Why £1m investment from Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney means Wrexham won’t play home friendly at the Racecourse Ground despite two more being lined up

Having spent the last two summers in the United States, the Red Dragons have headed to the other side of the world in 2025 as a historic tour of Australia and New Zealand is taken in. They have already faced Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC.

Wrexham are now preparing for a clash with Wellington Phoenix before making the long journey back to North Wales. Once there, the plan is to put a couple more warm-up matches in place.

Parkinson is eager to ensure that his side - with the promise of more transfer business to come - are fully prepared for the challenges of a Championship campaign in 2025-26. They are, however, being prevented from arranging a home friendly.

Parkinson has said: “When we come back, we will have a couple of days off to recover and that’s important. Then we’ll start the build up and that first weekend, we’re going to have an in-house game. After that, we’re looking to announce one game the following weekend.”

Wrexham, with Hollywood co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney calling the shots, have invested £1 million in a new playing surface at the Racecourse - which includes a state-of-the-art hybrid pitch, a new drainage system and underground heating.

With that in mind, Parkinson added on steering clear of home soil: “The pitch is coming along well. Not being able to have a friendly on it is not ideal but equally, we want to give the pitch as long as we can to bed in.”

Wrexham will open their first second tier season since 1981-82 away at Southampton on August 9. They will be in action at the Racecourse when facing Hull City in the Carabao Cup first round on August 12, before playing host to West Brom in the league four days later.