PHIL PARKINSON risked the wrath of Wrexham supporters after his side were battered 6-0 by West Ham.
The long-serving Red Dragons boss, 58, claimed that fans wouldn’t be “hurting” as much as him following the heaviest defeat of the Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds era.
First half goals by Jarrod Bowen and Joel Piroe gave the Hammers a commanding lead before further strikes by Konstantinos Mavropanos, Taty Castellanos, Mahamadou Kante and Manor Solomon after the interval made the scoreline embarrassing.
After the humbling defeat, Parkinson spoke with Wrexham’s in-house media team.
Asked for his message to the fans, Parkinson said: “Of course. Listen, supporters will be as disappointed as I am.”
With a brief smile, Parkinson added: “I don’t think they’ll be hurting quite as much as I am.
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“But of course, the ones watching back in Wrexham, and the fans who’ve travelled down, and spent a lot of money to watch us at this fantastic arena, they’re used to seeing us come on to big stages and really giving a good account of ourselves.
“We came up short today.”
Parkinson’s comments ruffled some feathers among a section of Wrexham supporters.
One wrote on X: “I’m glad I wasn’t one of the thousands that travelled down tonight because my head would be on Mars after hearing that comment, tone deaf to say the least.”
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Saturday 12 September
Bolton
1 – 0
CHA
Cardiff
Derby
1 – 2
CHA
Birmingham
West Brom
1 – 1
CHA
QPR
Blackburn
15:00
Live Teams
Millwall
Charlton
15:00
Live Teams
Portsmouth
Middlesbrough
15:00
Live Teams
Norwich
Preston
15:00
Live Teams
Lincoln
Saturday 12 September
West Brom
1 – 1
CHA
QPR
Derby
1 – 2
CHA
Birmingham
Bolton
1 – 0
CHA
Cardiff
Friday 11 September
West Ham
6 – 0
CHA
Wrexham
Wednesday 9 September
Charlton
0 – 0
CHA
QPR
English Football League – Championship
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And a second fumed: “What a comment to make, if he gets sacked today, with a nice payoff, I’m sure his disappointment will wane in comparison to the poor f***ers who paid a small fortune to follow their team”.
A third raged: “He has to go, the fun times are over getting to the prem is serious stuff, it’s where the big boys play”.
And another added: “Parky’s “Hurting” will be different to that of the fans. His should be guilt,you knew,as soon as the line up was announced,what sort of night it was going to be.”
Parkinson has presided over three promotions as Wrexham boss, taking them from non-league to the second tier.
The Red Dragons finished seventh in the Championship last season, missing out on the play-offs by just two points.
Wrexham entered Saturday in 16th, having won just once in their opening seven games of the campaign.
Friday night’s West Ham rout was Parkinson’s 269th game in charge of Wrexham.
He has guided them to 153 wins, 59 draws and 57 defeats in that time.