All football fans dare to dream; few do so with any real hope of those dreams coming true.

And then there’s us!

As our dramatic change of circumstances sinks in, I’ve begun considering where the players we’ll come up against next season come from, and therefore where we’re likely to look for reinforcements. I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not playing Football Manager in some alternate reality!

This was brought home to me when I had a look down the squads of the UEFA European Championships, which are currently taking place in Slovakia. I was admiring the terrific talent on display when it struck me that it’s become a realistic marketplace for us to delve into!

Phil Parkinson hasn’t tended to dip into the loan market, and quite rightly. He’s been building something that will last, and doing so on impermanent foundations just wouldn’t make sense.

I’m not saying loan signings aren’t potentially transformative in the lower divisions, but their transitory nature can be problematic.

Think back through Wrexham’s history and there are plenty of examples of players we fell in love with while they were on loan, only to have our hearts broken when we couldn’t convince them to stay.

In 1983 our player of the season was on loan – the original Robbie Savage, a proper midfield dynamo who battled against the odds as we were relegated into Division Four during his season on loan from Liverpool.

Likewise, there was a great deal of trauma when Jim Harvey, a classy midfielder who would later be heavily linked with the manager’s job at the SToK Cae Ras, expressed a desire to make his superb spell in our midfield permanent.

The move to be rendered impossible by the financial strictures we operated under throughout the 1980s.

Admittedly, there are exceptions. My boyhood hero, Jim Steel, came on loan, banged in the goals, and returned to do so on a permanent basis.

However, building a team on the shifting sands of the loan market is risky.

Take Leyton Orient, for example. They were so unfortunate not to go up last season, missing out in the play-off final to Charlton.

They certainly showed their quality when they came to Wrexham, as they pulled off a 2-1 victory.

Their manager, Richie Wellens, did a brilliant job of exploiting the loan market, but that means they will have to start all over again this Summer.

Four of their mainstays were loan signings: goalkeeper Joe Keeley was a class act; James Currie earned plaudits at full back; Jamie Donley has probably played his way into Thomas Frank’s thoughts at Tottenham thanks to a stellar campaign which included sparkling against Manchester City; and Charlie Kelman was the top scorer in League One.

Between them they made 203 appearances and scored 36 goals last season (even Keeley chipped in with a goal!). That represents both outstanding use of the loan market, and a massive hole in Orient’s squad now they’ve all gone back to their parent clubs.

The players they took on have proven themselves at the top of League One, so missing out in the play-offs makes it highly unlikely they’ll stay at Orient.

If they’re not going to break into their Premier League parent clubs’ squads next season, they’ll need a loan move to a higher level to continue developing.

That’s where we come in!

Plenty has rightly been said about the financial leap between League One and The Championship. That doesn’t concern me too much per se. After all, we’ve smart owners and plenty of funds behind us.

However, bringing in high quality loan players would be a way to ease the pressure on our wage structure as we prepare the squad for the step up.

Premier League clubs will now be willing to send genuine prospects to us on loan. Players they think have a chance of making it with them at the highest level.

Going back to those European Championship squads, I spotted twelve players who’d played in the Championship last season when I quickly scanned the squads. Some more members of England’s squad were on loan at a lower level.

Dean Saunders saw loaning talented Premier League youngsters as a short cut to success. Unfortunately for him, the players clubs were willing to loan into the fifth tier were a long way from the finished product. A procession of players arrived who were technically proficient but wilted under the physical strain of regular professional football.

Wonderfully, we’re now in the opposite position and I’m excited to see if Parkinson will take advantage of this. After all, Arthur Okonkwo is the only player he’s loaned in so far, so his success rate is really rather good!

Giddy with excitement, I’ve even taken a look through the squads of the women’s European Championship, to see if we might be able to poach some stellar talent!

That’s more a bit of fun. In a semi-professional league it’s difficult to convince players to uproot from Swansea, never mind Sweden!

Still, you can’t blame me for dreaming. After all, Rob and Ryan have gone out of their way to encourage me!