The last spot in Phil Parkinson’s squad was finally decided last week, much to the frustration of those conspiracy theorists who thought we had another retired megastar up our sleeves, I’m sure.

Callum McFadzean (pictured right) will be added for the first time this season to the EFL squad, and that decision tells us a lot about what we should expect for the final stretch of games.

Firstly, McFadzean deserves his opportunity. An excellent professional, he accepted the stunning news that he would not be registered for the first half of the season with good grace and continued to train hard.

He was available when required for the EFL Trophy and League Cup, and eventually earned his place in the team.

Patience is a virtue; clearly, he has this quality in spades.

We immediately saw him in action at Grimsby, as he was suddenly called into action five minutes into the second half. It was his first game since early December, and his first league match since he was sent off at Barnet at the end of last season, but you wouldn’t have thought it.

McFadzean performed solidly in defence, and was tigerish in attack, getting onto the front foot and penning Grimsby defenders in with his aggressive positioning.

It was a performance which encapsulated all the qualities of professionalism which earned him the opportunity in the first place.

One consequence of this decision, obviously, is that Anthony Forde will not be playing again this season. What a great shame, both for him and the club.

Forde is an outstanding professional and a player who has served us exceptionally well in trying conditions. He deserves our gratitude and will be missed in the run-in, as experience and quality are so important when you get to the sharp end of the season.

Let’s hope that he can overcome this obstacle, as he is clearly League One ready.

Also, McFadzean‘s selection reflects a change of onus for Parkinson. With the likes of James Jones, George Evans, and Tom O’Connor picking up injuries, James McClean now appears to be viewed as a midfielder rather than a wing-back.

McFadzean is clearly now the primary back up for Jacob Mendy, while McClean will look, after completing his suspension on Saturday, to be a mainstay in midfield for us.

Ironically, the injury Mendy picked up at Grimsby throws a spanner in the works. With the trio of Andy Cannon, Tom O’Connor and Elliot Lee looking so impressive last Saturday, it might be that McClean will return to the side on the left after all.

The announcement of McFadzean as our final squad member also finally quashes the daft speculation online about which free agent we will bring in.

It’s rare to be able to bring in a free agent who is good enough to add to a side like ours; Steven Fletcher was something of a freak occurrence.

It’s a measure of the impact of the takeover that we now get inundated with clickbait. Our news feeds fill up with daft, invented stories from websites that would never have taken a second glance of anything to do with Wrexham AFC a couple of years ago.

Now, they will take any excuse to come up with a clickbait story with Ryan Reynolds’ name in the headline, including a range of wild and wonderful transfer rumours.

Closing the squad puts an end to all that, at least until May. It looks like we’re going to have to do without Gareth Bale for the rest of the season!

Mansfield’s last game at the STōK Cae Ras came in the season they won the National League and returned to the EFL. They were relegated with us, but bounced back a full 10 years before we finally got back into the fourth tier.

That was a momentous match though: they went into the game in imperious form, having won their previous 12 league matches, meaning a Stags victory would break the National League record.

Matt Green put them ahead but Dean Keates equalised from a free kick and Danny Wright scored the winner following some fine work by Glen Little.

We’d have to do something special tomorrow to beat our best ever result against The Stags, as we’ve twice come out 5-0 winners against them.

Back in September 1933 Tommy Bamford got a hat-trick against Mansfield, with Matthew Lawrence scoring the others, and twenty-eight years later we walloped them in our first home match of the 1961-2 campaign, Stan Bennion weighing in with two and the others being scored by Wyn Davies, Micky Metcalf and an unfortunate Mansfield defender.