“Winning is a habit, as well as losing is. When you're down the bottom of the league and someone scores a goal against you, you automatically think, here we go again. Winning is exactly the same. When you're used to being in that winning mentality, you go out into games and you're just focused on getting them three points. I think that's what Wrexham have gone out and done,” Lee Trundle explains in an exclusive conversation with Tribalfootball, already looking ahead to future games.
“Coming up, they've got Birmingham away, which is a tough one, and then they've got Crawley, Leyton Orient, Stevenage. The way they've started off, these are all games where you would expect them to pick up more points,” the former Wrexham- and Swansea-player continues of a side, who’s looked very comfortable already.
“It was a big game against Shrewsbury, a derby game that I've played in myself, and the way Wrexham went out and claimed a 3-0 win just shows the supreme confidence they've got at the moment.”
Although currently working as an ambassador for Swansea City, Trundle has no qualms heaping praise on the work done at Wrexham these days.
”It has been brilliant and not just for the whole region. For Welsh football, and for football all over the world as a matter of fact, the way a club like Wrexham has reached different parts of the world is unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, a lot of that has to do with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny and with how big they are but you still have to deliver the football on the pitch.
“If you don't have success on the pitch, the story is not the underdog success story. To go from the National League right the way up to League One; if you were going to write a movie about a team climbing the league, you would write exactly what Wrexham have done. I think that's why everyone in football is so obsessed with it.”
Swansea City still has a head start when it comes to youth development, but for how long?
“We've produced players over the years that have gone into Swansea's first team and the Welsh national team as well. I'm sure Wrexham would want to try and emulate that. It's great having the money and it's great being able to buy players and bring them in. But there's nothing better than seeing your homegrown talent come up through the ranks and go and play in your first team,” says Trundle, who actually came into professional football through non-league clubs and not any youth academy.
Overseeing the whole Wrexham adventure from the National League to League One, Phil Parkinson has proved a shrewd appointment as manager as is deserved of a lot of praise, according to Lee Trundle.
“He's had great success before as a manager and Rob and Ryan would have seen the qualities that he had and wanted him to emulate that at Wrexham. He's been unbelievable, not only for the football club, but for the city. I think Wrexham are very lucky to have him.”
Having money and famous owners doesn’t always guarantee continued success on the pitch as Salford is an example of. Although backed by Peter Lim’s money and the likes of Gary Neville, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes among the owners, Salford seem to have stalled in League Two. Phil Parkinson might be one explanation as to why that is.
“I think you need that little bit of luck as well. Sometimes you've got to get decisions right and if you look at the turnover of managers that Salford have had, they've never really had a chance to bed in and try and build something. They go through a bad run and the manager usually gets sacked.
“If you bring it back to when Wrexham were in the National League, I think they’ve got everything right in every decision. The signings that they've made have been brilliant and made a massive impact. Phil Parkinson’s been brilliant and then the way Rob and Ryan promote the club off the field as well. I think all of it has just fitted together and that's why Wrexham have found themselves that successful formula.”
Lee Trundle was talking to Tribalfootball on behalf of online-casinos.com