Nobody likes to lose. Phil Parkinson certainly doesn’t. Ryan Reynolds hasn’t become one of the world’s most famous men by accepting being second best. Die-hard sports fan Rob Mac, formerly McElhenney, likewise.
But sometimes teams need to lose. Sometimes teams need to be beaten heavily to understand just how far they have to go to bridge the quality gap. Sometimes powers that be need a shock to the system.
Upon their return to the Football League, Wrexham were full of optimism about back-to-back promotions, only to find themselves 2-0 down to MK Dons inside 10 minutes. They would go on to lose 5-3.
‘Why did you tell us to go to this league? I like the other league better,’ Mac joked.
We knew at some point we were going to have to reckon with the idea that at some point we may have to be careful with what we wish for.
‘I just didn’t realise it was going to happen immediately in the beginning of the League Two campaign.’
Tuesday night’s 5-1 demolition at the hands of Southampton was as galling as anything Wrexham have faced since the Hollywood takeover
It wasa reality check for everyone as Southampton proved faster, stronger, smarter, and almost every Wrexham mistake was punished
It was a reality check for everyone. Within a month, goalkeeper Ben Foster had decided to retire, this time for good, after a 5-5 draw to Swindon Town exposed his shortcomings.
Wrexham retooled, took their early season lashings, and navigated their way to promotion.
In League One, determined to not fall into similar traps as they did in League Two, they were much more formidable from the off, only conceding three goals in a league game on two occasions.
But one of those was a particularly valuable lesson. Away to Birmingham City, who would go on to win the league at a canter, Wrexham were pushed around en route to a 3-1 defeat.
‘It wasn’t a lack of effort,’ Wrexham manager Parkinson said that night in 2024. ‘The lads have given us everything as they always do but like any game, win, draw or defeat, you have got to learn from it and we will take the lessons from it.’
Again, they did so and got over the line for an historic third promotion in a row. But Tuesday night’s 5-1 demolition at the hands of Southampton was as galling as anything Wrexham have faced since the Hollywood takeover.
Southampton proved faster, stronger, smarter, and almost every Wrexham mistake was punished.
Tonda Eckert’s side left with five goals to show for it but, in truth, it could have been seven or eight after striking the woodwork three times. There were spells where this looked like a cup game of Premier League giant versus lower league minnow. The apparent gap was huge.
Southampton are the Championship’s best side across the past 14 games and in that time the Saints have also knocked both Fulham and Arsenal out of the FA Cup.
So, losing to Southampton is no slight. It also doesn’t ‘define’ Wrexham’s entire season.
The fact no Wrexham fans booed at full-time spoke to that. Many were too stunned at having witnessed the Welsh side’s heaviest home defeat since a 7-2 mauling against Gateshead in 2011.
Southampton are the Championship’s best side across the past 14 games and in that time the Saints have also knocked both Fulham and Arsenal out of the FA Cup
Even with a summer spend of around £30million, the fact Wrexham remain in the play-off hunt with five games to go in their first season at the level in 43 years is remarkable
But Tuesday’s defeat, as heavy as it was, can be a good thing for Wrexham.
Where MK Dons, Birmingham City and in the most recent pre-season, Sydney FC, brought shortcomings into sharp focus, Southampton laid bare just how far Wrexham have to go to build a side that can make some noise in the Premier League.
Even with a summer spend of around £30million, the fact Wrexham remain in the play-off hunt with five games to go in their first season at the level in 43 years is remarkable. It’s unquestionably an overachievement.
But Reynolds and Mac want to get in to the Premier League and once there they want to shake things up.
So, that’s the measuring stick for a club that has spent years desperately trying to keep pace with its rapid ascent through the divisions.
‘I feel like they’ve got a real drive to be serious contenders in this division,’ Josh Windass told eSPORTY only recently.
‘Obviously, they’re actors and their job and stuff and the way they come across is all funny and very light-hearted. But I think deep down, they’re very serious about it and they fully believe that we can do the unthinkable.’
When Parkinson and his staff go back to the drawing board this summer, defensively they will need reinforcements if they are to put together a squad capable of challenging for automatic promotion next season.
Since beating Nottingham Forest on penalties in the FA Cup in early January they have conceded 30 goals across 17 games – 1.76 goals a game.
Only one side – QPR – outside the relegation zone (21 teams) have a worse goals conceded record this season than Wrexham (58) and their 13 goals conceded in their last six games is the worst record in the Championship.
‘We’ve got to use this as a lesson, even at this late stage of the season,’ Phil Parkinson said after his side dropped out of the play-offs
Champions elect Coventry City look like a Premier League team in Championship clothing – a reminder to Wrexham they need more top-flight experience if they want to reach the glory land
What Southampton – who became the third play-off contending team to go to Wrexham and win after Millwall (4th) and Hull City (5th) – did also expose was the value of Premier League experience.
Southampton’s starting XI was armed with 304 top flight career appearances, with a further 107 added by the substitutes sent on by Tonda Eckert.
By contrast, Wrexham had seven starters who had never played above Championship level and the same goes for four of Parkinson’s five subs.
Southampton had blistering pace in Samuel Edozie, power in Cyle Larin, creativity in Finn Azaz and Shea Charles, experience in Jack Stephens and Ross Stewart and looked every bit a Premier League side in Championship clothing.
It is how Wolves and Burnley will look next season, even with major sales expected. It is what is required if a side is to win promotion from the Championship.
It is how champions elect Coventry City look under Frank Lampard right now when he can turn to his bench and see stars like Jack Rudoni, one of the very finest players in the division when fit, sat there.
‘We’ve got to use this as a lesson, even at this late stage of the season,’ Phil Parkinson said after his side dropped out of the play-offs, knowing full well they may never return to them with five games left.
‘We knew coming into this game the importance of it, and it hurts a lot that we haven’t put in a competitive performance.
‘It shows if your levels drop you can get punished. We got cruelly punished in that first 20 minutes. We were nowhere near it in many aspects.’
Wrexham built a squad full of Football League players in non-league to reach League One, then became defensively sound to escape the third tier before ripping things up and starting over to find their feet in the Championship.
They sought Championship experience last summer in the likes of Kieffer Moore, Josh Windass, Ben Sheaf, Nathan Broadhead, Callum Doyle and Dominic Hyam to ensure that any adaptation was eased as much as possible. Now they need difference makers; now they need the type of quality that can produce a performance at a rival just like Southampton managed here.
The toughest job of all is bridging the growing gap to the top flight and it’s back in sharp focus thanks, in no small part, to this brutal – but necessary – lesson by Southampton.
