Wrexham tipped to achieve promotion & STAY UP in Premier League as Wales legend tells Ryan Reynolds & Rob Mac how many new signings they'll need for 2026-27

Wrexham are one step away from reaching the Promised Land, with a historic run of three successive promotions lifting them out of the National League and into the Championship. Phil Parkinson has his side in the hunt for a top-six finish and play-off lottery ticket this season.

More big money has been spent chasing the dream in North Wales, with A-list chairmen helping to generate funds that can be invested across record-shattering transfer windows. Drama aplenty continues to be delivered for the award-winning ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary series.

Earnshaw, despite strong ties to Cardiff from his playing days, is impressed by what Reynolds and Mac have delivered at the Racecourse Ground. He sees no reason why ultimate targets cannot be hit, but has warned the Red Dragons that many more challenges lie in wait.

Speaking in association with Nicokick Zyn pouches online, Earnshaw told GOAL when asked for his assessment of Wrexham and whether they are Premier League-bound: “I have done a few games at Wrexham this year. There is always the rivalry - Wrexham, Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, the Welsh rivalry - but I’m very pleased for Wrexham. I was commentating on the Forest game, on the radio, the game that went to penalties. I was there that night and have done a couple of games before and been lucky enough to have a few good conversations with Ryan Reynolds. You talk about owners being around and on the pitch, Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, they are right there - it’s the same thing.

“Wrexham has been a wonderful story. A lot of people say ‘Hollywood FC’ - it is Hollywood FC, but with great credit. I had a conversation with Ryan Reynolds in the first few games of the season and it showed me the real humble way that they are doing it, the real genuine way. Also, they have experts in the building that are experts in their field - they have a CEO, a CFO, the manager of the team. It was very interesting to pop in and have that conversation.

“They are also a team that have had such a unique story - these Hollywood owners have come in and taken the club quite literally from the bottom. It’s a fairytale, but turned into reality. I think it’s amazing. It’s brilliant. Of course being a Cardiff man there is a rivalry there, but I have the utmost respect for Wrexham. I think it’s amazing. I love what they are doing, and continue to see what they are doing. I think it’s brilliant and I hope they do reach the Premier League. I think they can.

“There were probably the first two months of the season that would have been their hardest in the last few years, since the owners took over. The first two months of this Championship season, because that’s where they saw a different level to where they have been playing at. Yes, they got the promotions back-to-back, incredible, but going into the Championship, you know it’s a different level again.

“What they did was make great signings, brought in really good players that have played in the league and can contribute and make a big impact. Now we are seeing the results of that. The signings that they made in the last transfer windows, the movement they are making now, the great thing is that they continue to analyse it and see it very well and decide what are the right pieces to keep and which to move on and how do we continue evolving?”

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Reynolds and Mac have always been aware that further investment will be required in order to become an established top-flight outfit, with Earnshaw adding on how that process will need to play out: “I think they will eventually reach the Premier League. To stay there, it’s going to take something special and real investment. What I do give them credit for, as they continue, if they do reach the Premier League then they will understand how to strengthen and what they need inside the building - the backroom staff, the recruitment - what’s needed to go to that next level.

“The Championship is one thing, they have gone to that level now and can compete. I think they are going to be very close to the play-offs or automatic before the end of the season. If you get promoted, it might not be this year, but once they get promoted, what they are capable of doing is really staying in the Premier League.

“I have been lucky enough to play in the Premier League and you have to have a good group of players, good coaching, but also a real unity inside the football club. They have already got that - that’s half the battle.

“They would probably need something along the lines of what we saw at Nottingham Forest. If you look at that first season, even the second, three years ago where they were, they needed to invest in players and made loads and loads of changes after their play-off win - players left, or went back from loans, so they needed players in the building. They continued to make signings and now you see a more stable Nottingham Forest team. Yes, they will make signings, but the investment to try and get it right was constant, never just settling. It was ‘this is not working, okay, we need to find what works’. Eventually you get more of a team. Forest have done great in the last few years. Wrexham would need something similar.

“Once you go to the Premier League, you have got to be ready for it and be ready to compete. They are capable.”

On how recruitment business must be handled in the top tier, Earnshaw went on to say: “I think they will stay in the Premier League if they went up. They are very open in terms of understanding what would be needed. That’s one of the hard things because sometimes you can go up to the Premier League and be a bit more rigid in terms of how you see things and don’t want seven/eight/nine new players, you only want four or five, or you don’t understand what is needed to stay in that league.

“I think they work in a way of being open to what is the best thing for the football club and the best thing to continue improving the quality. That is one of the biggest battles that you always find, the not understanding or being old-school in not being able to adapt or evolve with the times and with what the Premier League needs.

“Long story short, absolutely they can stay in the Premier League. Now they are starting to believe that there is an outside chance of them going up this season. At the beginning of the season I said ‘no chance, it’s too much for them’. Now, they have made the right signings and the team is starting to gel and get results, that belief is there, there is an outside chance. I don’t think it is at the level where it was six to eight months ago, where they weren't going to go up, now there is a chance.

“I would be very surprised if it isn’t this year, then next year they can compete to be in the top two. Right now they believe they can be in the top six, that’s their belief, but if they don’t go up this season, then by this time next year, they will believe that they can be in the top two.”

Wrexham are currently sat sixth in the Championship table, with 16 games left to take in. They are only seven points behind third-placed Hull City, but are also looking over their shoulder as Birmingham in 13th are just five points adrift of Parkinson’s men. A thrilling race to the finish in 2025-26 is on the cards.