THINGS are never dull at The Racecourse but 2020 will take some beating.

The year began with Wrexham battling to avoid relegation and ended with the Reds having new owners-elect in the shape of Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

It’s been some journey for supporters who witnessed the worst season in the club’s history but are now looking forward to a bright future under the actors.

The takeover has earned Wrexham global publicity and Reynolds and McElhenney’s investment should see the Reds looking upwards rather than nervously over their shoulder like they have been for much of 2020.

The duo have come to The Racecourse to make a success of Wrexham and while that won’t happen overnight, Dean Keates will have a far better chance of leading the Reds to promotion with more money to spend in the January transfer window.

Wrexham Supporters Trust did a fine job in stabilising the club but the change in ownership can take the famous north Wales club to another level.

Keates, who returned for a second spell as manager last October, is presiding over Wrexham’s 13th season in non-league and the Reds find themselves mid-table following a mixed start to the 2020-21 campaign.

While returning to the Football League is every fans dream, Wrexham could have been playing sixth tier football this term had it not been for the coronavirus crisis.

The Reds were in a relegation dogfight when the 2019-20 season was suspended in March.

Play never resumed and when the final table was calculated on a ‘Points Per Game’ basis, Keates’ men just about survived.

Queue a revamp of the squad and there have been lots of ups and downs already since the current campaign, delayed until the start of October and played behind closed doors because of the on-going pandemic, got under way.

But the takeover and hopefully an improvement in results has given renewed hope that 2021 could be Wrexham’s year!

The Reds ended the last decade sitting in the relegation zone but a 2-0 New Year’s Day win at lowly Chorley was the ideal start to 2020, on-loan star Omari Patrick and Devonte Redmond getting the goals.

Beating their fellow strugglers - with the exception of Chorley - was something Wrexham failed miserably at and JJ Hooper scored a late consolation in a 2-1 home defeat to relegation rivals Aldershot.

Perched just above the bottom four, Wrexham then gave their chances of beating the drop a huge boost by embarking on a three game unbeaten run.

Luke Summerfield scored twice and January transfer window signing Dan Jarvis was also on target as the Reds picked up a morale-boosting 3-0 victory over Woking at The Racecourse.

The month ended with the Reds winning 2-0 at Harrogate Town to register a first ever win on a 3G pitch, James Jennings and Hooper on the scoresheet.

That enabled Wrexham to climb up to 16th before starting February with another clean sheet but having to settle for a goalless draw at home to Dagenham.

The games against teams around them fighting for their lives came thick and fast, but the upturn in form ended with a 3-2 defeat at Chesterfield.

An own-goal and on-loan Jordan Ponticelli twice put Wrexham in front but the Spireites levelled before scoring a last-gasp winner.

Wrexham bounced back immediately by getting another win on an artificial playing surface, Davis Keillor-Dunn and Ponticelli leading the Reds to a 2-0 success over Bromley.

An up-and-down month ended with Keates’ men losing 3-0 at promotion contenders Yeovil before Wrexham returned to The Racecourse for a 0-0 draw with Eastleigh.

That encounter on March 7 left Wrexham 19th in the table and just two points above the relegation zone and it proved to be the last action of the 2019-20 campaign for the Reds, who still had nine matches remaining, due to the pandemic.

With no resumption in play, the final table was calculated by Points Per Game and Wrexham breathed a sigh of relief, ending a forgettable season in 19th position, just one point above the bottom four.

Cue lots of ins and outs at The Racecourse as Keates set about reshaping his squad after coming ever so close to dropping into National League North, something that would have been a disaster for a club intent on challenging at the other end of the table.

Hooper, Summerfield and Jake Lawlor were among the players shown the door, leading scorer Bobby Grant left on loan for Oldham where he was joined by Keillor-Dunn, and Jennings opted against staying in favour of signing for big-spending Stockport.

After a slow start, Keates’ recruitment drive gathered pace when it emerged that the delayed 2020-21 season would start in October.

Although Rob Lainton, Shaun Pearson, Redmond, Jarvis, Jay Harris and Luke Young remained at the club, and the long serving Mark Carrington was among the players to sign contact extensions, Keates knew fresh faces were needed to turn Wrexham into promotion contenders and he made 11 new signings over the summer.

Elliott Durrell, Adi Yussuf, Fiacre Keller and Kwame Thomas were among the arrivals and Wrexham headed into the season looking to put the previous year’s struggles well and truly behind them.

The proposed takeover was already in its early staged when Wrexham, without influential injured skipper Pearson, kicked off with a 2-1 victory against Boreham Wood in front of empty stands at The Racecourse.

Eight of the summer signings started the match and one - Reece Hall-Johnson - put the Reds ahead before the Wood levelled.

But consistent midfielder Young, a frontrunner for the 2019-20 Player of the Year award, secured three points with a brilliant free-kick.

Wrexham couldn’t build on the success as they lost 1-0 at Solihull but the Reds returned to winning ways by beating Yeovil 1-0 with Thomas getting his first goal for the club.

But then came an awful set of results as Wrexham lost three successive matches, conceding 11 goals in the process, to slide down the table.

A 1-0 home defeat at Maidenhead drew criticism but nothing compared to the reaction as Keates’ side lost 4-3 at newly promoted Wealdstone before exiting the FA Cup at the fourth qualifying round stage after being thrashed 4-0 by Solihull.

A goalless home draw with Barnet stopped the rot before an enforced three-week break as two games were called off under Covid-19 protocols, but Wrexham returned to action with a bang in November after Reynolds and McElhenney’s purchase of the club was given the green light.

Durrell was the match winner as the Reds triumphed 1-0 at Hartlepool and Young scored another stunner to help his team-mates defeat Aldershot by the same score.

Wrexham then gave supporters, watching via a streaming service, a treat as they produced easily their best performance of the season in thrashing second placed Sutton 4-0.

Thomas bagged a brace to go with goals from Harris and Yussuf, taking Wrexham into the play-off places.

Yussuf was again on target as Wrexham came from behind to draw 1-1 at Bromley, extending the unbeaten run to five games and leaving the Reds in fourth spot.

But December began with defeats against Altrincham and leaders Torquay before Wrexham came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Weymouth, Hall-Johnson scoring a last gasp winner after Theo Vassell bagged a brace.

A penalty shoot-out defeat meant Wrexham exited the FA Trophy against lower league Leamington before ending 2020 with a 2-0 defeat at Stockport.

The takeover should be completed early this year and Pearson summed it up when he said: “It is a wonderful time to be at the club. It is exciting and everybody is just waiting to see what happens. I think everybody is just looking forward now to see what happens whenever the takeover completely goes through.”