THE answer is Jake Speight, but what is the question?

Unfortunately for Wrexham fans, it’s who is the last player to reach the 20-goal mark in a season at The Racecourse.

Speight signed for the Reds from Bradford back in 2011 and then-Wrexham boss Dean Saunders declared: “He’s a proven goalscorer.”

And Saunders was right. Speight did what nobody could in three seasons at National League level for Wrexham as he finished with 21 goals in 35 starts.

Such was Speight’s impact that Andy Mangan, who had led the Wrexham scoring charts in the 2010/11 season with 16, was quickly forgotten about.

Again, Saunders’ confidence was rewarded as he managed to swap Mangan for Speight, who thrived on the pressure of trying to fill the void left by the popular Liverpudlian, who had headed to Fleetwood Town, where he would link up with Jamie Vardy.

“Losing my leading goal-scorer is not ideal... I understand that and the fans will be disappointed,” Saunders said.

“But we have to go on and I have to find somebody else who can get more goals than Mangan and hopefully Jake’s our man.

“I’m thrilled that he’s on board with us, he’s a player I’ve watched for a long time.”

Before Mangan’s 16-goal haul, which took Wrexham into the play-offs, Jefferson Louis had struck 15 times in the Reds’ first season out of the Football League, before former Wales international Gareth Taylor topped the charts in the 2009/10 campaign with just eight.

Speight signed a two-year deal with the Reds, but lasted just half of that as he cited personal reasons for helping force through a move to Mansfield in the summer of 2012.

The loss of Speight was a blow for Wrexham, although Danny Wright stepped up to net 15 league goals in the 2012/13, nine better than the year before.

But, like Mangan and Speight before him, Wright failed to lead Wrexham back into the Football League and Forest Green Rovers came calling.

It was the third successive year that Wrexham had lost their top scorer and that number extended to seven with Johnny Hunt, Louis Moult, Connor Jennings, left, and John Rooney all leading the goal charts at The Racecourse before heading for the exit.

Hunt led the scoring in the 2013/14 season with 11, overshadowing Andy Bishop, who was Andy Morrell’s marquee signing that summer.

“Everyone knows that I have been keen to bring Bish back,” said Morrell. “I’m really pleased to get a player who is a proven goalscorer at many levels in the game and will only add to the quality squad we have here.”

Bishop scored just seven league goals, three of those coming in the same game as Gateshead were beaten 3-2.

The lure of Scottish Premiership outfit Motherwell proved too big for Moult to turn down after he’d struck 16 league goals in 2014/15, that tally reaching 23 in all-competitions.

Jennings (14) and Rooney (11) topped the charts the next two seasons and departed, heading for Tranmere and Guiseley respectively, although the latter led the scoring for Wrexham despite failing to see out the 2016/16 campaign after a contract dispute.

Chris Holroyd stopped the unwelcome trend of ‘top the scoring charts and leave’ when he fired 13 goals in the 2017/18 season.

If fans were unimpressed with the numbers from their top scorers since Speight then the 2018/19 - despite the club reaching the end of season play-offs - plummeted to a new low as central defender Shaun Pearson led the way with just six goals.

That tally only improved by one this season, although that was cut short due to the coronavirus crisis.

Bobby Grant, who finished the campaign on loan at Accrington Stanley had seven league goals to his name when time was called on the National League season.

But this season may have been different had JJ Hooper not been blighted with injuries.

The striker, who struck 14 times in 22 games on loan at Bromley in the 2018/19 campaign, was seen as the man to end Wrexham’s wait for a 20-goal striker when Bryan Hughes lured him to north Wales.

Hooper scored six times in 16 National League starts for Wrexham, a total he’d have at least trebled if he hadn’t suffered with groin and ankle issues.

“I can’t talk about other strikers, but when I signed I knew the club had struggled for goals,” said Hooper, released by Reds boss Dean Keates this summer. “But without injuries I was confident of adding another 10-15 goals to my total.

“When I was fully fit I was scoring goals, which is what I was brought in to do. With a full season I was confident I could have scored the goals that would have helped the team challenge at the top end of the table again.

“We were creating chances and it was my job to put them away, which I was confident of doing.”

Whether it’s fitness or ability, Wrexham seem to be cursed when it comes to finding a 20-goal striker, and Keates will be hoping he can end the eight-season wait for someone to emulate Speight.

Worryingly, since Gary Bennett’s 29 league goals in 1994/95, only Andy Morrell (34) in 2002/03 has managed to join Speight in netting 20 times in a single regular season.

If Wrexham are to succeed, a goal-scorer is an absolute must.