PHIL PARKINSON says lessons have been learnt from last year's pre-season tour of America and he also hopes Wrexham will play a friendly at The Racecourse before the League One campaign kicks-off.

The Reds prepared for a first season back in the Football League following a 15-year exile by heading to the States to play four matches, including high-profile games against Premier League giants Chelsea and Manchester United, on both the East and West coast.

Fresh from securing a second promotion in a row for the first time in the club's history, Wrexham have announced the 2024 Wrex Coast Tour where they will play three fixtures - against AFC Bournemouth in Santa Barbara (July 20) and Chelsea in Santa Clara (July 24), before heading to Canada for the first time to face Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place (July 27).

After returning from the first tour just a week before the League Two season kicked-off, Parkinson admitted that had an impact on performances as Wrexham made a slow start.

This time around, there will be longer to prepare for the start of the League One campaign, which gets underway on August 10, when Wrexham are back.

"Shaun Harvey obviously puts a lot of work into the tour because things don't just happen, there is a lot of planning," said Parkinson.

"We have learnt from last year and we have looked at everything.

"We have had several meetings with Shaun over the last couple of months and we are all pleased with the schedule on the tour and we are pleased with the games in and around that.

"It will be a fantastic trip and an amazing experience for everybody again.

"The lads are going to back in earlier, we will have more preparation before we go and we have got more preparation when we come back."

Parkinson, who celebrated making it back-to-back promotions after Wrexham finished runners-up in League Two, is eager to have a game at The Racecourse before the Reds begin a first season in the third tier since 2004-05.

"We are finalising some games around the tour and we are generally pleased with where we are in terms of pre-season planning at this stage," said Parkinson.

"We hope to have a home game on the Saturday before the season starts. 

"It will be fantastic for us to get back out at The Racecourse.

"Obviously there's work that's going to be done on the pitch in the summer so that is important.

"We will have a game, possibly behind closed doors, before we set-off on the tour as well.

"Promotion is done and the season has finished but work is on-going because we want to make sure everything is right.

"It is going to be a really interesting season for us in League One."