Phil Parkinson: Wrexham announce new manager
- Published
Phil Parkinson played over 500 Football League matches in his 18-year playing career for Bury and Reading
Hollywood-owned Wrexham have named Phil Parkinson as their new manager.
The National League side have been seeking a new manager since parting ways with Dean Keates on 30 May.
Parkinson, a former Bradford, Bolton and Sunderland boss, has signed a 12-month rolling contract.
"Once the plans of the chairmen were explained to me, the decision to join Wrexham was very easy. Wrexham are an EFL club in all but the one thing that matters, league status," he said.
"We have a very clear objective with the work starting immediately."
Parkinson is the only manager to take an English fourth-tier club to the final of a major cup competition at Wembley, leading Bradford City of League Two to the 2013 League Cup final, where they were beaten by Swansea City.
The 53-year old, who also managed Hull City and Charlton before joining Bradford, subsequently enjoyed success with Bolton, with whom he won promotion in 2017. In total, he has been promoted three times as a manager.
Parkinson will be joined at the Racecourse Ground by long-serving assistant manager Steve Parkin, with further additions to the backroom staff to be announced, and says he is looking forward to shaping the squad.
"The club didn't need selling to me, it sold itself and I wanted to be part of the journey this club is about to embark upon," he added.
"We have a lot to do to be ready for 21 August and in the next seven weeks the aim is to add quality players to the existing squad, and create an environment and culture which gives us the best possible chance of promotion."
Owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney said they felt Parkinson was the strongest candidate for the role.
"The process put in place by Les Reed, Shaun Harvey, Humphrey Ker and Fleur Robinson was thorough, and we were presented with any number of good options, all of whom would have been very credible managers for the club," they said.
"We'd like to thank all those that applied for the role but once we knew Phil was interested, he was our man and we got him.
"Phil has an immediate objective of gaining promotion but is conscious of our ambitions for the club and embraced each element of our vision."
Parkinson should be in familiar surroundings joining a club that is also shooting a behind-the-scenes documentary, having previously managed Sunderland, who were the subject of a Netflix documentary, Sunderland 'Til I Die.
The takeover of Wrexham by Hollywood stars Reynolds and McElhenney is to be the subject of a documentary series called Welcome to Wrexham.
The documentary will follow the duo's "crash course in football club ownership", according to the National League club's website.
US-based FX Entertainment has placed a two-season order for the access-all-areas programme.