A FORMER Bradford City manager has missed out on a potential return to Valley Parade next season after his new side was beaten in a play-off match.

Phil Parkinson, who managed the Bantams between 2011 and 2016, saw his new Wrexham side suffer an agonising extra-time defeat in today’s National League semi-final play-off clash.

The North Wales side fell to an 119th-minute winner in a 5-4 loss to Grimsby Town at the Racecourse Ground.

 

Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, co-owners of Wrexham AFC, were in attendance at the Racecourse Ground to watch the semi-final defeat in person.

 

It is Parkinson’s Wrexham’s second showpiece defeat in a week after they lost the FA Trophy final 1-0 to Bromley at Wembley last Sunday.

Parkinson is a popular figure among Bantams fans after guiding them to a League Cup final appearance in 2013 and a memorable victory at Premier League Chelsea in the FA Cup in 2015.