The Athletic’s Richard Sutcliffe is attempting to guide Wrexham all the way to the Premier League. Four years on from getting the job, suddenly the top flight is within sight…
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9| Part 10
“What do you mean he’s going to have to come off? He can’t. We’ve used all our subs and we can’t play the final few minutes without a goalkeeper.”
Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium is hosting a crucial top-of-the-table clash and Wrexham have been second-best to the Championship leaders for most of the evening. Despite that, we’re clinging to a 2-1 lead thanks to early strikes from Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Elliot Embleton.
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There’s eight minutes still to play when Nathan Trott, our club-record signing after joining from West Brom last summer for £875,000 ($1.1m), injures his hand trying to keep out a Marcus Edwards header that has just halved the deficit.
Considering the intense pressure we’ve been under until now — Southampton’s expected goals (xG) stands just north of 3.0 compared to our own 1.15 — I fear we’re about to discover how General Custer felt at The Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Kev Mulholland, our head of medical, wants Trott to come off to prevent further damage, but we’ve already made all of our permitted substitutes. So, he has to play on amid a reshuffle in formation to 4-4-1-1 that should hopefully offer more protection thanks to all four midfielders sitting deep.
The stakes are sky-high. We’d gone into tonight’s meeting in second place on 74 points, three behind Southampton with seven games to play. Ipswich Town, our other big rival in the race for automatic promotion to the Premier League, are a couple of points further adrift in third but also winning 2-1 at Hull City.
As the game restarts following the delay in treating our goalkeeper, I cross my fingers and pray. Southampton, sensing blood, tear into us. Edwards tries his luck from distance but strikes the crossbar with our (clearly struggling) goalkeeper well-beaten.
Kerr Smith, on loan from Newcastle United, then twice clears from inside the six-yard box, while only Kieran Dowell’s quick thinking prevents the ball from reaching Che Adams in a dangerous position.
A huge roar from the home fans then greets the fourth official indicating there will be a minimum of eight minutes of stoppage time. As I urge the players to time waste as much as possible, a smaller cheer can suddenly be heard in the away seats to my right.
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“What’s happened?” I ask Steve Parkin, my trusted assistant. It takes us a few seconds to discover Ipswich have conceded an equaliser at Hull, meaning victory here will mean a four-point gap with six games to play. Oh, and we’ll have replaced Southampton at the summit on goal difference.
Time feels to stand still as the home side again pour forward, Ian Poveda the unlikely hero this time with a block that feels almost as valuable as his two assists from earlier in the night. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take when, finally, the whistle blows. We’ve upset the odds once again…
I couldn’t be prouder of the team and told them so in the dressing room. This feels like a pivotal night in the race for the Premier League, especially as this is our third win in a row after previously making light work of Rotherham United and Leicester City, the latter thrashed 5-0 at the SToK Cae Ras.
“We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass.”
The wise words of Brian Clough, one of the game’s greatest managers. Despite this being one of my favourite quotes, I can’t stop looking at our run-in with a growing sense of excitement.
Facing Swansea City, Blackpool and Derby County — three teams firmly in the play-off picture — on consecutive weekends isn’t ideal, but our other remaining opponents have all been below par this season, particularly Charlton Athletic, who seem destined for League One.
Preston North End at home also seems a decent way to kickstart the run-in, especially as Southampton travel to Ipswich on the same day. I stick with the recent ploy of playing Embleton just behind lone striker Morgan rather than the holding role he filled earlier in the campaign.
He opens the scoring inside two minutes, meaning he’s now found the net in five of our last six league outings. Charlie Patino makes it 2-0 just after the hour and all seems well, only for Clough’s assertion that nothing can be taken for granted come true as a fit-again Trott concedes two late goals.
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A goalless draw at Portman Road means the damage caused by Kevin Nisbet’s late equaliser for Preston isn’t as bad as first feared, but we still lose top spot a fortnight later despite triumphing 1-0 at Middlesbrough in our first outing after the international break.
Southampton thrash Derby 4-0. Ipswich also get among the goals at West Bromwich Albion to win 3-0. The former result means we’re back in second place. Most importantly, though, that four-point cushion on the chasing pack remains intact.
The excitement in Wrexham at the prospect of Premier League football is reaching fever pitch now, as again The Racecourse is packed to the rafters for the visit of fifth-placed Swansea City.
As with the Preston game, we race into a 2-0 lead, Poveda and Embleton the scorers. This time, though, there will be no let-up as Ateef Konate adds a third in the second half.
All eyes then turn to the electronic scoreboard at what fans used to call the Tech End for news of how our rivals have got on. The subsequent cheers could probably have been heard in Chester as the fans celebrated Ipswich’s shock 3-1 loss at home to Derby and Southampton being held at home by Coventry City.
“We are top of the league, say we are top of the league,” they sing before heading down the Mold Road towards town, where I’m sure a series of promotion parties will soon be underway in various pubs.
For our part, though, we can’t think like that. All that matters is getting a result at Blackpool in our next fixture, which has been selected by Sky Sports for live transmission at 5.15pm.
The broadcaster knows that by kick-off at Bloomfield Road next Saturday, the promotion picture could have crystalised thanks to Ipswich and Southampton both playing earlier in the day. Suddenly, this is getting very real.
Blackpool, 5pm. We now know what is needed. Draws for two of our main rivals means a point will be enough to secure a place in the Premier League. Co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are in the directors’ box as we line up against the division’s form team.
Six of Blackpool’s last eight league games have been won, but I’m confident. So, it seems, are the players, with an unchanged starting XI getting the thumbs-up from the most influential squad members.
That pre-match optimism, however, proves misplaced. A ninth-minute penalty converted by Rory Wilson puts Blackpool ahead and we rarely look like getting back into it.
I’m not usually one for histrionics in the dressing room, but a water bottle is still launched in the air during a half-time rollicking that ends with the message: “You’ve been terrible so far, sort it out!”
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It does little good, Blackpool comfortably holding on to move up a place to third, a point above Ipswich and four behind ourselves with six points still up for grabs.
The coach journey back to Wales is eerily quiet, even though we remain overwhelming favourites to go up, so I’m pleased when Charlie Patino, our influential holding midfield, uses a Sky interview in midweek to rally the team.
Derby are next up at The Racecourse, while Ipswich and Southampton are also at home to Plymouth and Coventry respectively. Blackpool head to Bristol City.
After the disappointment of last week, we need a quick start in front of an expectant sell-out crowd and our owners, who have again flown in from the United States. We get it when Malo Gusto, signed in January on loan from Chelsea, breaks the deadlock inside five minutes.
Derby look to have equalised on the half hour only for the offside flag to go up as Fabio Silva turns to celebrate. It’s a warning, albeit one we fail to heed as Liam Thompson does level matters on 57 minutes.
We push for a winner but Derby hold firm as the game finishes 1-1. With Southampton winning comfortably, we’re knocked off top spot. Promotion, however, is confirmed with Ipswich and Blackpool no longer able to catch us.
Cue the biggest party this famous old ground has seen, even exceeding the scenes that followed a return to the EFL being sealed by victory over Boreham Wood four years ago. Ryan and Rob, their dream fulfilled, are at the heart of the celebrations.
The players are understandably jubilant, too. They deserve this moment after such an incredible effort. No one gave us a chance, especially back in the summer when the bookies rated us at 50-1 for the title, but they just kept going, even when our form wobbled around the turn of the year.
For the fans, the party continues for the next few days. Some have a bit too much to drink, judging by one Freedom of the City suggestion!
As for the team, however, we’re back to work again on the Monday. There’s one game still to play and we can still win the title, albeit only if Southampton stumble on the final day at Sheffield United and we do the business at already relegated Charlton.
We start a bit nervously at The Valley, but Oscar Bobb puts us ahead on the stroke of half-time to settle everyone down. With Southampton drawing at Bramall Lane, we’re back on top and the half-time team-talk is all about ensuring there’s no slip-up.
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Embleton adds a second from the penalty spot before top scorer Morgan takes his season’s tally to 20 with another clinical finish. The game is effectively over and I bring Paul Mullin and Tom O’Connor off the bench for the final 15 minutes. Both have been here since the non-League days, so they deserve their moment after being bit-part players this season.
By now, the focus has switched to events in Sheffield. United had led but Scott McKenna has levelled for Southampton. I can only presume the visitors are pushing and pushing for a winner but it never comes. The final whistle blows on a 1-1 draw just moments before our 3-0 victory and the title is confirmed.
It’s job done in the quest for Premier League football, as Southampton join us in clinching promotion. Later, Swansea will triumph on penalties in the play-off final after a 3-3 draw with Blackpool.
Four seasons is quicker than even I thought possible, especially after my first competitive game as a manager ended in a 3-1 home defeat to MK Dons that could have easily been double.
A mammoth 214 games and 120 victories later, it’s mission accomplished for Wrexham. Welcome to the Premier League.
(Top photo: Richard Sutcliffe)