In the blink of an eye, Wrexham's Championship play-off hopes have significantly diminished.
Phil Parkinson's men have collected just one of the nine points on offer since the March international break, with defeats to Southampton and Birmingham City leaving the Red Dragons four points adrift of the top six with just four matches of the regular season left to play.
Opta's predictor model now gives Wrexham just a 12.02% chance of earning a play-off spot.
Former Wrexham midfielder Waynne Phillips has since said it would take something "special" for Wrexham to earn a top six place while defender Dan Scarr stated every game is now a "must-win".
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Following his side's defeat at Birmingham, Parkinson was determined to stress that his side were not out of the running when it comes to the play-offs.
"It's not over yet. People will probably write us off, and you can understand that to a certain degree," he said.
"But inside the dressing room, we're not writing ourselves off and we're one win away from getting ourselves going again."
Stranger things have happened, and the Championship is notorious for its twists and turns.
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Regardless, on the back of three successive promotions, the fact Wrexham are even in the mix for a top six place is astonishing, and testimony to the way the club have continued to build with an eye on the future as well as the present.
Despite losing 2-0 to Birmingham at St Andrew's, Wrexham currently sit eight places and eight points above the Blues - who finished 19 points clear of the Red Dragons at the summit of the League One table last season.
Parkinson's men are also 11 places and 15 points better off than Charlton Athletic - the other side to gain promotion from the third tier last term, in addition to being comfortably clear of big guns including Sheffield United and Leicester City.
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The squad will undoubtedly be tweaked once again in the upcoming transfer window, although, thanks to last summer's hefty overhaul which saw 13 players move to Stok Cae Ras, the upcoming window certainly should not be as hectic.
And, should they remain in the Championship, the expansion of the play-offs in 2026-27 will be timely as far as Wrexham are concerned.
Work to improve their Stok Cae Ras home remains ongoing, with the Kop Stand due to be completed early next year.
So, little by little, or rapidly in some cases, the club is continuing to be geared towards the bold aim emphatically laid out by Messrs Reynolds and Mac when they took control of the north Wales side little more than five years ago - reaching the Premier League.
Many scoffed when the Hollywood duo outlined their ambitions, perhaps understandably so as Wrexham were a National League club at the time and had been out of the Football League for 15 years.
But, regardless of whether they can upset the odds and do so in the coming weeks, there is no doubting that Wrexham have every right to believe they can reach the top-flight in the near future.
Of course, the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley - in addition to one of Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Nottingham Forest or Leeds United - being in the second tier would pose a huge problem for sides vying for promotion from the Championship next season.
But Wrexham have the financial firepower to add even more quality to their ranks, with their revenue expected to surge to between £46m and £50m for the current financial year, an enormous jump from the record £33.3m posted for 2024-25.
All hope is not lost as far as the remainder of this season's run-in is concerned, but fans will have every reason to feel confident of doing the business next season after what, on the whole, has been an incredibly encouraging return to the second tier.






