Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Wrexham sealed their third consecutive promotion in 2025
Wrexham's Championship play-off hopes have been dented after suffering back-to-back defeats for the first time since the opening two games of the 2025-26 campaign.
Phil Parkinson's side sit four points adrift of sixth place, with four games to play. It's still possible to finish in the top six, though their play-off destiny is no longer in their own hands.
But has the record-breaking back-to-back nature of Wrexham's promotions through the English Football League set unrealistic expectations of them?
BBC Sport examines whether it matters if Wrexham don't seal promotion to the Premier League this season at the first time of asking.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Rob Mac (left) and Ryan Reynolds (right) became the owners of Wrexham in 2021
Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac (who recently changed his name from Rob McElhenney) have made their ambitions clear ever since their first interview as owners in 2021.
A member of the media asked the actors what their perfect ending would be? Reynolds responded: "We'd be lying if it wasn't the Premier League.
So far, so good for the north Wales outfit. They're one promotion away from the top flight and their latest accounts reveal a record turnover of £33.3m in the process. But was it ever really the aim to make it four promotions in a row?
At the start of their first season back in the second tier of English football since 1982, Wrexham chief executive Michael Williamson told the Telegraph, external that his aims for the season were Championship survival, a mid-table finish and to be competitive.
He proposed this to Reynolds and Mac, who immediately responded by asking what it would take to reach the top two.
Williamson went on to say that after discussions between the club's hierarchy, they landed on: "Let's be competitive and see where we end up."
"If we can find ourselves in that position towards the back end of the season, I give us a very good shot of being in the play-offs. And then, ultimately, if we're in the play-offs, I give us a very good shot of getting promoted just because of who we are and what we are and the DNA, the resilience and what it means to this town and for the squad," explained Williamson.
The CEO also said that should promotion not be achieved this time, then that was OK too.
Kop Stand upgrade will be 'iconic' for Wrexham
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Stadium developmentImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Wrexham's home is the oldest international football stadium that still hosts international games
Modernising the historic Stok Racecourse, notably the Kop end, has been an ongoing project.
The Red Dragons have been getting themselves 'Premier League ready' for some time.
They are future-proofing the club in all aspects, from the infrastructure to the number of people employed by the club.