Is ruthless streak key to Wrexham's success?

It was a case of Las Vegas and bust for a string of Wrexham stalwarts who have been shown the door by the club ahead of next season's Championship campaign.

No sooner had several stepped back onto UK soil following a lavish promotion party in the American casino capital, than they found out they would have no stake in the club's future.

Steven Fletcher headlined a list of fans' favourites who have been released by Wrexham following their promotion to the second tier, the 38-year-old former Scotland striker revealing he was leaving "with a heavy heart" and "not by choice".

Other key figures in Wrexham's rise through the leagues - or some with strong attachments to the club - have followed Fletcher out of the Stok Cae Ras, including goalkeeper Mark Howard and hometown hero Jordan Davies.

But recent history tells us this apparently ruthless culling of popular players is nothing new - and is only likely to help their bid to be a force in the Championship.

Rewind 12 months and it was Red Dragons captain Ben Tozer who was ditched by manager Phil Parkinson, despite being a crucial part of Wrexham's rise from National League to League One.

Tozer was joined on the exit list by club captain Luke Young - a hugely popular figure with fans and another key component of their back-to-back promotions - while Welshman Davies never got to play in League One for his local club, spending the 2024-25 campaign on loan at Grimsby Town.

Rather than stay loyal to everyone who helped Wrexham reach League One, Parkinson chose to roll the dice and upgrade his squad. And, of course, it has paid off handsomely with another step up the Football League ladder.

So perhaps it should come as little surprise to see the likes of Fletcher departing this summer, despite the Scot scoring eight goals for the club in 2024-25 and his invaluable heroics from the subs' bench.

Clearly, that is the plan once more, to free up space in the squad for better - and, in Fletcher's case, younger - players who can help Wrexham thrive in the second tier.

Of course, that ruthlessness is not just a summer thing - Parkinson showed plenty of it in the January transfer window by signing strikers Sam Smith and Jay Rodriguez in the belief it would help get Wrexham over the promotion line.

That meant goalscoring heroes Paul Mullin, who is still contracted to the club until 2027, and Oli Palmer, who has a year left on his current deal, were frozen out for the last few months of the campaign.

So perhaps now comes the ultimate test of Parkinson's ruthlessness - is Mullin, the club's seventh highest goalscorer of all time, having netted 110 times since joining from Cambridge United in the summer of 2021, really still part of the manager's plans? Or would he encourage the striker to find a new club?

Parkinson said earlier this month that 30-year-old Mullin and Palmer, 33, would return for pre-season, but even if there is still room in the squad for them once any new strikers arrive, how much game time would they get?

Ruthless business, football. Watch this space.