Ryan Reynolds & Rob Mac called out for 'very naive' comments about Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson

That is the ultimate end goal for Wrexham, with a meteoric rise being enjoyed on the back of a stunning A-list takeover in 2021. Three successive bounces have been taken out of the National League and into the Championship, where Parkinson has his side competing for a play-off spot.

Mac told The Athletic recently of why change in the dugout has never been considered: “He [Parkinson] 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 has echoed the words of his fellow chairman, with the Wrexham board fully behind 58-year-old Parkinson. Quizzed on whether the right approach is being taken, with every manager under pressure to deliver results, former EFL player-turned-pundit Don Goodman told Grosvenor Casinos: “Maybe it’s a little bit naive, but there's part of me that wonders whether he meant as the director of football or on the board or as an ambassador. They all fall under a ‘job for life,’ don't they? I'm not sure that it was stipulated. If he's purely talking about managing the team, then it's a very naive comment.

“If results turn negative and it looks like Phil Parkinson has taken them as far as he could, I think Parkinson himself would expect maybe to be relieved of his duties. But I do think Ryan Reynolds is probably floating on the crest of the wave that they're riding at the minute.

“I think Phil Parkinson has done an unbelievable job to have Wrexham in a play-off race. I would have said a mid-table consolidation of a season should have been their ambition back in August. But the way the league has played out, they're right in the mix.

“I think Ryan Reynolds is probably feeling so high right now that his enthusiasm has probably led him down that road about Phil Parkinson having a job for life. It’s just football that if results turn horrible next season and they find themselves in a relegation battle, then nobody would be surprised if Phil Parkinson is asked to move upstairs or found a role behind the scenes, not even Phil Parkinson himself! After all, it's a results-based business.”

Wrexham have continued to invest heavily while chasing the Premier League dream, and have fared admirably in the Championship - a division that is notoriously competitive and one that is loaded with former top-flight outfits.

Goodman added on Wrexham’s present and future, with Parkinson still very much part of the project for now: “You have to remember where he's taken them from. The National League to a play-off campaign in the Championship would have been beyond anybody at Wrexham's wildest dreams – even the owners, even Phil Parkinson himself. I'm pretty confident of that. I would have imagined that they would have felt that consolidating was realistic.

“They've had to rip last season’s team up because the jump from League One to the Championship is a massive in terms of quality, a gap only really recently bridged properly by Ipswich in terms of sustained success from winning in League One to getting promoted to the Premier League.

“Ultimately, they have ambition, and although they are a wealthy football club now, on the back of the investment from the owners and the success of the documentary, they're in a pool now of massive fish, not even big fish. I'm talking about the Premier League and the Championship now, because there are only five teams in the Championship that haven't played in the Premier League, and Wrexham are one of them. Nineteen teams in the Championship have already been to the promised land of the Premier League.

“So it's not easy in terms of outgrowing – it's all about results. If Parkinson is the man that gets Wrexham to the Premier League and then they find it tough, as you would expect they would, is that the club outgrowing him? It remains to be seen.

“But I should imagine there will be some kind of recognition – a stand named after him or a statue outside – no matter what happens from this point forward, because what he's done for the football club is truly remarkable.”

Wrexham have only suffered two defeats through their last 13 games in all competitions and battled their way to a thrilling 5-3 victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Ipswich last time out. They occupy sixth spot in the Championship table, but are only four points clear of Queens Park Rangers in 13th.