Wrexham its all people want to talk to me about -

Steve Parkin was taking a short break from football when Phil Parkinson called to ask if he would be interested in a job. The brutal honesty of the man he has worked alongside for the past dozen years still makes him smile today.

“I’d had a bit of time away after leaving Scunthorpe (in 2011) because my wife had not been particularly well,” says Parkin, who is Parkinson’s No 2 at Wrexham. “Just a couple of months, something like that. Then, to get out of the house, I started to help a mate with his flooring business.

“One day, I’m sitting in the van and the phone rings. I didn’t recognise the number but it was Phil. We’d met but I didn’t really know him so he says, ‘Steve, Phil Parkinson here, would you be interested in having a chat about becoming my assistant at Bradford City?’

“Before I can say anything, he adds, ‘The money’s terrible, the training ground is awful and we are third bottom of the Football League — do you fancy it?'”

Parkinson’s refusal to sugarcoat the state of play at the struggling League Two club did not put Parkin off. He agreed to meet, and a few days later a partnership was born that has since taken in Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland and now Wrexham, the National League club owned by Hollywood pair Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

There have been two promotions along the way, plus Bradford’s thrilling run to the League Cup final in 2013 when they became the only fourth-tier team in history to reach a major Wembley final.

The pair have experienced plenty of joy in the FA Cup, too. Tuesday night’s replay defeat to Sheffield United may have brought an end to Wrexham’s thrilling run after seven matches but the memories of beating Coventry City and coming within seconds of doing the same to Championship high-flyers United will live long in the memory.

Throw in Parkinson’s Bradford knocking out a Chelsea side destined to win the Premier League title in 2014 and Parkin must be glad he was not put off by that phone call.

“We work well together,” says the 57-year-old, who spent a decade as a manager with Rochdale, Barnsley and Mansfield Town before joining forces with Parkinson. “We are very different as people but also similar, which I know sounds a contradiction.

Wrexham assistant manager Steve Parkin alongside midfielder Jordan Davies during training (Photo: Wrexham AFC)

“What I mean is we’re both competitive, desperate to win. Same with how seriously we take our work. But we are different in that I am probably a bit more outgoing. He is slightly more reserved, whereas I like to get in among the boys and have good banter.

“There is a mutual respect there. I see how hard he works, the hours that he puts in. I see what it means to him. I see the attention to detail with video analysis and everything like that.

“With all due respect, I like all that. But could I do it as in-depth as Phil? Possibly not.”

Losing any game hurts. Never mind one when the prize is hosting one of English football’s most glamorous names in Tottenham Hotspur.

Despite that, the pride felt in defeat by those who had made the trip from Wrexham to Sheffield was clear for all to see at the final whistle. None of the near-5,000 travelling fans had left Bramall Lane when their team came across to return the applause.

Not one to court the limelight, Parkin, a lifelong Sheffield United fan, was watching from a distance, standing 10 yards in from the touchline.

He could not help but be in awe at the level of support shown by the visiting fans on a night that was always going to be special to him.

“I’m from Worksop and my dad took me to the Lane from a young age,” he says. “I’m talking the 1974-75 team, with TC (Tony Currie), Woody (Alan Woodward), Badg (Len Badger) and a lot of other very good players.

“I’m not one for regrets but after leaving West Bromwich Albion (as a player in 1992), I signed for Mansfield after speaking to four or five clubs. That was on the Friday but then on the Monday, I got this letter from (then-Sheffield United manager) Dave ‘Harry’ Bassett.

“Sheffield United headed paper, typed out, the works. I still have it. Harry was basically saying he’d like the chance to speak to me, having seen I’d been released. That was the closest I got (to playing for United).

“I still love coming back, even if my memories of being in opposition are good and bad. One visit that isn’t a good memory came when I was at Stoke and played left-back. Steve Wigley had me on toast.

“What made things worse was that Mick Mills, with his 40-odd caps for England and able to play left back or right equally well, was the Stoke manager. Let’s just say he wasn’t very impressed (with me).

“Thankfully, I’ve had better visits, too, including a 1-0 win with Phil when we were at Bolton. That got a bit spiky in the dugouts, as have pretty much all of the times I’ve been to Bramall Lane with the visiting team.”

The disappointment of losing in the cup aside — the first defeat outside a penalty shoot-out suffered by Wrexham in any competition in 24 games — Parkin is loving life in north Wales.

“Phil is really good at reading people,” he says. “From the start, he had a good feeling about Wrexham. That swayed me, as my initial reaction had been, ‘Why would a manager of his stature drop to the National League?’

Parkin salutes right-back Reece Hall-Johnson’s performance (Photo: Wrexham AFC)

“I didn’t mean that in a disrespectful way. But he does have an excellent CV and other clubs higher up will have been interested. Phil, though, was so positive on the back of his first chat with Rob (McElhenney). They spoke for the best part of 90 minutes.

“He phoned me up and I could feel this real excitement in his voice. Phil was convinced the lads were 100 per cent genuine in trying to make this club and town progress. And I have to say, the owners have held their part of the bargain magnificently. The support we have had has been brilliant.”

Reynolds and McElheney’s patronage has allowed the coaching staff to overhaul the squad, the focus as much on character as ability with Wrexham clearly having a target on their back as the National League’s big scalp.

Facilities have been improved for the players at the Racecourse — where the squad gets changed during the week before driving to a rented training ground; the club is actively looking for a new site — including a state-of-the-art gym.

“It is great to be part of this — and I’m borrowing one of Phil’s favourite words here — ‘project’,” says Parkin. “There’s nothing else quite like this story in football.

“What I love is how the supporters are front and central in everything that happens. The support they give the players is unbelievable. Before we played at Coventry in the third round, there was an ‘underdog’ feel to it with them being three divisions above.

“But that all changed the moment we stepped off the team bus. There were hundreds and hundreds of Wrexham fans waiting for the players.

“I looked at the players as they came into the dressing room and I could see it had made an impact, a real spring in their step. As if they felt to belong there — no longer the underdog.”

So, what’s it like being involved in a story featuring two Hollywood stars as owners and a TV documentary that has more than piqued interest in Wrexham from the other side of the Atlantic?

“People talk about the documentary everywhere I go,” he says. “People in the street, back home. They all want to talk about Wrexham. I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of the cameras being around but you get used to it.”

Parkin, however, only makes brief appearances in the 18 episodes of season one. “They looked at me and Butts (Lee Butler, goalkeeping coach until his retirement in the summer) on several occasions and thought, ‘Hmm, I don’t think we should put these two in!’

“That suits me. The lads themselves are great. Really respectful. You honestly don’t know they are there most of the time.”

The focus returns to the league and back-to-back home games against Wealdstone and Woking. Leaders Notts County are three points clear at the top but the Welsh club have two games in hand.

Parkinson and Parkin, ably supported by first-team coach David Jones and goalkeeping coach Aidan Davison, are likely to need all their experience built up over 25 or so years to prevail in a title race likely to go the distance.

“We’ve been through thick and thin together and all those experiences help you,” says Parkin about his manager. “Particularly the thin times. It is easy for everyone when the place is cock-a-hoop and people are bouncing around like a Ribena berry.

“But the biggest test of a relationship is when things are not going well. We’ve had that adversity, particularly at Bolton. Things got very bad there (when wages were not paid for months and the club came close to bankruptcy). But those bad times told us how strong our relationship was.

“I like to think Phil trusts me, in that I am never going to want his job. I had 10 years as a manager, 400-odd games. That was enough for me.”

(Photo: Ben Peters/MB Media/Getty Images)

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