Wrexham AFC are looking for a new manager, having sacked Dean Keates following the Welsh side’s failure to reach the National League playoffs this season.
The 42-year-old’s contract was set to expire at the end of the current season and following talks with the Walsall born man, his contract was terminated, ending Keates’ third spell at the club as both a player and manager.
Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough is the early bookies favourite to get the vacant managerial position at Wrexham.
Clough’s best and most memorable managerial experiences came in his time as manager of Burton Albion, where he took the Brewers from the Southern Football League Premier Division to the Championship over the course of two different spells between 1998 and 2009 as well as 2015 until 2020.
The 55-year-old took over Mansfield in a perilous position in November, as the Stags had earned just seven points from their opening 11 matches, before Clough guided them to safety, taking their tally up to 58 points from 46 matches.
Names don’t come much bigger than Mark Hughes when talking about Welsh football. The former Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich striker hasn’t had a managerial role since being sacked by Southampton back in 2018.
Hughes is actually from Wrexham, as he was born in the Ruabon area, which is a small village in the county borough of Wrexham. He has had notable jobs, such as the Wales national team post between 1999 and 2004, and his best managerial spell arguably came in his time at Blackburn Rovers between 2004 and 2008.
In four years at Ewood Park, Hughes managed to get Blackburn into the UEFA Cup in 2005/06 and even managed to oversee them getting to an FA Cup semi-final for the first time in 40 years in 2007, as well as getting to the semi-finals of the League Cup in 2006.
Since his time at Blackburn, Hughes has managed the likes of Manchester City, Fulham, QPR and Stoke City, of which he left the latter three in poor shape, with all three of them being sacked in the same season the 57-year-old was sacked.
It would be a major surprise to see someone with Hughes’ reputation drop down to the National League, however, there is a minor possibility it could happen with it being Hughes’ hometown club, but, he is likely to have turned down bigger roles than that at the Racecourse Ground since his departure from Southampton.
Hughes is priced at 4/1 to return to Wales to manage his hometown club.
Dave Challinor is an incredibly experienced manager at Non-League level, having managed the likes of AFC Fylde between 2011 and 2019, leading the Coasters from Northern Premier League Division One North to the National League in six years.
The Chester born manager is currently Hartlepool United’s manager and has overseen a change in fortunes for the North East club, leading them to the National League playoffs this season in fourth place.
A move to Wrexham would be a good challenge for Challinor who is used to working for highly demanding owners, as he did as Fylde. But, depending on the outcome of the playoffs, there is the possibility that he could be working in the Football League for the first time.
John Coleman is another manager that has been linked to the vacant managerial role at Wrexham.
The 58-year-old currently manages Accrington Stanley in League One and is nothing short of a legend at his current club, having managed them for 20 years over two different spells. Coleman has overseen Stanley’s dramatic rise from the Northern Premier League Division One to League One.
It seems unlikely that Coleman would leave what is a legacy at Accrington for a team two leagues below, but, with the financial resources that Wrexham have, there is still a chance that Coleman could end up at Wrexham.
Coleman is priced at 10/1 to make the switch from Accrington to Wexham.
The final manager on this list of those linked to the Wrexham job is another legendary manager for a single club in Jim Gannon.
Gannon is best known for his three managerial spells at Stockport County, where he accumulated a total of 11 years at Edgely Park, managing the Hatters in several different divisions, having managed them to the League Two play-offs in 2007/08 and won the National League North in 2018/19, before parting ways with County in January, despite Stockport sitting fourth in the National League.
The 52-year-old is currently without a club, meaning that it would likely be easy to negotiate a deal for Gannon to join Wrexham. Having been unfairly pushed out at Stockport, this could be an ideal opportunity for Gannon to get his name back on the map again.
Gannon is priced at 12/1 to be Wrexham’s manager next season.
