Wrexham hopes that Josh Windass has learned from past errors after signing the ex-heffield on Wednesday star on a free transfer prior to their championship campaign
Wrexham achieved a large coup this week by signing former Sheffield on Wednesday Man Josh Windass. The attacking midfielder has a number of impressive figures after scoring 53 goals for the owls in 182 performances.
The Welsh side did not even have to work one cent on a transfer costs for the 31-year-old after he left Hillsborough last week through mutual agreement after issues with delayed wage payments. Wrexham had a busy window in the summer transfer after their promotion to the championship at the end of last season, where manager Phil Parkinson has so far brings in five new players.
The arrival of Windass will have come as music in the ears of the Hollywood owners of the club Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mcelhenney. However, his career has not been without controversy and the two actors will hope that he will not show their team in a bad light by repeating past mistakes.
A remarkable incident took place while playing for Scottish Giants Rangers in February 2018. Windass was forced to apologize after a controversial goal celebration during a 2-0 win over Partick Thistle.
When 24 years old, he made his own supporters furious by placing a finger on his lips for them after scoring the opening goal. Windass later said sorry to the Rangers faithfully after being apparently frustrated by criticism of his performances from some parts of the fan base.
At that time, Windass said to Sky Sports News: “There was no real reason or malice in the celebration, it was just a bit of instinct after I had scored. It was just a little bit of frustration.
“It had nothing to do with social media, it was just how I played in the game until that moment, I was a bit frustrated. I just responded in the wrong way, but it is what sometimes happens in football. You just go for emotion.”
He added: “I immediately forgot it, it is just other people who bring it to me, I just let them talk about it and I will just concentrate on myself.”
His outspoken nature landed him so recently in hot water. It came after Windass had leveled destructive criticism of a former youth team player on Wednesday.
He labeled defender Joey Phuthi 'P ** H' after he claimed that the 20-year-old had compared himself with Lionel Messi. Windass made his comments during a discussion about fitness and current statistics on the Podcast Open Goal.
“We have a young boy named Joey – I think he has been released. He is P ** H anyway,” Windass said
“I spoke to him in the canteen at football and one of our coaches said to me:” Have a word with Joey, he never walks more than 9k in a match ever “.
“So I spoke to him and I had something like:” how much do you run in a game “and he said” 9 km – Messi don't run “. A child at the age of 17 I said nothing to him, but I thought:” You're the worst player ever and you're talking about Messi – run around. “
Phuthi later described Windass's criticism as 'disappointing' and claimed that his comments were removed from the context. The full-back also said that the row had made him a tough period even harder for him.
He posted on X and said: “It is difficult to get a new contract on Wednesday, is difficult to process and the last thing I expected was to drag something like this. For the sake of clarity, the conversation was completely reversed.”
Windass is the son of the former Premier League striker Dean Windass, who played for Hull, Middlesbrough and Bradford. His father was diagnosed with dementia earlier this year, which led to an outpouring the support of the football community.
Josh joins Wrexham while they are preparing to play in the championship for the first time in 43 years next season. The Red Dragons have been given a tough start while they are facing Southampton in their opening fixture on 9 August.