Wrexham

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Wrexham men's first team manager Phil Parkinson has congratulated the Women's team on clinching the Adran Premier title for the first time.

Jenny Sugarman's side beat defending champions Cardiff City 4-1 at the Stok Cae Ras last Sunday, with Parkinson among the spectators.

"Very pleased for Jenny and all the staff and the team and the club in general," Parkinson said.

"And obviously very pleased for them to get the job done with a week to go.

"It was great to watch and how much it meant to everybody when the final whistle went."

Wrexham, who will represent Wales in the Champions League, will receive the Adran Premier trophy when they face Swansea City in their final game on Sunday.

The club's Hollywood owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, pledged investment into the women's programme when they took over in February 2021.

"Women's football has gained significantly in popularity over the last few years," Parkinson added.

"And obviously we've had to catch up with the development of the team and the whole squad which Jenny has taken on board this season.

"Straight from the off, the owners have always been very committed to being inclusive as a football club with all areas and obviously the women's team is an integral part of that."

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Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson says continued good performances from Dom Hyam will give the defender every chance of securing a place in Scotland's World Cup squad.

Hyam, 30, won his second senior cap – three years after making his debut – against the Ivory Coast in a friendly on Tuesday evening.

Parkinson was at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium as Scotland lost 1-0 in their penultimate game ahead of this summer's World Cup finals.

"I thought he acquitted himself really well, which we expected because we know he's a good player," Parkinson said of Hyam.

"All Dom can do is continue playing well for us and do his talking on the pitch with his performance last night.

"He can't do any more than that."

Hyam was among five Wrexham players on international duty during the past two weeks.

Issa Kabore was a second half substitute as Burkina Faso drew 1-1 against Guinea-Bissau while Danny Ward and Nathan Broadhead were with Wales, the latter coming on in the second half against Northern Ireland.

Bailey Cadamarteri scored the winner for Jamaica in their World Cup play-off semi-final against New Caledonia – but the Reggae Boyz missed out on qualification after losing to Congo.

"Obviously for Bailey to have his moment, you know, followed in a free kick and do what all strikers should do, which is anticipate rebounds, brilliant and such a shame they couldn't get through.

"But again, they came up against a strong team in Congo."

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Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

This is the first league meeting between these two sides at The Hawthorns (15:00 BST) with both having different aims for the remainder of the season.

West Brom have moved four points clear of the Championship's relegation zone and are hoping to win three games in a row for the first time this season.

Wrexham will move back into the play-off places with at least a point with Southampton not in league action as they face Arsenal in the FA Cup over the weekend.

• West Brom won the reverse fixture 3-2 in August, and have done the double over each of the past four opponents they have faced for the first time in a league campaign (Scunthorpe 2007-08, Colchester 2006-07, Gillingham 2000-01, Wimbledon 2000-01).

• Wrexham have lost just one of their past nine Football League games played on Good Friday (W5 D3), going down 3-0 at home to Swindon in April 1984.

• West Brom have won their past two league games, as many as they had in their previous 19 (D6 L11). They have kept a clean sheet in these wins, last winning three in a row without conceding in September 2024.

• Wrexham have won 11 of their 17 league games since Christmas (D2 L4), with only Norwich (12) winning more in the Championship in that time.

• Only Hull (14.6%) have a higher shot conversion rate than Wrexham (13.6%) in the Championship this season, with the Welsh ranking fifth for goals (60) but only 19th for total shots (440).

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Steve Parkin says he is relishing Wrexham's "fantastic" Easter schedule as the Red Dragons bid to remain in the hunt to secure a place in the Championship play-offs.

Wrexham went into the international break on the back of a 2-1 comeback win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane to remain level on points with sixth-placed Southampton.

Phil Parkinson's men face the Saints on Tuesday, 7 April, four days after travelling to West Bromwich Albion.

"I'm really looking forward to it. The Easter period has been altered a little bit," said assistant boss Parkin.

"We've got Southampton coming to our place on the Tuesday night on the seventh and West Brom away, so we've got two fantastic games coming up."

Three of Wrexham's final seven games of the regular season are against teams currently in the top six.

But having already earned positive results against the likes of Coventry City and Middlesbrough this season, Parkin feels facing the division's big guns can be "important".

"We want to be part of the party at the end of the year, don't we?" he said after the win at Sheffield United.

"We want to be one of the teams that's pushing to get in the play-offs.

"We've got great games coming up. We've got games against the big teams as well, which is important."

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Wrexham's Bailey Cadamarteri struck the only goal of the match as Jamaica beat New Caledonia in their World Cup play-off semi-final fixture.

The 20-year-old netted in the 18th minute in Guadalajara to ensure the Reggae Boyz progressed into the final - where they will meet Congo DR on Tuesday, 31 March.

Cadamarteri has made three substitute appearances since joining Wrexham from Sheffield Wednesday on transfer deadline day.

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Wrexham's Harry Ashfield has been called up to the Wales Under-21s squad for their 2027 European Under-21 Championship qualifiers against Belarus and Denmark.

The 20-year-old - currently on loan at Cheltenham Town - scored his first senior goal for Wrexham in a 3-2 League Cup win at Preston North End in August.

He went on to make his first senior league appearance for the Red Dragons in a 2-0 triumph over Blackburn Rovers on 1 January before joining League Two Cheltenham on loan for the remainder of the campaign.

Ashfield has made nine appearances for the Robins, scoring one goal.

Wales' U21s take on Belarus at Rodney Parade on Friday, 27 March (17:30 GMT) before an away fixture against Denmark on Tuesday, 31 March (17:00 BST).

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Former Swansea City midfielder Owain Tudur Jones says Wrexham are "in the mix" and "strongly" believes that they will finish in the Championship play-off spots this season.

The Red Dragons maintained their push for promotion with a 2-1 triumph at Sheffield United on Saturday, a result that leaves them in seventh place on 63 points, behind Southampton who sit sixth, on goal difference.

"They know that other teams are in the hunt," said the former Wales international.

"So now it's just about clinging on, it's about making sure you show that character that is there in abundance."

Following the international break Wrexham will return to action against West Bromwich Albion on Friday, 3 April while promotion-chasing Hull City, who sit three points above Wrexham in fourth place, host strugglers Oxford United.

Jones feels that "getting rid" of the draws has been key to the Tigers' success.

"That might mean that you lose a couple of games, but these last four games, maybe they draw four you have four points, by winning two and losing two you have six."

The midfielder compared the turnaround to the 2008-09 Championship season at Swansea City. Jones was among those under Roberto Martinez as the Swans narrowly missed out on the play-offs on their return to the second tier.

"We as players didn't believe for the first two months, [Martinez] kept saying 'we are good enough to be promoted' honestly, the lads were looking at each other thinking 'he's in dreamland'.

"It took probably about six to eight weeks in to that first season for us to believe so there were a load of draws and right at the end we just missed out on the play-offs. That seems to have clicked with Wrexham sooner in the season."

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Sam Smith says he has "no idea" how fellow forward Josh Windass is able to refrain from celebrating when he scores.

Smith found Windass, who slotted home Wrexham's equaliser before Smith scored the winner in their 2-1 triumph at Sheffield United on Saturday.

The victory maintained the Dragons' promotion push as they hit back after Andre Brooks put the hosts ahead.

Windass levelled, but left Smith pondering the scorer's response.

"Honestly, I have no idea how he does it," said Smith. "I couldn't even remember what happened when I scored, but it probably shows his composure compared to mine."

Smith said the win was "massive" after losing at Watford in midweek as they head into the international break.

"We were all disappointed after the Watford game. The manager said it in the changing room at half time. He said 'just leave it all out there. We've got a break coming up. We've had a long period. And just don't regret the opportunity'.

"And the lads dug deep and they have come away with the three points. It's a difficult place to come. They had a lot of spells with the ball, and we were quite deep at times, leaving me isolated.

"So I just had to make sure I ran the channels and tried to cause as much problems as possible, and if you get an opportunity, you have to take it. So luckily, I did that."

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Zak Vyner feels Wrexham's contest with Sheffield United will give the Red Dragons the chance to put things right following their 3-1 loss to Watford.

Phil Parkinson's men were replaced in the Championship's top six by Southampton who beat Norwich City just 24 hours after Wrexham's defeat by the Hornets.

They return to action against the Blades at Bramall Lane on Saturday afternoon (15:00 GMT) in what will be the club's final match before the March international break.

"It's going to be a good game, it's always going to be a tough game at their place," Vyner said.

"It's going to be a physical battle as it always is against any Chris Wilder team with a bit of quality as well.

"They're a really good team, a really good side. The start of this season was probably not typical of them and they're kind of back to where they would say they want to be, I guess.

"I'm looking forward to it, it's going to be a good place for us to use the positives from the other day and put it right."

Kieffer Moore, Liberato Cacace, Matty James and Ben Sheaf are all unavailable to face the Blades.

Midfielder George Dobson is eligible to feature having served a three-game suspension.

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Chris Wilder says Phil Parkinson has assembled a "really good team" as his Sheffield United side prepare to face Wrexham this weekend.

The Blades currently sit 15th in the Championship, 10 points adrift of the seventh-placed Red Dragons who are only out of the play-off places on goal difference.

Before the meeting of the sides at Bramall Lane on Saturday (15:00 GMT), Wilder was keen to praise his former Southampton academy team-mate Parkinson for the job he has done since taking charge of Wrexham in 2021.

"No matter what goes on at Wrexham, and there's a lot of noise in terms of the progression of the football club and the story that goes behind everything, but they've still got to win games of football," Wilder said in a press conference.

"Phil, from his point of view, he's assembled a really good team. To win consistently is all credit to him and [assistant coach] Steve Parkin and the coaching staff in getting it right off the pitch as well.

"If we don't meet the fight head on and we don't compete physically, then this becomes a really difficult game. We understand the challenges ahead of us, we understand their record and the players they've got."

Only Millwall and Norwich City have amassed more than Wrexham's total of 32 points since Parkinson's team came from 3-1 down to beat the Blades 5-3 in north Wales on 26 December.

And Wilder says his side must be significantly better than they were at Stok Cae Ras if they are to secure a positive result this time around.

"It was a really disappointing afternoon for us on Boxing Day," added Wilder.

"I don't think we did ourselves any favours with the goals we conceded. We got outfought and outrun which, for me, wasn't acceptable on the afternoon, and I made my feelings clear to the players.

"They (Wrexham) deserve their position in the division through what they've done, especially the run they've been on since they played us. They're a formidable opponent that we've got to try and overcome."