also managed to get some revenge on Morecambe in the process, the team that knocked us out of the FA Cup last season.
Transfers have again been difficult as we still struggle to attract the top Welsh talent. I did try splash the budget on Regan Poole after he was relegated with MK Dons but he wasn't even interested in discussing a contract with us.
So this was the best I managed....
I guess Tom Lawrence is our coup signing, although could only manage a loan deal as his wage demands far exceed what I can offer. We are only paying 60% of his wage and that was at a real stretch for us.
Here is a table to highlight just how small our wage budget is!
Granted I have a bit more at my disposal, but unfortunately nobody to spend it on
1st December 2024
Reality of life in the Championship has really started to hit home following.
Considering we were predicted to finish dead last this season and an inevitable return to League One, we are still performing above expectation and 8 points above the drop zone. It's just starts to get a bit frustrating watching your side take some heavy defeats.
I'm still confident we can avoid relegation as we are roughly halfway to the predicted points tally required already.
Our first real voyage in the EFL Cup gets halted by Arsenal as we failed to hold on to an early lead. I really thought we were going to hang on for the lottery of penalties but unfortunately their relentless pressure got the winner in the 85th minute.
Still, League Survival is our priority this season!
Reality of life in the Championship has really started to hit home following.
Considering we were predicted to finish dead last this season and an inevitable return to League One, we are still performing above expectation and 8 points above the drop zone. It's just starts to get a bit frustrating watching your side take some heavy defeats.
I'm still confident we can avoid relegation as we are roughly halfway to the predicted points tally required already.
Our first real voyage in the EFL Cup gets halted by Arsenal as we failed to hold on to an early lead. I really thought we were going to hang on for the lottery of penalties but unfortunately their relentless pressure got the winner in the 85th minute.
Still, League Survival is our priority this season!
Hampus Silverholt
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Still a significant gap between you and the bottom 3 which is probably the best you could hope for given the disparity between you and the other teams! Hopefully you stay up and then in the long-term establish yourself as a Championship club so that reputation/finances improve and you can attract better players
Exactly. Surviving this season should give me a great platform to kick on next season and hopefully land some current senior internationals!
1st February 2025
The last couple of months have been a real struggle as we had a 9 game winless spell across all competitions (8 in the League).
Understandably morale has been at an all time low despite the fact that we are still performing well above our preseason prediction. Fortunately we got a couple of victories over both Preston and Ipswich, 2 teams that are also in danger of entering a relegation battle this season.
The reigning FA Cup champions, Wolves knock us out at the first hurdle.
Despite going a man down in the 60th minute we defended admirably and actually had more possession, although based on the shot count we just didn't do an awful lot with it unfortunately.
The Welsh Young player Awards all go to players at Wrexham, although both Mayembe and Williams are on loan.
Funnily, Mayembe is on loan to us from Cardiff who are actually playing in League One...
We made just one signing in January to strengthen our RB options.
Hughes was actually on loan at Sutton United in the National League and he now joins us as our best RB on paper....
The last couple of months have been a real struggle as we had a 9 game winless spell across all competitions (8 in the League).
Understandably morale has been at an all time low despite the fact that we are still performing well above our preseason prediction. Fortunately we got a couple of victories over both Preston and Ipswich, 2 teams that are also in danger of entering a relegation battle this season.
The reigning FA Cup champions, Wolves knock us out at the first hurdle.
Despite going a man down in the 60th minute we defended admirably and actually had more possession, although based on the shot count we just didn't do an awful lot with it unfortunately.
The Welsh Young player Awards all go to players at Wrexham, although both Mayembe and Williams are on loan.
Funnily, Mayembe is on loan to us from Cardiff who are actually playing in League One...
We made just one signing in January to strengthen our RB options.
Hughes was actually on loan at Sutton United in the National League and he now joins us as our best RB on paper....
1st April
After finding some much needed form, we managed to secure our survival in the Championship with an incredible 6 games to spare. I had been pretty resound to the fact that we'd at least be in a relegation battle but have managed to steer clear and establish a solid foundation for next season.
After finding some much needed form, we managed to secure our survival in the Championship with an incredible 6 games to spare. I had been pretty resound to the fact that we'd at least be in a relegation battle but have managed to steer clear and establish a solid foundation for next season.
The latest youth prospects entered the academy and unfortunately it wasn't a good year at all. Realistically none will ever make it to the first team which always makes my life a little more difficult.
I also received my first ever job offer and a Premier League one at that!
Obviously I didn't accept, but always good to be wanted.
I also received my first ever job offer and a Premier League one at that!
Obviously I didn't accept, but always good to be wanted.
Finishing the Season in Style
It's almost as if we took the handbrake off once we had secured our Championship survival and started playing with the freedom and style that got us to this division. We finish an incredible 29 points above relegation, although it was an unusually low points tally at the bottom of the table.
With 3 new teams entering the division we have to be confident we can equal this seasons position if not ideally better it, but we've set ourselves a big ask!
Our average attendance was nearly at its full capacity of 11,500 this season. Despite it being a 15,500 stadium we don't seem to be allowed to have it at its true full capacity although it looks like this has been increased to 12,552 for next season.
We only had 2 live televised games all season which was a little disappointing, but hoping we get a bit more airtime for the forthcoming season.
Here is our best XI of the season.....
Not a big boost to our budget as we look to keep our finances in order. I have plenty of salary budget to work with but just need to hope we can attract the right players.... Aaron Ramsey is set to be a free agent, but currently has no interest in joining us (hopefully this changes!)
We are miles behind everyone else with regards to sponsorship but am expecting to attract some more deals next season.
In terms of reputation we are still considered to be alongside League One teams, so attracting players may still prove problematic.
It's almost as if we took the handbrake off once we had secured our Championship survival and started playing with the freedom and style that got us to this division. We finish an incredible 29 points above relegation, although it was an unusually low points tally at the bottom of the table.
With 3 new teams entering the division we have to be confident we can equal this seasons position if not ideally better it, but we've set ourselves a big ask!
Our average attendance was nearly at its full capacity of 11,500 this season. Despite it being a 15,500 stadium we don't seem to be allowed to have it at its true full capacity although it looks like this has been increased to 12,552 for next season.
We only had 2 live televised games all season which was a little disappointing, but hoping we get a bit more airtime for the forthcoming season.
Here is our best XI of the season.....
Not a big boost to our budget as we look to keep our finances in order. I have plenty of salary budget to work with but just need to hope we can attract the right players.... Aaron Ramsey is set to be a free agent, but currently has no interest in joining us (hopefully this changes!)
We are miles behind everyone else with regards to sponsorship but am expecting to attract some more deals next season.
In terms of reputation we are still considered to be alongside League One teams, so attracting players may still prove problematic.
So I have also made Wrexham the choice of my long term save in FM21. Im an American and I thought it would be fun to have an American manage the team with the new American owners. My goal for the save has been to make Wrexham the best team in the world (and maybe go and manage the US national team haha).
How it has gone so far:
2020/2021: Won the Vanarama National League
2021/2022: Promoted as 3rd Place Finisher in League 2
2022/2023: Won League One! Won the Papa John's Trophy as well
2023/2024: Finished 10th in the Championship (the low wage budget and low rep made it hard for me to get the players I really wanted)
2024/2025: Finished 3rd and Lost 2-0 in the Playoff Final
2025/2026: Won the Championship!
2026/2027: 11th in the Premier League! (Some great signings led us to have the 3rd best scoring attack in the league... but we had an awful defense)
2027/2028: 9th in the Premier League. (Continually squad building and upgrading my youth setup) We also have more than 60 mil in the bank thanks to Prem and Transfer income
2028/2029: Almost done with this season, but with 7 games remaining we are 3rd sitting on 67 pts! European Competition seems very likely. Plus we are building a new stadium and for the first time ever I got a youth recruit who is 15 years old and already at 2 star CA and 5 star Potential for my Prem Side.
In the lower leagues I got help from some great free transfers, loans, and my 4-3-3 setup. As I got to the championship i switched to a 4-2-3-1 and started signing cheap players from U23 prem teams. In all, these players were really good and I was able to make a great profit on some of them with let me go into the prem with a pretty good side and 50 mil of transfer budget, hence how I stayed up.
I really am liking your updates and I can't wait to see where you take the Red Dragons.
How it has gone so far:
2020/2021: Won the Vanarama National League
2021/2022: Promoted as 3rd Place Finisher in League 2
2022/2023: Won League One! Won the Papa John's Trophy as well
2023/2024: Finished 10th in the Championship (the low wage budget and low rep made it hard for me to get the players I really wanted)
2024/2025: Finished 3rd and Lost 2-0 in the Playoff Final
2025/2026: Won the Championship!
2026/2027: 11th in the Premier League! (Some great signings led us to have the 3rd best scoring attack in the league... but we had an awful defense)
2027/2028: 9th in the Premier League. (Continually squad building and upgrading my youth setup) We also have more than 60 mil in the bank thanks to Prem and Transfer income
2028/2029: Almost done with this season, but with 7 games remaining we are 3rd sitting on 67 pts! European Competition seems very likely. Plus we are building a new stadium and for the first time ever I got a youth recruit who is 15 years old and already at 2 star CA and 5 star Potential for my Prem Side.
In the lower leagues I got help from some great free transfers, loans, and my 4-3-3 setup. As I got to the championship i switched to a 4-2-3-1 and started signing cheap players from U23 prem teams. In all, these players were really good and I was able to make a great profit on some of them with let me go into the prem with a pretty good side and 50 mil of transfer budget, hence how I stayed up.
I really am liking your updates and I can't wait to see where you take the Red Dragons.
So I have also made Wrexham the choice of my long term save in FM21. Im an American and I thought it would be fun to have an American manage the team with the new American owners. My goal for the save has been to make Wrexham the best team in the world (and maybe go and manage the US national team haha).
How it has gone so far:
2020/2021: Won the Vanarama National League
2021/2022: Promoted as 3rd Place Finisher in League 2
2022/2023: Won League One! Won the Papa John's Trophy as well
2023/2024: Finished 10th in the Championship (the low wage budget and low rep made it hard for me to get the players I really wanted)
2024/2025: Finished 3rd and Lost 2-0 in the Playoff Final
2025/2026: Won the Championship!
2026/2027: 11th in the Premier League! (Some great signings led us to have the 3rd best scoring attack in the league... but we had an awful defense)
2027/2028: 9th in the Premier League. (Continually squad building and upgrading my youth setup) We also have more than 60 mil in the bank thanks to Prem and Transfer income
2028/2029: Almost done with this season, but with 7 games remaining we are 3rd sitting on 67 pts! European Competition seems very likely. Plus we are building a new stadium and for the first time ever I got a youth recruit who is 15 years old and already at 2 star CA and 5 star Potential for my Prem Side.
In the lower leagues I got help from some great free transfers, loans, and my 4-3-3 setup. As I got to the championship i switched to a 4-2-3-1 and started signing cheap players from U23 prem teams. In all, these players were really good and I was able to make a great profit on some of them with let me go into the prem with a pretty good side and 50 mil of transfer budget, hence how I stayed up.
I really am liking your updates and I can't wait to see where you take the Red Dragons.
Wow, that's seriously impressive to reach to be on the verge of European Football within 9 seasons! Good work!
Always good to hear how someone else is getting on at the same club and glad you're enjoying the story
1st September 2025
We managed to get a few deals done in the summer but are still struggling to attract players. Then meeting the asking price/wage price of those interested players is another challenge in itself.
Nevertheless I did splash out £140k on a player which makes a change to the free transfers we usually get by on.
Ben Cabango may be our biggest signing to date!
A Welsh international that has the time and ability to work his way back into the Wales National side. He initially wanted over 20k p/w, but after remaining a free agent for a number of weeks he finally lowered his demands to within our budget, but still becomes our biggest earner by far!
Joe Adams becomes my biggest transfer fee to date at £140k. I wouldn't say he's anything special, but with very limited options to work with I think he'll be a good addition for us.
We remain rooted to the bottom of the wage expenditure list, despite investing more money in the squad.
We get off to another solid start to the new campaign, with just 1 defeat in the opening month of the season. Realistically our objective will be to avoid relegation again this season, although secretly I'd like to improve on last season's points tally of 61, but that may be a very big ask.
We still remain heavy favourites for the drop ahead of the 3 newly promoted sides
We also made it to the 3rd round of the EFL Cup as we host the Blades.
A Tough Season Ahead?
After making a good start to the season we started to struggle a bit, scoring just the 1 goal in our first 5 games (including cup competitions) since the start of September. Fortunately we managed to record a couple of big wins over Sunderland and Bristol City but we do have a few early warning signs to contend with and may prove a tougher season than last year.
Still 9 points above the drop zone.
We get dumped out of the EFL Cup in the third round by last seasons winner, Sheffield United.
I felt I had to show the match stats, as even though we were on the end of a 4-0 thrashing, it did seem rather harsh. They just converted their chances really and we squandered ours but generally we weren't massively outplayed by Premier league opposition.
The board have agreed to invest more in our Youth Recruitment and with the new Youth Facilities a few weeks away from completion we are getting some really good foundations in at the club.
Hopefully we find a World Class prospect this Season!
After making a good start to the season we started to struggle a bit, scoring just the 1 goal in our first 5 games (including cup competitions) since the start of September. Fortunately we managed to record a couple of big wins over Sunderland and Bristol City but we do have a few early warning signs to contend with and may prove a tougher season than last year.
Still 9 points above the drop zone.
We get dumped out of the EFL Cup in the third round by last seasons winner, Sheffield United.
I felt I had to show the match stats, as even though we were on the end of a 4-0 thrashing, it did seem rather harsh. They just converted their chances really and we squandered ours but generally we weren't massively outplayed by Premier league opposition.
The board have agreed to invest more in our Youth Recruitment and with the new Youth Facilities a few weeks away from completion we are getting some really good foundations in at the club.
Hopefully we find a World Class prospect this Season!
MidKnightDreary
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Excellent, I'm inspired to do a one-nationality save too now!
It's a fun challenge, although have now hit a bit of a wall where I cant really attract/afford to improve the squad anymore!
1st Feb 2026
I was planning to do a separate post for January to do a transfer round up - but we made 0 transfers....
Despite the lack of transfer activity we continue to stumble our way through the season in a rather unconvincing fashion, recording just 4 wins in 3 months. It's turning into a tough season for us and is starting to get frustrating that we cant improve the squad, but 16 points clear of the relegation zone means we should be avoiding the drop this year yet again.
We pushed Leeds all the way to extra time in our 3rd Round FA Cup replay. Had we been able to hold out for penalties then maybe we could have lucked in, but its yet another disappointing cup run for us.
In brighter news the Youth Facilities have finally been upgraded. Still along way to get them to state of the art but we need to keep investing to boost the clubs reputation and hopefully attract higher calibre players.
Survival all but confirmed
We've managed to pick up some late season form, similarly to last season, and our survival in the Championship is now all but secured having passed the golden 47 point mark with 6 games remaining.
I feel like we are an established Championship side but realistically the prospect of challenging for a place in the Premier League is a long way away unless we can really bolster the squad.
The latest batch of youth prospects have entered the academy and we finally have some talent!
Unfortunately Duane Thorpe is English but am hoping he will switch allegiance as he has dual Nationality.
Carl Shepherd-Davey (Great Name!) is looking like our best prospect and a player that will very likely get game time for Wrexham. In all honesty his attributes aren't that far off some of our first team players so he may well be featuring next season!
We've managed to pick up some late season form, similarly to last season, and our survival in the Championship is now all but secured having passed the golden 47 point mark with 6 games remaining.
I feel like we are an established Championship side but realistically the prospect of challenging for a place in the Premier League is a long way away unless we can really bolster the squad.
The latest batch of youth prospects have entered the academy and we finally have some talent!
Unfortunately Duane Thorpe is English but am hoping he will switch allegiance as he has dual Nationality.
Carl Shepherd-Davey (Great Name!) is looking like our best prospect and a player that will very likely get game time for Wrexham. In all honesty his attributes aren't that far off some of our first team players so he may well be featuring next season!