As Wrexham’s lap of honour after clinching a second promotion in as many years reached the Tech End, where the Racecourse Ground’s most vociferous supporters can be found, Paul Mullin decided to take charge of the PA microphone.

“I saw my mate the other day,

He said to me he’d seen the ‘white Pele’,

So I asked, ‘Who is he?’

He goes by the name of Elliot Lee…”

Mullin’s voice may not quite match the standard of his finishing in front of goal. But the thousands of partying supporters didn’t care, as they joined in with a song that, like its subject, has become a real terrace favourite these past couple of years.

Next up was a ditty in honour of Arthur Okonkwo, the on-loan Arsenal goalkeeper. By now, the microphone had been returned to its rightful owner but that didn’t matter as the 22-year-old danced along to the fans chanting his name.

Over the next 10 or so minutes, most of the squad received a name-check, including Mullin, James McClean, Steven Fletcher, Ollie Palmer and Max Cleworth, the clearly shy defender being touchingly nudged forward to bask in the adoration by captain Ben Tozer.

It felt fitting, because promotion had been a real team effort, from Lee’s early goals which helped make up for the absence of the injured Mullin in the early weeks of the season or how new arrivals Okonkwo, McClean and George Evans helped take Wrexham to the next level.

Then there was Cleworth, who made the right-sided centre-half position his own from Christmas onwards, despite his only starts in the opening months coming in the cups as manager Phil Parkinson rotated his squad.

Max Cleworth and Ryan Barnett celebrate promotion (Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

All have a strong case to be named what has to be the most keenly-fought Player of the Year award in a long, long time, as does Mullin for hitting such a rich vein of form at just the right time.

The togetherness that has powered Wrexham to back-to-back promotions will be tested again next season, when the club returns to the third tier for the first time since 2005.

Parkinson admits the step up is likely to be a “bigger one” than last summer’s return to the EFL. But he also believes there’s plenty more to come from a club whose highest-ever position is 15th in the old Second Division (now the Championship).

“We have progressed quickly,” says the 56-year-old. “But I said last year when we won promotion (from the National League) that there’s a lot more chapters to be written. I firmly believe that’s still the case now.”

So, what can Wrexham expect next season? Are they equipped to thrive once again at a higher level? And what personnel changes will be needed?

How will life in the third tier differ to the last couple of years?

You only have to look at some of the teams who Wrexham could face next season to realise just what a big deal this promotion is for a club who not so long ago seemed marooned in non-League.

For a start, there’s a trio of clubs who were in the Premier League — Reading, Wigan Athletic and Charlton Athletic — in the not-too-distant past. Portsmouth, the 2008 FA Cup winners, are going up, probably to be joined by Derby County. But that still leaves Bolton Wanderers, currently sitting third in the table, potentially on the roster for next season.

Charlton Athletic are one of the bigger sides in League One currently (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Then, there are the sides in danger of dropping out of the Championship. As it stands with three games remaining, Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town, a Premier League team just five years ago, occupy the final two relegation places above already doomed Rotherham United.

But Birmingham City, Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers could all yet drop, opening up the possibility of not only some big-name visitors to The Racecourse next season but also some cracking away trips to famous old grounds such as Hillsborough or St Andrew’s.

Midfielder Lee is certainly relishing the step up. “There could be some massive teams in League One next year,” he says. “We’ve come so far from being in the National League a year ago to be potentially playing massive teams next season.

“It will be hard next year. But that’s why we are here — we want to test ourselves against better players and better teams.”

Will Wrexham suddenly be up against rivals with much deeper pockets?

There’s no doubt the spending power of their new peers will be much bigger. Wednesday, for instance, had a wage bill of £14million ($17.4m) in a 2022-23 season that saw Darren Moore’s side clinch promotion via the League One play-offs.

Even with their Hollywood backing, Wrexham are unlikely to be able to top such a sum. However, the Welsh club’s extraordinary ability to generate cash — revenue for the current season has soared beyond £20million, putting them on a par with most Championship outfits — means they’ll be competitive in the market.

With League One clubs allowed to spend up to 60 per cent of their annual turnover on wages (up from 55 per cent in League Two), Wrexham’s healthy balance sheet should provide Parkinson with the necessary funds.

How do promoted teams usually fare in League One?

In the last five seasons, five clubs have gone straight back down just a year after winning promotion, including Carlisle United this time around. Forest Green Rovers, Swindon Town, Northampton Town and Tranmere Rovers complete the list, while Bury disappeared altogether after being declared bankrupt before the 2018-19 campaign got under way.

More encouragingly, the three teams who went up automatically last season have all adapted well with Stevenage, Leyton Orient and Northampton sitting ninth, 10th and 11th respectively.

Those expecting another tilt at success by Wrexham in 2024-25 may wish to take note of how no promoted team has gone up again the following season since 2018-19. Or, in fact, even made the play-offs, underlining just how difficult a step up this can be.

Are we expecting a busy summer in the transfer market?

Yes. Unlike a year ago when Wrexham needed just a bit of fine-tuning thanks to a recruitment model that had effectively future-proofed the squad by prioritising players with League Two experience when still in the National League, this time around more of an overhaul will be needed.

Parkinson admitted as much following his fifth career promotion as a manager. “We can now start planning for the summer and build a squad which can hopefully be competitive,” he says.

Any overhaul is likely to be helped by several senior players being out of contract, including three centre-halves in Aaron Hayden, Jordan Tunnicliffe and captain Tozer. Luke Young, the club’s longest-serving player, is another whose current deal expires on June 30 along with defender Callum McFadzean and goalkeeping duo Rob Lainton and Mark Howard.

Okonkwo’s loan also ends in a couple of weeks, the 22-year-old possibly becoming a free agent with Arsenal yet to offer a contract extension. If he does leave the Emirates Stadium, expect a scramble for his signature. Whether Wrexham would be part of that perhaps depends on his wage demands, the club having paid just under half his current salary this season with Arsenal picking up the rest.

Arthur Okonkwo’s loan from Arsenal has been a successful one (Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

Where do Wrexham need to strengthen?

Goalkeeper is obviously one. Potentially losing three centre-halves also means this area will have to be looked at, though the emergence of Cleworth these past few months is likely to save Wrexham some money.

Midfield looks strong with George Evans, Andy Cannon and Elliot Lee all having played in the Championship, never mind the third tier. As do the two wing-back slots, with McClean still the fittest member of the squad a week or so short of his 35th birthday and Ryan Barnett finishing this season strongly. Jacob Mendy and Luke Bolton respectively bring competition to the wide areas.

Mullin’s experience in League One is limited to just half a season at Tranmere Rovers. But, like a fine wine, he’s improving with age and will expect to score goals in the third tier.

What will perhaps be key this summer is finding a partner that dove-tails with the Liverpudlian’s attributes. Palmer and Fletcher, 32 and 37 respectively, have made telling contributions this season but the step up is likely to mean a younger upgrade is required, even though Palmer has 12 months remaining on his contract.

Veteran Steven Fletcher (left) is out of contract this summer (Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

Reasons to be optimistic for 2024-25?

The manager. Not only is Parkinson well versed at this level, having taken charge of several League One clubs in a little over two decades as a manager. But he’s also steered two of those to runners-up spot — Colchester United in 2006 and Bolton Wanderers 11 years later — as well as taking Bradford City to the play-offs.

(Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

He also has the respect and backing of the dressing room, as Eoghan O’Connell makes clear. “Ask anyone in the dressing room,” says the Irish defender, “they can’t speak highly enough about the gaffer. He is someone you want to play for, someone you want to run through a brick wall for.

“He gets it right in terms of how he deals with people. The way he carries himself rubs off on you and makes us want to do more for him. So level-headed, too. Whether we win, lose or draw, I’d say he is the best I’ve ever worked with in terms of you turn up on Monday and everything is geared towards the next moment.”

How far can Wrexham realistically climb to?

O’Connell is in no doubt as to the potential. “This club can become as big as it wants,” insists the former Celtic defender. “Wrexham are global. That hit us all in the summer, when we were in North Carolina playing Chelsea (in a pre-season friendly).

“I remember being in the tunnel before the warm-up. They went out and there was a little roar. We then went out and the place really lifted. That’s why I say it is a global club.

“I also think back to Halifax away last year and the numbers we took (4,500 fans made the trip). We got beat but I remember thinking in the warm-up it was similar to a Celtic away day when I was there as a younger player.

(Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

“I do think with the fanbase, the people involved running the club and the owners, the world is your oyster, really.”

Is there an example for Wrexham to follow on their return to League One?

A year of consolidation wouldn’t be a bad thing, especially after back-to-back promotions. So, maybe any one of the trio who went up automatically a year ago.

Lee, however, believes Luton Town, the club he left to join Wrexham in 2022, can be the ultimate inspiration after going all the way from the National League to the Premier League in just nine years.

“Anything can happen,” he says. “Look at my old club Luton. When I left, I said I wanted a project similar to Luton. I wanted to go up the leagues and Wrexham fitted the bill.

“Of course, you can’t get ahead of yourself. And I’m not saying we will be in the Premier League any time soon. But I am saying we have all the foundations to be a successful club.

“It has the potential to go all the way, thanks to the backing of the owners and the staff we have here. I’ve always said this place reminds me of Luton, in that it’s a great environment to work in every day and people come here to work hard.

Luton were promoted from the National League in 2014 and winning away at Everton in the Premier League nine years later (Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

“Special things can happen. I’ve said that since I came here and I know that because of what we had at Luton. Look at them now in the Premier League.”

With Luton the last promoted team from League Two to go straight up again 12 months later — a feat they achieved in 2017-18 after finishing as champions of the third tier — Wrexham could certainly do a lot worse than study a club whose average gates at a cramped Kenilworth Road are similar to those at the Racecourse.

(Header photo: Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors find themselves as the butt of the Western Conference Play-In Tournament, needing two wins to make the actual playoffs. A loss this week pushes them closer to the inevitable end of their era.

That’s the anticlimactic conclusion to 82 games: the No. 10 seed. And their latest spin is they play well with their backs against the wall.

It’s true. The best players on this team have been through epic postseason triumphs, responding to several of the brinks to which they were pushed. Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Chris Paul, Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney — they have earned credibility in this situation.

Yet, after 82 games, it’s also clear the must-win boost is but the lone remaining hope to salvage this season. Though it’s built on their history of meeting moments, it’s also the last remaining juice with which to baste this jive turkey of a season.

This is where they are now.

“It just feels like we need to go win,” Green said Sunday after watching the Warriors beat the Utah Jazz, 123-116, in a black sweatsuit and green cement Jordan 3s. “But it’s exciting. You know, it’s do or die. Probably feels more NCAA Tournament-ish. Kind of give you that feel. … We’ve just got to go win.”

Legacies built in June don’t feel right in March Madness.

It’s hard to find confidence they can pull this off, yet their doing so would make perfect sense. Welcome to the betwixt that is the Warriors. They always give you a reason to believe they can pull it off, tempered by evidence those days are over. They’re still good enough to beat almost any opponent, especially a flawed one. Simultaneously, they aren’t good enough to summon their best at will, and less often can overcome the opponent’s best.

The Warriors could lose to the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, and it would be an outcome absent of novelty. If they bowed out of this season so unceremoniously, swathed in mediocrity right along with the Chicago Bulls or Atlanta Hawks, it would be unworthy of their resume but certainly befitting of this particular campaign. Of course, they could also boat race the Kings, outclassing their younger bros up north as they did last postseason, all in the name of nostalgia.

You just can’t know with this team.

But what we do know, what the exhaustive NBA season tends to clarify, is they end this season farther from their goal than when it started. The only way to shift that reality now is to make the playoff run worthy of their conviction.

A year ago, when the then-defending champion Warriors finished as a No. 6 seed and had to go to Sacramento for games 1 and 7, that was considered a down season. And when the Warriors were finally ousted in the second round, it was abnormal to go home in May after six straight NBA Finals trips in years when Curry, Green and Thompson were healthy.

“It’s different, but something you must embrace,” Thompson said. “We’ve got a shot at it. It’s all you can ask for. We put ourselves in position to have success on the road. We’ve been playing very well on the road, especially as of late. It’s different, obviously, than it was in 2022. But whatever. It’s still basketball. We have a lot of experience to lean on.”

The pervasive theme then, echoed in the halls of Crypto.com Arena after their Game 6 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in last season’s playoffs, was how they’d maximized their roster — a dual message of how close they were, ending among the four best in the West, and how they needed more to get there.

They came into this season feeling like they added what they needed. They traded for Paul; drafted two productive rookies, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis; and cleared rotation space for budding star Jonathan Kuminga.

Plus, Curry played 74 games, his most since 2016-17. Thompson played 77 games, the most since he returned from back-to-back season-ending injuries. Wiggins played 71 games after just 37 last season.

It produced two more wins.

The result is their lowest finish in the Western Conference since the injury-robbed 2019-20 season. This is where they are now.

The story is not complete. They could alter the narrative. They could win back-to-back road games to get into the playoffs — at Sacramento and at the loser of the Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans. They could knock off the inexperienced Oklahoma City Thunder, the top seed in the West and considered the most vulnerable because of their youth. Such an upset would pit the Warriors in a series against the Los Angeles Clippers or Dallas Mavericks. Though the Warriors would be underdogs, it’s not outlandish to envision. Dallas has been one of the best teams since the All-Star break, and the Clippers are loaded at the top of their roster. But both teams have flaws. Winning that series would put the Warriors in the Western Conference finals.

See how easy it is? To conflate what’s possible with what’s likely. To apply past greatness in current paradigms. To rationalize a better existence for these Warriors.

As coach Steve Kerr contends, this is a better team than the Warriors cobbled together last season. Still, they lost ground in their pursuit of a fifth championship as the best in the conference made greater strides than Golden State. Nine teams in the West are better than these Warriors. Nine. That’s a jarring conclusion for a team featuring such greatness.

This entire season has been the Warriors expecting, promising, to find their stride. Eventually, history proclaimed, they’d land somewhere among the contenders, where their resumes suggest they belong. But this season was a bender of delayed gratification.

They never solved the close-game struggles that figured to be their wheelhouse. They never conquered their home woes, one of the more puzzling elements of the season. They never found their way up the conference ladder to the sixth seed.

They eventually found a stride, going 25-12 after January. But when they had the chance to lock up the No. 8 seed, the last conquest of the regular season, the Warriors confirmed their woes were unconquered. They lost another close game, at home, with stakes on the line, to a beatable New Orleans squad.

It would suggest an upgrade is needed, a significant one, somewhere. The other option, certainly being presented to owner Joe Lacob by someone fiscally responsible, is that they cut costs and regroup. End the era now instead of chasing its shadow.

One more run could change that. One more Warriors-esque kick could prove they are a few tweaks away from being back. Of course it’s possible. It’s Curry. It’s Green. It’s Thompson. Odds be damned.

Their backs are against the wall. It’s do or die. Win or go home. They’re built for this March Madness-style setup. Right, Klay?

“Never played in that. Can’t relate to that,” Thompson, the Washington State product, said as he ended the interview by walking off. He got a few steps away before shouting an addendum. “The NIT though. That’s the same format.”

This is where they are now.

You can buy tickets to every NBA game here.

(Top photo of Klay Thompson during Friday’s game against the Pelicans: Kavin Mistry / Getty Images)

The final day of the 2023-24 regular season saw several playoff teams jockeying for seeding, other teams trying to improve draft lottery odds and a few just hoping to end the campaign on a high note.

The Houston Rockets, who had made an unsuccessful late charge for the Play-In Tournament, fell into the latter category, looking for their first non-losing record since the 2019-20 season.

As it turned out Sunday, the Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers fans both took home a win.

With 4 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of Houston’s eventual 116-105 victory over the Clippers, center Boban Marjanović missed his first free throw. Marjanović — a career 76.4 percent free-throw shooter — then purposefully missed the second to win fans in attendance free chicken.

The Clippers organization runs a promo in which attending fans get free chicken if the opposition misses two consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter. So the Clippers faithful, who had seen its backups fight admirably all game, finally had something to cheer about, prompting the rising crescendo.

Boban.

Man of the people. 🍗 pic.twitter.com/PRq6xIXxIW

— NBA (@NBA) April 15, 2024

Rewarding home fans when two consecutive fourth-quarter free throws are missed has grown in popularity in recent years. In some blowouts when the end-of-bench players finally take the floor, some players miss the first free throw, getting the crowd riled up, only to make the second and mock them.

But if there was anyone in the NBA who would purposely miss to ensure that fans would go home with a reward, it would be Marjanović, who is arguably the nicest professional basketball player on the planet.

A finalist for this season’s NBA’s sportsmanship award, the former Clippers fan favorite has made a career of kindhearted gestures at his various stops around the league.

As soon as the second free throw rolled off the side of the rim, Marjanović raised one finger in the air, reminding the ongoers whom to thank for the free Chick-fil-A.

You can buy tickets to every NBA game here.

(Photo: Adam Pantozzi / Getty Images)