As Wrexham loses another manager and announces its third of the season, fans struggle to find any positives....

WREXHAM AFC fans were left stunned following the announcement that Graham Barrow had resigned as manager of the club.

The former interim boss was given the job permanently on December 18, 2018 but has chosen to walk away after just 49 days in charge.

The club said: “Wrexham Football Club can confirm that Graham Barrow has resigned from his position as first team manager of Wrexham AFC.

“Graham has been a major part of our season to date and leaves the club four points from the top of the league with 15 games remaining.

“We would like to thank Graham for his efforts and contribution in his time at the club and he leaves with our very best wishes.”

Speaking to Wrexham fans across the town, many were left shocked by the decision, including Graham Matthews, 65, who blamed the board for the high turnover of managers over the last year.

He said: “It is an absolute mess. The board should have known from the start that he never wanted the job, he always said he was happy being second in command, and to me it was just a baffling decision.

“It’s not just the manager though, it’s the signing’s too. We sign that Ben Tollitt from Tranmere, we’re told he’s the next best thing, and then he just doesn’t play, it’s insane.”

Ian Jones, 34, shared the same opinion, blaming the board for letting another manager leave after a short period in charge.

He said: “It’s a shambles, it really is. At least I could understand with Sam Ricketts, I can’t believe the board let him go when he was doing such a fantastic job, but at least he left us to go to Shrewsbury, a club in the Football League.

“With Barrow though? I can’t understand it.”

In announcing Bryan Hughes as the new manager, the club said: “Bryan brings a successful pedigree of footballing experience with him on his return to his boyhood club, which spans a 21-year career as a professional footballer, during which he won promotion to the Premier League twice with two clubs while playing in excess of 500 professional games.

“Bryan will be well known to Wrexham AFC fans, having made his way through the ranks as a young midfielder before breaking in to the first team under manager Brian Flynn.

“He went on to make 97 appearances for the club scoring 14 times between 1994 and 1997.”

But fan Ann Jones, 42, believes the state of the club at the moment will not inspire any manager.

She said: “Things seem pretty bad at the club right now, I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is another short-term appointment.”

Sam Gerrard, 21, shared similar thoughts, adding he doesn’t believe the players are playing for the shirt anymore.

He said: “I stopped caring as much after Dean Keates left. There’s just no passion anymore from the players.

“They don’t play for the shirt, and I think that comes from the backroom because there’s no passion there either. If it wasn’t for the passion or the commitment of the supporters then I don’t even know where the club would be.”

Meanwhile, other supporters are staying optimistic that the appointment of Mr Hughes will lift the players heading into the back-end of the season, and could be the catalyst that takes them into the promotion places.

Harry Liddy, 20, remained hopeful that this would be the case, adding: “At least there was a plan in place to get a replacement in.

“I’m always confident that we can get promoted this season, and if the manager can come firing out the gates, if he can gel well with the players from the off, there’s no reason why we can’t get automatic promotion.”

Wrexham currently sit fifth in the National League table, six points clear of Harrogate Town in eight and only four points off Leyton Orient at the top.

However, after a recent run of one win in six games, with five consecutive defeats before the 1-0 victory against Maidenhead United, Mr Hughes potentially faces a tough task to rejuvenate the side’s form in the final third of the season.

Fans were also split on their team’s chances of achieving promotion this season, with Steve Lush, 54, claiming that Wrexham have been stuck in a similar cycle for a number of years, and can’t see it changing this season.

He said: “It’s the same thing every year, we’re up there towards the top throughout the season, then we hit a slump and we fall away.

“We’ve been aiming for promotion for years now and it never happens, it’ll be the same thing this year.”

Shane Jones, 40, was even more pessimistic, saying he believed it would be a long time before Wrexham could be a part of the Football League.

He said: “I’ve been supporting Wrexham since the 70s, and in that time it’s taken them 10-plus years to get out of any league that they’re in.

“I’m afraid that we’re probably going to have to wait a long time yet before we see our team promoted.”

Alan Bennett, 50, remained in much higher spirits though, and said he is confident the side will gain promotion this season no matter what.

He added: “I’m not worried at all. We’ve got enough quality and enough fan support to get this team into League 2.

“I really believe that we’ll get promoted automatically this season, and if not, we’ll win the playoffs instead.”