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Phil Parkinson took home more than just a point when he returned to Wrexham on Sunday.
Five years since he officially tendered his resignation with Wanderers he returned to the stadium to manage a game for the first time and was delighted to see the progress made since he had been away.
Parkinson managed 157 games at Bolton and in 2017 became the first manager ever to gain promotion with a club under a complete EFL transfer embargo.
Boardroom issues were commonplace throughout his time with the Whites but after staying up on the final day of the 2017/18 season with a memorable win against Nottingham Forest, the club plunged into financial crisis and Parkinson’s last 12 months at the helm were spent in a perpetual purgatory of unpaid wages, player strikes and ultimately administration.
Now in charge of Wrexham, a club he has led from the National League to back-to-back promotions under the intense media spotlight generated by Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mcelhenney.
Like Wanderers, Wrexham remain unbeaten in the opening two league games, and Parkinson was able to take a step back to appreciate how far his former club had come since the dark days.
“Obviously I am really enjoying my current job but I am genuinely pleased to see Bolton’s progression, and I genuinely mean that,” he told The Bolton News.
“We want to be above them in the league and we will do everything we can to achieve that but everyone knows towards the end of my time here the club was very close to not being in existence. It’s a story that the details may one day fully come out.
“But to see what Sharon has done, built a really incredible club, she really has, it is great to see that because the area deserves that and the supporters deserve it, and the history of the club deserves that as well.”
Parkinson’s official final game at Bolton was a 5-0 defeat at Tranmere Rovers with a team mainly comprised of Under-18s and development squad players. Remi Matthews, Luke Murphy, Jason Lowe and James Weir were the only members of the squad aged 20 and above.
Just a few days earlier the High Court in Manchester had ordered that a takeover from Football Ventures could proceed despite a continuing legal issue between businessman Laurence Bassini and the club’s former owner Ken Anderson.
There would be further complications down the line and the EFL set a deadline of 5pm on Tuesday, August 27 for administrators to conclude a deal or the club would have its membership revoked.
In what Sharon Brittan later described as “the most difficult process of acquiring a football club through an administration in the history of football” a breakthrough was finally made on the day of the deadline and the takeover was officially confirmed on August 28.
Parkinson went on to manage Sunderland before taking charge of Wrexham alongside his former Wanderers assistant Steve Parkin in July 2021.
Back in League One for the first time in 19 years, Wrexham brought a sell-out away support to boost a gate which totalled nearly 26,000 – the biggest crowd Bolton have had since their Premier League days.
Parkinson was given a warm welcome and was pleased to see some faces who were there during the tough times, now looking happier once again.
He said: “I haven’t been back here as a manager but have been here twice to watch games and it was good being back, I enjoyed being on the touchline, just because of the atmosphere and the feel. I got a great welcome behind the scenes and had a great chat with Sharon, met a lot people I remember from my time here.
“They always say there are people at football clubs who are the lifeblood, they lived through those times with me. It was stressful for a manager towards the end but it was just as stressful for people working at the club and the supporters watching the potential demise of their club.
“It was great to see them all with a smile on their face and I wish them all the best, apart from when we play them later in the season, of course!”
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