Wrexham AFC had to apologise for 2023 transfer mishap | OneFootball

Wrexham AFC's silly transfer mistake that cost them an established League Two striker

Under their current owners, Wrexham AFC have developed a reputation for making moves in the latter stages of a transfer window, but a notable one came a little too late.

Since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney officially took over the team in February 2021, their wait-and-see approach during transfer season has paid off more often than not, with the club acquiring numerous key players who have played a massive role in Wrexham's ascent up the EFL pyramid.

When you look at how the club's Hollywood actors have done business, phrases like "patience is a virtue" and "slow and steady wins the race" immediately come to mind. However, there's one infamous instance during the Reynolds and McElhenney era when the clock ran out on them.

Wrexham's early League Two form in 2023/24

Fresh off winning the National League in 2022-23, Phil Parkinson's men were eager to replenish the side with some fresh faces and experienced players in League Two. The Red Dragons had a slow start to the 2023-24 campaign, winning just one of their first five fixtures and sitting 16th in the League Two table at that early stage of the season.

The front office had their eyes on a striker from Durham with over 100 League Two caps to his name. At the time, Wrexham's star striker Paul Mullin was recovering from a punctured lung sustained in a pre-season clash with Manchester United, having just returned to non-contact training near the end of August.

Pursuing Luke Armstrong was an interesting move at the time, seeing as the Red Dragons were finding the back of the net with plenty of regularity early into the 2023-24 season, scoring 14 goals in their opening five league contests. In addition to that, Mullin's trusty sidekicks in the attack, Ollie Palmer and Elliot Lee, began that season well, with the former netting four goals with one assist after five league games and the latter adding a goal and an assist and looking very threatening.

At the same time, the Red Dragons had squandered four points from a winning position after five League Two affairs, and evidently, the management team felt that bringing in a striker with Armstrong's pedigree was necessary, having seen him notch 28 goals across two seasons in the fourth-tier.

Wrexham's transfer mishap and apology

EFL clubs had until 23:00 British Summer Time (BST) on September 1 to complete any transfers before the window officially closed. Harrogate Town had rejected their share of bids for Armstrong heading into the 2023-24 campaign, according to the Harrogate Advertiser, who reported that the Sulphurites would only consider letting Armstrong go in return for a “significant” amount of money.

"I want to be clear: there's no desire or urgency from us to do a big-money deal just to get cash in. We're not in a position where we need to do that, and as I say, we think so much of Luke, we want him here at Harrogate Town," said Harrogate's manager Simon Weaver at that time.

In light of all the transfer links to him, The Yorkshire Post reported on August 5 that Armstrong had made himself unavailable for selection, thus suggesting he was eager to move away from Harrogate.

Armstrong had signed a new contract with the club at the end of the 2021-22 season that was meant to keep him there until the summer of 2025.

Wrexham had agreed to Harrogate's terms to sign Armstrong, according to the BBC, with Harrogate announcing the move on Friday, August 31. However, a day later, the Red Dragons released a statement, relayed via the BBC: "We wish to apologise to Luke as we were unable to complete the transfer by the deadline and Harrogate Town, who we are sure will be as disappointed as we are that the transfer will not now be completed in this window.

"The club will be reviewing the circumstances and processes that have led to this outcome with all the relevant parties."

The Red Dragons had an opportunity to file an appeal on the matter but chose not to, electing instead to accept the situation and move forward. “Having reviewed the additional information received from the EFL and considered this in the context of the submission of the documents for the transfer of Luke Armstrong from Harrogate Town, the club have determined there is no reasonable chance of success if we were to appeal the EFL's decision to reject the transfer,” the club added in their statement released by the BBC.

It was not the proudest moment in the club's history, but it would serve as a valuable lesson that sometimes if you see something or in this case, someone that you like, don't sit back and wait.

The aftermath of the Armstrong mishap

Whether you like the rules or not, Wrexham had to accept that they dropped the ball on the Armstrong transfer and should have acted more promptly.

In the end, though, losing him in the transfer window didn't negatively impact the Welsh team's League Two campaign in 2023-24, as they finished second place with 88 points.

Armstrong played just 12 domestic games for Harrogate Town in the 2023-24 League Two campaign, with the team finishing 13th, 25 points below the Red Dragons and scoring 29 fewer goals than them.

Mullin returned to Wrexham shortly after the Armstrong deal fell through and showed he could still be a force in the attacking third, scoring 24 goals in 38 League Two appearances in their 2023-24 promotional campaign. Armstrong, meanwhile, officially signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Carlisle United in January 2024.

The Armstrong transfer mishap didn't paint a pretty picture of the newly world-famous Wrexham, but it sent a strong message to the club about how to deal with these situations in the future. Even some of the most renowned Premier League clubs, with plenty of staff handling every small detail in every department imaginable, can sometimes make silly mistakes.

At the same time, you can't look back and dwell or cry over spilled milk. Wrexham took their lumps and found a way to make the best of that unfortunate situation. Things have worked out well for them, in part because they've always looked ahead but not too far.

That attitude has trickled down from the top of the organisation to everyone at the club, and it is one of the reasons they've enjoyed so much success under the current owners.