A FOND FAREWELL
Over the next fortnight we’ll pay a daily tribute to one of the players who are leaving Wrexham AFC this month.

I don’t think many observers would suggest that Jay Rodriguez had a happy time at The Racecourse. He won’t have been happy with a season and a half which yielded two goals and saw him suffer an injury which limited his participation this season to a handful of late substitute appearances. However, he deserves more respect than most have given him. No, he didn’t tear things up for us, but he had a more fruitful time with us than maybe even he realises.

His departure wasn’t a surprise; perhaps the most unexpected thing about his season was that he was registered at the end of January, as he was never really likely to play a major role in the run-in unless we suffered a number of attacking injuries.

However, he did enjoy a promotion campaign, and was a regular starter after his arrival in the January 2025 transfer window. Let’s not forget that, and while he wasn’t prolific, let’s not ignore the contribution he did make to our historic third consecutive success.

As I pointed out earlier this season, Rodriguez was important last season, albeit not necessarily in the fulfilment of his primary role. He wasn’t terribly threatening to opposition defences; after all, one of those two goals was a penalty and the other was a rebound after he’d missed a penalty (although it should be pointed out that it was a very sharp finish!) However, only Jack Marriott and Steven Fletcher had a better shot accuracy than Rodriguez, who at least worked the goalkeeper.

His impact on the pitch was greater than people realised. We won 0.28 more points per game in games he played in as we smashed the second half of the season. If we’d won 2.18 points per game across the whole season, we’d have ended up on 100 points for the second time in our history.

He only missed one league game after his arrival – the final dead rubber at Lincoln – and while we clearly scored fewer goals in those matches, our ability to dig deep and protect a lead was profoundly enhanced. No doubt his experience was crucial in seeing us over the line, and his working back when we didn’t have the ball was something we most definitely benefitted from.

Conceding a goal every 105 minutes is excellent, but adding another 42 minutes onto that figure is a heck of a step up. One goal fewer conceded per half!

Off the ball, his movement was excellent when we had the ball and he created space for Sam Smith, who cashed in eagerly. Having a strike partner who is willing to sacrifice himself for you is a dream for a forward, and Smith would be the first to point out Rodriguez’s contribution to his prolific conclusion to the season.

You can’t help but wonder how it might have panned out for Rodriguez this season if he hadn’t picked up the injury which saw him on crutches throughout last summer and unable to make a return to the pitch until we had moved on without him. He would have suited the box midfield we transitioned to, although he would had had his hands full claiming a place ahead of Josh Windass and Nathan Broadhead.

Rodriguez certainly had his critics, and playing regularly up front but not scoring in open play isn’t a great look. The open goal he missed at Mansfield could have been the incident he would be most clearly remembered for had he not kept his cool from the penalty spot one more time, hitting what turned out to be the decisive penalty as we eliminated Nottingham Forest from the FA Cup: the key strike in our first win against a top division side in 27 years is not a bad thing to have on your CV, even when its as impressive as his.

Those unnoticed actions and off-ball positions are what kept him in the team, though. Three assists were augmented by more subtle goal actions, like the cunning blocking off of a Northampton defender which allowed Ollie Rathbone to bring the ball down and score at Sixfields.

We might not have seen them, but Phil Parkinson did. And Parky knows.