LOSING Dean Keates was unlucky, Sam Ricketts slithering off to Shrewsbury was a real kick in the teeth but Wrexham Football Club’s board of directors must take the blame for the Graham Barrow 50-days-in-charge fiasco.

Barrow didn’t want the job when Ricketts was told to stay away from The Racecourse on the night of their biggest match of the season after the ex-Welsh international was being lured away by The Shrews.

Former Chester, Rochdale and Wigan manager Barrow was happy staying on as number two - a job he took when rookie boss Ricketts needed a steadying influence.

Barrow fitted the bill perfectly, and in that role he impressed everyone - most of all the board. Barrow was equally impressed with the Racecourse set-up describing the club’s fans as amazing.

So while Wrexham waited and waited to name Ricketts’ replacement, Barrow had a change of heart and said to himself: ‘I can do this!’

In between, Spencer Harris and Co remarkably offered the 64-year-old a two-and-a-half deal to remain as the club’s assistant manager - a right hand man to a boss that hadn’t even been appointed. Bizarre.

Dennis Lawrence was the favourite. A former Wrexham captain who made 200 plus appearances for the club and who, as a coach, had worked closely alongside Barrow at Everton and Wigan.

But the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, where Lawrence was head coach, blocked any Wrexham move.

Plan B. Plan Barrow. And days later, with a red and white scarf around his neck, he was named as the Reds new manager.

And after stuffing Salford City 5-1 and sneaking a 1-0 win at home to Solihull Moors, things were looking up as Wrexham headed into the New Year with the promotion dream well and truly alive. But something’s gone desperately wrong since January 1 - on and off the pitch.

Five games without a win and five games without a goal was relegation and not promotion form. In fact, it’s the kind of run that gets managers the sack. But that didn’t happen late on Tuesday night. Barrow resigned and the Reds’ new boss rumours immediately linked ex-Wrexham midfielder Bryan Hughes as the next man in the Reds’ very hot, hotseat.

Nobody saw it coming. Or did they? The board must have, otherwise the subsequent appointment of Hughes, would not have happened so quickly.

Hughes was handed a three and a half year deal and he will come in and work alongside first team coach, Carl Darlington.

Darlington was the man many Wrexham fans wanted as manager after Dean Keates walked out. But Darlington - just like Barrow - said he didn’t want the job - and has carried on his coaching role at the Football Association of Wales, combining his Wrexham role on the side.

Rumours of a internal bust-up are rife on fans’ websites with Barrow wanting more influence on the coaching side of things.

And it’s the infrastructure that Wrexham may need looking at because their style of football is hardly pleasing on the eye.

Football is a simple game. You try and score more goals than your opponent and get the better of the man whose marking you.

Wrexham’s ethos in the last two years has been to put out a side not to lose a game. And that’s definitely not the Wrexham way.

Barrow may have wanted to change that philosophy but decided enough was enough and resigned, leaving Hughes next in the queue to climb onto the Wrexham managerial merry-go-round.

If he can lead Wrexham back to the Football League in May, then it will prove to be a masterstroke by the club’s board.

He was a wonderful player before football’s first £1m man, Trevor Francis, forked out close to another seven-figure fee to take him to Birmingham City.

Hughes was one of a host of starlets to come through Brian Flynn’s production line and the length of contract he’s been given allows him time to maybe go back to Wrexham’s ‘grow-your-own’ roots from the past. He played in the top flight, at a whole host of clubs and will have good contacts.

Everyone wants Hughes to be a success. But if it doesn’t work out, the board will come in for some stick from the supporters, who don’t have as big a say as those fans, who have made it into the director's box.

Some supporters say they have handled the situation badly. May day will determine whether Wrexham will need to send out another SOS.

But on a night when Wrexham Football Club hit the headlines for the wrong reasons, Newport County were taking their FA Cup cash windfall to the £1million mark after sealing a fifth round home time against Manchester City.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if the Wrexham board had not acted as they did in banning Ricketts from the ground on December 1, then the Reds would have not had that distraction going into the all-Welsh FA Cup clash with Newport County.

It was the sideshow to what has been a two-month circus at The Racecourse.

NICK HARRISON