This summer was not much of a busy one for Wrexham. More than blingy arrivals, the Red Dragons focused on bringing fresh prospects while eliminating old wood. Such wasn’t the case with their arch-rivals Birmingham City though, as the Tom Brady-backed club rather spent a fortune in the window—something that Phil Parkinson claims they ‘couldn’t compete with.’

$16.7 million, to be precise. To be fair, Birmingham City spending such a fee was done so that they could rebound from their relegation disappointment from Championship to League One. That seems to be paying off for them as they sit second on the table with a tally of 30, two points behind leader Wycombe and ahead of third-placed Wrexham.

So their spending had only sky-rocketed the market for a club like Wrexham, marring their potential transfer plans. “Going back to the summer, in the transfer market that was really chaotic because Birmingham set the bar so high,” began Parkinson on the latest episode of the Men in Blazers podcast. “They gave the market an unrealistic look in terms of the money they were paying, wages-wise and with transfer fees. We knew we couldn’t compete with that.”

That explains why the Welsh-based club decided to bring fresh stalwarts like goalie Arthur Okonkwo, forward Mo Faal, center-back Lewis Brunt, and left-back Sebastian Revan. “When our new chief executive Michael Williamson came in, we sat down together and we decided to reduce the age range of the group. I’m pleased with what we did.”

Signing young players is something for the long term, as one can’t expect quick results from them. Even Parkinson is aware that though youngsters like Okonkwo, Faal, Brunt, and Revan aren’t ‘ready to go bang now’, he is confident that they’ll be growing with the club. That was one of the reasons that made the club’s decision on transfer targets much easier, in spite of the level they’re trying to reach.

Phil Parkinson hints at a change in Wrexham AFC’s transfer strategy!

Spending heavily like Birmingham City is the last thing that Wrexham would be able to do at the moment. Hence, that only leaves them to make the best of what they can afford to do. “It’s very difficult to compete with [the likes of] Bolton and Birmingham but we’ve got to have a different strategy now. I was pleased with the way we operated in the summer,” said Parkinson.

This only hints that Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s team will be operating on this very different transfer method that Parkinson mentioned. How it has worked out so far is something that can be judged by taking a look at their mid-season performances. While exit from the FA Cup and Carabao Cup mars their season, the good thing is that retaining a place within the top 3 makes them a contender for promotion.

Rest assured, more than the end result of this campaign, we’re excited to see whether Wrexham will take advantage in the upcoming January window.