Denis Smith: Wrexham can get to Championship, says former manager

Former Wrexham manager Denis Smith believes the club can reach the Championship if they secure promotion to League One this season.

Wrexham need five points from their final three games to secure automatic promotion from League Two.

"I can see Wrexham getting into the Championship," Smith told BBC Sport Wales.

"That's where I think their level is. I think they can get up to the Championship - going up from the Championship is extremely difficult.

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"What they're achieving now you can see them going on and getting out of this league and going on to get out of the next."

Phil Parkinson's side, who won the National League title last season to secure a return to the EFL after a 15-year absence, are guaranteed at least a place in the League Two play-offs.

But the club owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney could secure automatic promotion on Saturday if they beat Forest Green Rovers and rivals MK Dons and Barrow fail to win.

Wrexham last achieved automatic promotion to the third tier under Smith in the 2002-03 season, finishing third.

Smith, the former Stoke City player who also managed York City, West Bromwich Albion, Bristol City, Oxford United and Sunderland, succeeded long-serving Brian Flynn as Wrexham boss in 2001.

Although Wrexham were relegated to the fourth tier in 2002, Smith guided the club to an instant return 12 months later with automatic promotion to Division Two as it was.

Smith's squad included star striker Andy Morrell and Lee Trundle, but the manager was working against a backdrop of off-the-field problems at the Racecourse.

There were financial problems and doubts over the club's very existence under the controversial ownership of Alex Hamilton, which led to administration and relegation.

'Great club'

"It was a great club," said Smith, who now works as a summariser for BBC Radio Stoke covering his former club Stoke City in the Championship

"The area has always been fabulous and I really enjoyed my time there.

"There were good players there - what we needed to get was them working together.

"Good players on their own also need grafters and the workers and they gel things together.

"Andy Morrell would work his socks off, Lee gives you just that little bit of magic when he's on his game.

"At that time obviously we had a bad time financially.

"Now they've got good owners. They're selling it all over the world, not just in Wrexham and not just in Wales.

"If you've got the right owners with the right support with the right management and the manager's a good lad and knows his job, then you can see them continuing climbing up the leagues which I'm delighted with.

"They've got a stable club and a proper club. The club's right to move up the divisions."