Smith tells BBC his surgery is done as Wrexham travel to Lincoln with an acting CEO
Sunday 15 November 2026 · By Joe Fletcher
Wrexham remain 15th in the Championship on 18 points from 15 matches after a 1–1 home draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday 7 November. Adam Armstrong scored in the 25th minute and O’Brien headed the equaliser in the 27th, his first of the season. Official Wolves reporting and a Guardian/PA account independently agree the score, scorers and minutes. No league fixture has been played since, and BBC’s table is unchanged.
Wrexham have four wins, six draws and five defeats, scoring 18 and conceding 20. Their 18 points leave them six behind eighth-placed Queens Park Rangers and eight above 22nd. Their last six league results are loss, win, loss, loss, win, draw. Third to eighth enter the six-team play-offs; automatic promotion remains first and second only. Phil Parkinson remains head coach; no managerial change has been announced.
Sam Smith told BBC Sport on 13 November that he has had “successful surgery,” is “ready for the challenge ahead,” and wants to come back “fitter, stronger and better” at the start of next season after being ruled out for nine months. A second independent write-up of that surgery-complete update was not opened this week, so the operation is not presented as independently two-sourced. The comments are Smith’s, via BBC. Parkinson had already confirmed the anterior cruciate ligament injury and that surgery was due on Wednesday 11 November.
Kieffer Moore’s withdrawal from Wales duty is unchanged: BBC said he left the field against Wolves; The Leader reported a lower-back issue and rehabilitation at the club. A return date is not being invented, and he is not being written as definitely out of the Lincoln game without a later bulletin. Issa Kaboré’s missed Burkina Faso duty with a minor hamstring problem also stands as previously reported.
Shaun Harvey remains acting chief executive after Michael Williamson’s departure on 6 November, as reported by BBC Sport Wales. No later announcement of a permanent appointment was found. A permanent Harvey appointment is not confirmed and would, the BBC has noted, need regulator approval. No reason for the departure is being invented.
Parkinson had previously described Smith as being “out for nine months or so” after the cruciate injury was confirmed. The BBC interview is an update on the operation from the player himself, not a second club medical bulletin with a changed timescale. Earlier concerns around Windass, Broadhead and O’Hare remain dated and are not being given new return dates.
Wrexham travel to Lincoln City on Saturday 21 November at 15:00 GMT, a fixture not listed among Sky’s selected live broadcasts. Lincoln are 21st on 15 points, outside the relegation places and five points above 22nd. Bristol City away follows on 24 November at 19:45 GMT. The home point came against a side sitting fourth, in the places that go straight to the two-legged play-off semi-finals.
The Racecourse Ground on Mold Road is the oldest international football stadium still in use. Wrexham have played here since 1864. Visiting supporters usually find a compact, traditional four-sided ground rather than a bowl: two long stands along the touchlines and a stand behind each goal. Capacity for football is around 10,700–12,600 depending on how the Kop end is configured while the new stand is built.
Away fans are almost always placed in the University End section of the Wrexham Lager Stand (the two-tier main stand on the north side of the pitch). Enter through turnstiles 1–4 at the rear of that stand. Check your ticket: home supporters in the same stand use different gates. A few pillars between the tiers can clip the view, so if you care about sightlines avoid seats directly behind a column. Alcohol is sold outside the away area as well as on the concourse.
The STōK Cold Brew Coffee Stand (still called the Tech End or University End by locals) sits behind the west goal. It holds about 3,000 and is where much of the home noise now lives. The opposite goal, at the Crispin Lane / Town End, is The Kop. The old terrace has gone; a temporary stand has been used while Populous designs a new Kop of several thousand, with safe standing planned. Family seating is in the Mold Road Stand nearest the Kop corner. The Mold Road (Macron) Stand itself is the 1999 lottery-funded stand along the south touchline, with boxes, the TV gantry and The Changing Rooms restaurant.
Postcode for sat-nav is LL11 2AH. From the A483 take the Mold junction and follow town-centre signs; the ground appears quickly on Mold Road. Wrexham General station is about a third of a mile away — walk towards the multi-storey car park, turn onto Mold Road and you will cross the railway before the stands come into view. Matchday parking near the ground is tight; allow extra time. The Turf Hotel on Mold Road, in the shadow of the Macron Stand, is the historic pub where the club was founded and is the obvious pre-match stop if you arrive early.
The stadium is cashless. Bags should be A4-size or smaller and will be searched. Food and drink cannot be brought in. Kiosks sit under the stands; Jonesy’s Bar is in the University End. Stewards are used to travelling support and the atmosphere is generally good-humoured, though the home end will be loud if Wrexham are chasing a result. Flag space is limited and anything political or commercial will be turned away.
For a first visit, give yourself twenty minutes after arriving to walk the Mold Road frontage and clock which gate is yours. The pitch is 102 m by 68 m with the goals immediately in front of the Kop and STōK stands as shown above. Dress for North Wales weather: the temporary Kop end can be exposed. If you want the best all-round view rather than the away pocket, the central Mold Road seats are the ones locals recommend — but on an away ticket you will be in the Lager Stand wing, looking across at the Macron roof and down towards whichever goal Wrexham are attacking in that half.