Wrexham AFC learned hard transfer lesson with player that started his career at Wolves | OneFootball

Wrexham AFC missed big time with former Wolves striker

The transfer season can feel like a game of roulette. Sometimes you hit it big, but other times you miss it completely.

The nature of the footballing transfer window is that even the biggest clubs in the world with a crack team of top scouts and personnel don’t always get it right.

Since purchasing Wrexham in 2020, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have been greatly aided by a savvy front office and an experienced manager in Phil Parkinson, who have a knack for finding the perfect players that fit seamlessly within a team.

Wrexham’s investments since the takeover have paid off as a club, with many players going down several divisions to contribute to this project. They’ve often overpaid and made big to fend off other teams looking to sign those players.

Football managers and owners rarely publicly state their regrets about a tactical move or a decision, even if it doesn’t work out, though there is one signing in the summer of 2021 that the Wrexham boss and owners should have reconsidered.

Liam McAlinden’s resume before Wrexham

At eight years old, Liam McAlinden joined the Wolverhampton Wanderers academy with the prospect of one day playing professional football in the Premier League. He signed his first professional contract for Wolves in 2010 at 17.

The native of Cannock would make his senior debut for the club in a Championship fixture versus Burnley, with his side losing 2-1 on that April 27, 2013, encounter. Wolves would eventually get promoted to the Premier League shortly after the youngster was loaned out to several clubs in the lower tiers, such as Shrewsbury Town, Fleetwood Town and Crawley Town to name a few.

When his Wolves contract expired, McAlinden signed with Exeter City in May 2016 before moving to fellow League Two club Cheltenham Town, followed by numerous stops for various National League, National League North and League Two clubs.

Before Wrexham came into the picture, McAlinden helped Wolves capture the League One crown in 2013-14 while playing for the Morecambe side that was promoted from the League Two play-offs in 2021. His experience was something the Red Dragons were looking for as they aimed to get promoted into the EFL, but as they would discover, there is more to a player than just experience.

Phil Parkinson convinced Liam McAlinden to join Wrexham

Like many players at Wrexham since the takeover, McAlinden was swayed to move down to National League football, thanks in part to Parkinson’s powers of persuasion.

On July 9, 2021, the BBC reported that McAlinden and Shaun Brisley had signed for the Red Dragons, with the former fresh off a League Two promotion at Morecambe the previous season and the latter moving away from fellow League Two side Port Vale. McAlinden signed a two-year contract with the team.

“I’m delighted to get the deal over the line. I spoke to the manager last week, and once he explained the project here, I was keen to get involved,” McAlinden told the BBC upon making the move.

McAlinden was one of the first players to join the Red Dragons when Reynolds and McElhenney became owners.

Liam McAlinden failed to meet Wrexham’s “expectations”

Even though Wrexham were in the National League when McAlinden arrived, they were hot favorites to get into League Two in 2021-22.

Speaking to Leader Live just a few days after joining Wrexham, McAlinden said: “As an outsider, I knew it (Wrexham) was a big club with high expectations, but they have probably been heightened with the buzz around the club and the calibre of manager.

“As a player coming in, you just hope that you can meet those expectations, and I am sure that if I put the performances in that I know I am capable of, I can be successful here, and we can achieve what we want to achieve.”

He knew what he was getting himself into when he signed, but it seems he didn’t know how to meet those lofty expectations.

It took the former Northern Ireland and Ireland U-21 international until April to net his first goal at Wrexham, scoring in a 6-0 drubbing of Barnet in National League action. That was as good as it would get for McAlinden in a Wrexham shirt, as he wouldn’t find the back of the net again for the team.

Despite failing to earn a promotion in his inaugural campaign, the Red Dragons kept him on for 2022-23 though McAlinden, who’d made 32 National League appearances in 2021-22, only played in 11 domestic matches the following season. While he failed to find the back of the net, Parkinson’s men got over the line that season, just edging out Notts County for first.

With League Two football on the horizon, the BBC confirmed in May 2023, to the surprise of many, that McAlinden’s contract had been extended until the end of the 2023-24 campaign.

It was a baffling move by many people’s estimations, given how little he’d contributed, while seeing limited action in 2022-23. Arguably more puzzling than his contract extension was Parkinson’s comments at that time to the BBC: “He (McAlinden) has been a great member of the squad over the last two seasons, and we’re looking forward to him making an impact again next season.

“It’s been the most enjoyable two years of my career, if I’m honest,” McAlinden told the BBC when his contract was extended.

McAlinden would enjoy the bench for the most part with the Red Dragons in League Two, collecting just two caps for them in that competition while making four appearances in the Vertu Trophy. He would fail to find the back of the net or earn a goal contribution, failing to make the impact that Parkinson had hoped.

McAlinden wouldn’t be around to enjoy their League Two promotion that season. The club and McAlinden officially parted ways in February 2024, with the striker eventually joining National League North side Scunthorpe United.

Liam McAlinden’s post-Wrexham career

McAlinden saw his playing time increase significantly in 2024-25, albeit at a level well below his former club.

He scored twice in 10 National League North appearances for Scunthorpe last season, as they lost out in the play-offs.

He joined Rushall Olympic in August 2024, scoring just two goals with one assist in 42 league fixtures for them in 2024-25. As a result, Rushall were relegated with a mere 35 points in 46 contests, with McAlinden scoring twice with one assist.

Wrexham learned a hard lesson in McAlinden signing

Perhaps the McAlinden singing was a rookie mistake for Reynolds and McElhenney, who were new to the transfer world then. Whatever it was, that move will go down as one of the worst those owners have made, and among the worst Parkinson has seen in his lengthy coaching career.

When you go back to the time of that signing, it seems as though the signs were there that he wouldn’t be highly impactful. Sure, he was a part of a strong program at Wolves and gained plenty of experience in training, but even before Wrexham, he never displayed tons of quality in the attacking third. He made fewer than 15 appearances at Wolves domestically, and aside from a 10-goal campaign at Halifax Town in 2019-20, he rarely produced much in the attacking third.

Other than that, season he’d netted five goals or fewer in every one of his other domestic campaigns. He may have been capable of showing flashes of brilliance, but there was rarely much consistency for him, especially in front of goal.

While it was a tough lesson to learn at the time, it seems as though the Wrexham front office, particularly Reynolds and McElhenney, learned a lot from that mistake. Paul Mullin, Ollie Palmer, and Elliot Lee would all follow McAlinden to North Wales, but they all had solid track records of consistency before they arrived. All those players were a big part of Wrexham’s National League and League Two promotions.

Some players can change and thrive in the right situation, but some just can’t flourish at a high level consistently and that was the case for McAlinden.

Sometimes, though, you have to learn to lose before you can win, and though Wrexham lost big with the McAlinden signing, they’ve won big with nearly every newcomer that’s come through their door since then.