PHIL PARKINSON used his time wisely since his last management role and the new Wrexham boss made sure he kept his finger on the pulse ready for his return to football.

The 53-year-old, who has been appointed Reds boss on a 12-month rolling contract, took charge of six different clubs before arriving at The Racecourse and won three promotions during his time in the dug-out.

Without a club after parting company with Sunderland in November, Parkinson revealed that he trained for and ran a marathon whilst spending time with his family.

But football was never far from his thoughts and Parkinson regularly watched matches at all levels so his knowledge of players never waned when he returned to management.

“I have watched a lot of football at all divisions,” said Parkinson.

“I think that is very important when your are out of the game as a manager, that you keep looking at players.

“I have been fortunate to have a system at home on my laptop which gives me access to all games at all levels.

“Each day I have spent a bit of time doing that because once you get back in a job, your knowledge of players has got to be good and I have made sure that I have kept up to date on that.

“I enjoyed the break but itching to get back involved again.

“I have been in football for a long time as a player and a manager and when you are not in, you do really miss it.”

Parkinson will be at the helm for Wrexham’s 14th campaign in non-league and he is pursuing new signings to add to the players he has inherited.

He will work with former Football Association technical director Les Reed on the recruitment side.

Reed has been brought in by Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, who completed their takeover of the club in February, as an advisor.

His last club role was director of football and vice-chairman at Southampton, and Parkinson is looking forward to working with the 68-year-old.

“Myself and Les will work together on that (player recruitment),” added Parkinson.

“While this process has been in place, Les has been working behind the scenes on that.

“He is a very well respected person in the game, someone I have known before, and I am looking forward to working with Les.

“Look what he did at Southampton, the way he put a structure in place at that club was incredible.

“The recruitment side, Les is going to put things in place in terms of the medical department etc but I will be working very closely with him on that.”

Next season's National League fixtures are due to be released today at 1pm.