Wrexham launch eight gamers – together with six promotion heroes and membership captain

Wrexham have let go of six players who helped them secure promotion, while offering new contracts to a number of star performers.

The Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney-owned side confirmed their released and retained list on Friday morning. And it contained some interesting details for fans.

The Red Dragons have extended the contract of James McClean, who played a pivotal role in the club’s second straight promotion since being taken over by Hollywood. The 35-year-old Republic of Ireland international will stay with the club until next summer.

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Steven Fletcher, who joined at the start of the League Two season, has also been offered a new deal. The Scotland international scored eight goals in 32 appearances for the club, including a match-winning volley against Notts County and a hat-trick that spurred a 4-1 comeback win against Barrow in January.

Goalkeeper Mark Howard and defender Aaron James have also been offered new contracts as co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney gear up for life in League One. However, the demands of the third tier have necessitated some tough decisions regarding squad strength.

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Double-promotion heroes Ben Tozer, who is also the club captain, Luke Young (the squad’s longest-serving player), Aaron Hayden, Rob Lainton, Callum McFadzean and Jordan Tunnicliffe have all been released following the end of their respective contracts, reports the Mirror.

Teenagers Owen Cushion and Dan Davies have also been let go. Manager Phil Parkinson, who has twice earned promotion in League One, has acknowledged that the jump from League Two to League One may require some changes to the Wrexham squad.

“Obviously improve the squad,” Parkinson said after Wrexham’s 2-0 win over League Two champions Stockport County. “As you go up the divisions, everything improves: athleticism, quality, preparation.”

“Everything we need to improve which we will do, there’s a lot of hard work to be done over the summer but we’ll sit down and as we’ve done before and take our time and make the right decisions to give us a chance to be competitive next season.”

Young, who captained the team to back-to-back promotions for the first time in the club’s history, made his 259th and final appearance for the club in the victory over Stockport. The sight proved to be an emotional one for the the back-to-back Player of the Season, who managed 22 goals for the club across his tenure.

Parkinson highlighted the key roles veterans like Young and Tozer have played in another promotion-clinching season. Parkinson opened up about the tough decisions ahead, admitting: “There’s the possibility of players moving on and that is the hard part of any manager’s job but we also know that we’ve got to evolve as a club and we’ll try and do that.”

He praised his squad’s spirit in the locker room, saying: “But as I just said to the lads in the dressing room that one of the key elements to our success this season has been the dressing room and the lads out of the team.”

He highlighted the professionalism of players like Ben Tozer and Luke Young, who haven’t seen much playtime recently: “You know, Ben Tozer, who hasn’t played a lot recently, Luke Young hasn’t played, the professionalism has been outstanding. Outstanding, he’s driven the group on. Stockport will be in the same situation.”

Parkinson concluded with a commitment to fairness: “I’m sure decisions have got to be made and we’ll just do them fairly and honestly.”