However, Coleman warned the Dragons may have a job hanging on to his former Wales colleague.

Wrexham warmed up for the start of the Blue Square Premier season with a 1-1 home draw against Coventry on Saturday.

Asked whether he was surprised by Wrexham’s first-half performance, in which they took the lead through Marc Williams, Coleman said: “No. We had Torquay in the cup last year and I went down to watch Wrexham play them and they did very well.

“I’ve seen quite a lot of Wrexham because Dean is a friend of mine so I know what quality they’ve got. They were a bit like us last year in that by March their season had finished.

“Deano’s been intelligent in the transfer market, he’s brought some good players in, and I know they play good football because I know that’s the way Deano likes to play.

“They work very hard as a team so I wasn’t surprised.”

Asked how he rated Wrexham’s chances for promotion, Coleman said: “It’s impossible to say, that is a tough league to get out of. When we played Torquay, we beat them 1-0 but they should have beaten us.

”Wrexham are going in the right direction under Deano and without putting him under any pressure I think he’ll end up managing at a higher level sooner or later.

“He loves his football. He’s passionate about Wrexham and I think he’s taking them in the right direction. They’ll have a good year next year.”