No surprise that a weekend in Krakow was a wonderful way to start our latest Wrexham adventure!

It’s a truly beautiful city which never disappoints. Throw in the crazy history of the massive city square, boasting vampire burials and an hourly fanfare by a bugler on a tower which is abruptly cut off in tribute to the Thirteenth Century sentry whose warning blast was truncated by an arrow in the throat, and you’ve got enough to keep you going for a couple of days!

Being invited to participate in an historic club like Wisla’s anniversary game made it even better!

Of course, for Phil Parkinson and his staff the significance of the occasion was secondary to the need to start preparing his squad for the new season. He had every right to be very happy with what he saw.

There were no new signings to assimilate, and that was reflected in an impressively compact performance in both halves, despite making eleven changes and a subtle tactical switch at half time.

The players are well-used to the system and the variations thereof, which Parkinson has embedded. Therefore, there was little sign of rustiness as we went head to head with a side with a pedigree in European competition.

Indeed, with our hosts further along in their preparations, I’d even be so bold as to be confident that if we met in serious competition, we’d prevail fairly comfortably.

While we didn’t have to familiarise any players with our strategy and tactics, it was interesting to watch a couple of players who only had limited opportunities to show what they were about last season.

Bailey Cadamarteri and Davis Keillor-Dunn both arrived in the closing moments of the January transfer window. Neither managed to accumulate the equivalent of a full match: Keillor-Dunn played 88 minutes spread across 6 substitute appearances; Cadamarteri got just 29 minutes in three games.

Some have hastily written them off on that basis, which is nonsense. Keillor-Dunn had torn League One up for the previous season and a half, and we’d tracked him for some time. This was never going to be an instinctive signing to be discarded soon afterwards. We just don’t do that sort of thing.

Cadamarteri was always a signing made with an eye on the future. He is still young enough to not have to be registered for the upcoming season, and is already a full international who only fell short of spending this Summer in the World Cup at the final hurdle, having scored the decisive goal in the play-off semi-final.

They both showed why we brought them in at Wisla. Cadamarteri’s link-up with Kieffer Moore was promising, as he offers both pace and strength. Once he saw how George Thomasson was tearing down the left and ripping great service into the goalmouth, he intelligently started attacking the six yard box, and was unlucky not to get on the end of a couple of crosses.

Keillor-Dunn was excellent, drifting into a left ten position from deeper, pressing superbly and showing an unexpected aerial ability when we went long. A versatile creator, he showed why he will be playing a big role for us this season.

Could the same be said for Alex Moore? The academy player has yet to feature in the first team, but is highly thought of, and his terrific stint up on the left in the second half showed why.

With twelve games on loan at Colwyn Bay last season representing his first team experience to date, he looked very comfortable in the Ultra-driven, cordite-charged atmosphere of an Eastern European stadium!

You could see his defensive pedigree in the way he defended far post crosses, and when he got forward he looked threatening.

Aaron James, whose promising progress has been interrupted by injury, did well in the back three, which was gratifying. Had he enjoyed a clear run of fortune with his fitness he might have begun the sort of journey Max Cleworth has been on.

He’s still young enough to play without being registered though, and along with Moore, Harry Ashfield and Cadamarteri will be making important decisions in the coming weeks, in consultation with the manager. They need to balance the fact that they are potentially able to contribute to the coming season with the value of gaining experience on loan.

Elsewhere, everything was pleasingly familiar as we hit the ground running. Ollie Rathbone never stopped running, George Dobson was equally impressive alongside him, Sam Smith went to war with the centre backs, who were glad to be brought off after 20 minutes against him, while Matty James did Matty James things, which is always reassuring.

Obviously, our changed circumstances mean we’re going to be experiencing a rather different sort of pre-season to what we’re used to. Going on tour isn’t new to us, but it’s unusual. Touring around, playing high profile games against the elite is definitely something unique in our history! It’s all a little different from the Isle of Man Festival of Football, or starting our season with the gruelling trip to Stansty to put double figures past Lex XI!

That does bring one interesting challenge: results. I’ve always maintained that the most important thing about pre-season is how you start the actual campaign.

It’s fine if you lose all your friendlies as long as you hit the first serious game of the season in the best-prepared state you can be.

However, while they are friendlies, we can’t totally ignore the impact on team morale of failing to get a win, and with four matches against Premier League opposition between now and the beginning of the season, it’s quite possible we won’t register a pre-season win before heading to Middlesbrough for the EFL Cup tie which kick-starts the 2026-27 campaign.

If that is the case, I really don’t think it will be a problem; indeed, while he has an admirable cup record Phil Parkinson often uses early rounds of knock-out competitions as an opportunity to give minutes to players who need them.

Looking at the promising early signs from last Saturday, and considering the probable quality of the signings which will arrive in the next month, it means that we should hit that first game running. And I don’t mean running away from Polish vampires!