How Wrexham are coping with the Championship 'pressure cooker': The truth about those Phil Parkinson exit rumours, what Ryan Reynolds has been texting players, the high-profile star happy to sit on the bench (and the one who isn't!)

Up until the past week, the overriding feeling inside the Wrexham dressing room had been one of anxiety and tension, as players tried to shut out the outside noise claiming that this group and this manager do not belong at this level.

September’s 3-1 home defeat by Queens Park Rangers - the only time all season they have lost by more than a single-goal margin - sparked headlines that, with Ryan Reynolds in town, Phil Parkinson's head was on the Championship chopping block. Managers and agents began to poke around believing the Wrexham job, widely seen as the most coveted outside of the Premier League, was about to be up for grabs.

Behind the scenes there was anger, rather than surprise, at that suggestion. The possibility of Parkinson being dismissed was rejected in the strongest possible terms to anyone who raised the question. The 57-year-old has lots of rope after delivering a historic triple promotion from the National League to the Championship, with the powers-that-be acutely aware that getting 13 new signings to gel after a £33million outlay was always going to present challenges.

Away to Stoke City - the only time Wrexham have failed to score in a match all season - there was, in Parkinson’s mind, a desperation from players to do well after a series of draws, which was their undoing on the day.

Reynolds and co-owner Rob McElhenney routinely send supportive WhatsApp messages to players to keep spirits high and celebrate goals and performances and the mood has largely been positive. But after five home league games without a win leading into the Oxford United game last Wednesday, Parkinson was acutely aware that patience doesn’t last forever.

‘There’s obviously been a lot of anxiety with a lot of new players coming in,’ Parkinson said after a 1-0 win over Oxford got them off the mark at home. ‘You could feel that anxiety creeping in on the pitch, which is only natural.’

One source close to the first team described the atmosphere in recent weeks as a ‘pressure cooker’ for the players, with outside expectations heading into the campaign that Parkinson and Wrexham should be challenging for the play-offs come May. They started Wednesday night 19th in the table, and are now 16th.

Afterwards in the dressing room, having ended their painful wait for a home win, Parkinson told players this was a week to be cherished: a time for the squad to embrace and enjoy the pressure at second-placed Middlesbrough, where they drew 1-1, and against Cardiff City tonight, with a Carabao Cup quarter-final spot up for grabs.

The cup has provided a real boost for this squad. A desperate rescue act to beat Hull City on penalties in the first round was followed up with a 3-2 away win at Preston and a 2-0 home win over League One Reading in rounds two and three. Now it’s compatriots Cardiff standing between Wrexham and a first League Cup quarter-final in 47 years.

One of the key moves made in the past week that has helped transform the mood has been a shift back to the 3-5-1-1 system that Parkinson turned to last January to help secure promotion out of League One. 

Earlier this season Parkinson had used a 3-4-2-1 system to play with two No 10s, similar to how Ruben Amorim sets up his Manchester United side, after a recruitment drive that added three in Lewis O’Brien, Josh Windass and Nathan Broadhead.

But the past two games have seen Wrexham resemble the physical team that has done so well in recent years. In Parkinson’s mind, Wrexham go into this Cardiff cup clash with their DNA imprinted back on the side.

One thing that Wrexham have shown this season is that they are only small steps away from going on an extended winning run. Only Southampton have dropped more points from winning positions than Wrexham (11) in the Championship. Parkinson's side passed up a lead at Saints to lose 2-1, as well as settling for 1-1 draws with Derby County, Birmingham City and Middlesbrough after going ahead. They also surrendered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with bottom-club Sheffield Wednesday.

Since the season began in rocky fashion, many of the experienced players Wrexham were expected to lean on have been marginalised. Keeping everyone engaged remains one of Parkinson’s biggest challenges.

Conor Coady, one of the club’s top earners after his £2m move from Leicester City, has not kicked a ball since September 13 and has found himself relegated to be the club’s sixth-choice centre back.

Coady is currently doing his UEFA A licence coaching course and is understood to be relaxed with his playing situation right now. He is proving incredibly useful in management meetings, drafted in to help with analysis on a case-by-case basis, as he did to help mastermind a 1-1 draw at Leicester City.

A thigh injury to Lewis Brunt at Middlesbrough may open a door on Tuesday night for Coady but it feels an even bigger night for James McClean. The Irishman captained Wrexham to promotion last season and yet he has had just two minutes of action this month, finding himself out of the matchday squad for the past three games.

That has triggered a series of cryptic Instagram stories with McClean writing in one that ‘I give you what I get from you, very simple’.

In a second story, he said: ‘Actions speak louder than words.' It is clear McClean, who is aiming to make his 100th appearance for the club against Cardiff, is increasingly frustrated at his diminished role.

Elliot Lee, a three-time promotion hero and a player that has been with Wrexham since non-league, may not play for the club again as he looks set for surgery on a long-standing knee issue. Lee, 30, has not made it onto the pitch in the Championship this season but has played three successive 90 minutes in the cup to get Wrexham into round four for the first time since 1977-78. Should he leave in January amid interest from League One, it will be another painful departure for fans who have already seen both Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer leave.

Others spoken to for this piece point to the level of upheaval that has gone on, both on and off the pitch, as reasons for Wrexham’s difficulties in adapting to life in the second tier. Growing pains for young players can wreak havoc and it’s no different for a club rapidly going up the leagues. Wrexham want to be Wales’ best and most successful team, fully aware of how long that may take. Instead they are being challenged to be perfect in a world where many are actively waiting on their downfall.

Daily Mail Sport understands Wrexham are in negotiations to return to Colliers Park and make it a permanent training home. A then cash-strapped Wrexham sold the site in 2011 and in more recent times players have had to commute between the stadium and the training facility to shower and eat. That has been a ‘chore’ for many players, particularly new arrivals.

One source explained that the aim is to have two portakabins put up on site where players will be able to shower and change. Wrexham club sources stressed to Daily Mail Sport that no agreement has yet been reached.

Elsewhere, Gus Williams has been brought in from the Welsh FA to be the club’s new academy director, with the remit of helping the club recruit Wales’ best talents in the early teenage bracket to steal a march on Cardiff and Swansea.

There have been delays to progress on the new 7,750-capacity Kop stand - key to eventually prise more Wales national team matches out of Cardiff - with pushback from locals on parking concerns. A new planning application is now required before that issue can be ironed out.

Becoming the best team in Wales is not an overnight process and there are still huge strides that need to be taken. But by Wednesday night, after Swansea City host Manchester City, Wrexham could be the last Welsh team standing in the Carabao Cup and Parkinson will be heralded by the same folk that were ready to wield the axe.