DENIS SMITH believes Phil Parkinson deserves a lot of credit for what he’s achieved at The Racecourse and he sees no reason why Wrexham can’t challenge for an unprecedented third promotion in a row.

Parkinson has taken the Reds from the National League to League One during the last two seasons, securing back-to-back promotions for the first time in the club’s history.

Although the 56-year-old has been backed in the transfer market by Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, allowing him to bring in a host of high profile signings such as Paul Mullin and James McClean since taking charge in July 2021, former Reds’ boss Smith says that doesn’t take anything away from what he has done under extreme pressure.

“Phil has done a great job,” said Smith. “Everybody thinks Wrexham have got money, and that helps obviously, but you have still got to get the right characters in and the right people.

“Because the expectations are higher due to the backing they’ve got and the profile they’ve got, that puts extra pressure on.

“Nice pressure because everybody expects you to do well but it is still there.

“Because of what the owners have done, it has made it worldwide which is great but then Phil has to deal with people from all over the place trying to tell him how to do his job.”

Wrexham are back in the third tier for the first time in 19 years going back to when Smith was manager.

Although the Reds will come up against the likes of Birmingham, Huddersfield and Charlton next season, Smith is predicting another promotion push.

“Getting promotion from any league is extremely difficult but Phil has done it twice and there is nothing to say that they can’t be challenging again next season,” said Smith, who arrived at The Racecourse in October 2001 and left in January 2007.

“It gets harder each league you go up but I think they have got every chance.

“There are some massive clubs in that division but that doesn’t mean that they can’t and I would expect them to be in that top-eight.

“Then it is according to how your injuries go and other things but I am sure they will be disappointed if they are not up around that area.

“The wind is behind them at the moment and everything is going their way. There is a feel-good factor around the whole of North Wales because of it and looking at it as a former manager, it is absolutely fabulous.

“The support is brilliant. Going back to when I was there the support was great.”

Like Parkinson, Smith also led Wrexham to promotion from the fourth tier in 2002-03 but he faced a bigger challenge on and off the pitch two seasons later when the club was in turmoil under then chairman Alex Hamilton and placed in administration in December 2004.

Wrexham became the first League club to suffer a 10-point deduction for going into administration, dropping them from the middle of the League One table to the relegation zone.

Smith had offers from other clubs but he was going nowhere.

“If we hadn’t had the points taken off us then we’d have been okay,” said Smith.

“We were going okay but with what happened then made it extremely difficult.

“I had a choice. I could bail out because I had offers - Blackpool and other clubs came in for me - but I decided to stay because I didn’t like the people who’d done it.”

Wrexham failed to beat the drop but long suffering supporters did have something to celebrate in an extremely difficult 2004-05 campaign as the Reds beat Southend United 2-0 in the Football League Trophy final at The Millennium Stadium,

That was not lost on Smith, who had previously managed York City, Sunderland, Bristol City, Oxford United and West Brom.

“I always put that down as one of my major achievements,” added the 76-year-old.

“To win a competition when you are in administration is bonkers.”