SO the rebuilding programme at The Racecourse is up and running.

Ten days after the devastation of missing out once again on promotion back to the Football League, Wrexham FC are looking for another way of escaping the clutches of non-league football.

Rookie boss Bryan Hughes is the 10th Wrexham manager to try and fathom out that magic formula.

He’s now working on Plan B after last week’s premature play-off and he started the process by naming his retained list.

Chris Holroyd and Kevin Roberts - the former Chester duo - got the axe and they were the biggest decisions he had to make.

The make-up of his squad for the 2019/20 campaign already has a familiar-looking theme to it with defenders here, there and everywhere.

Wrexham’s set-up and the way they play has been based on a strong defence over the last few seasons.

They’ve produced more clean sheets than Johnsons The Cleaners but what’s it won them? Absolutely nothing.

It’s goals that win games and Hughes has already hinted that he may be about to change Wrexham’s ‘safety first’ philosophy in a bid to boost the Reds’ goals and shots per game ratio.

Hughes was a brilliant attacking midfielder in the days when Wrexham had a long-running production line of talented teenagers coming through The Racecourse ranks from their Colliers Park training ground.

He was given his debut by a boss, who loved playing free-flowing, entertaining football.

The manager in question, Brian Flynn is now back at The Racecourse as Hughes’ right-hand man.

Flynn’s promotion side of 1993 was built of the solid, tried-and-trusted 4-4-2 formation - the same one used by John Neal and Arfon Griffiths in the great Wrexham sides of the Seventies.

Football’s evolved within that 50-year period but the game is still a simple one and maybe the two wide-men, two striker approach could be the way forward.

Wrexham were blessed with quality in those promotion-winning teams but at the level they find themselves these days, the Shinton’s, McNeil’s and Mickey T’s don’t grow on trees.

Finding two attacking wing-backs - well one really because James Jennings is class down the left - could be the other option for Hughes and Co to look at.

Wrexham’s last promotion season was back in 2003 under Denis Smith, who just let the Edwards’ wide boys - Carlos and Paul - wreak havoc down the wings.

They also had crowd-pleasers in Darren Ferguson and Lee Trundle in the side and a striker in Andy Morrell, who banged in goals for fun that season, not six!

Finding quality players like that is not an easy task but Luke Summerfield could be central to Wrexham’s attacking plans and would form a dependable backbone of the team in front of Captain Marvel Shaun Pearson.

Now all Hughes would need is a couple of strikers, who know how to put the ball in the back of the net and give their long-suffering fans something to shout about.

He has to put his own stamp of authority on the team and be allowed time to show that the board of directors were right to surprisingly hand him the job in the first place.

Wrexham’s recruitment policy was hit and miss to say the least.

Bringing in southern-based loan players didn’t work but with hardly any youth players coming through the ranks, Hughes may have to utilise the loan market yet again.

One thing is vital and that is to bring in players who will excite the fans, to whet their appetites and convince them to fork-out hard-earned cash for a season ticket.

Wrexham supporters have stuck with their club through thick and thin in the non-league wilderness years. They’ve saved the club on more than one occasion and they now deserve a little bit of payback.

But no matter how devoted and loyal they are, these fans must not be taken for granted.

It won’t be long before the club starts its marketing campaign to sell season tickets in a crucial ten-week period where no money will be coming in.

The majority of loyal, diehard fans, desperate to see their side succeed, will buy into the ‘this is going to be our year’ gang but others may decide against it.

Losing to Eastleigh - at home in front of a crowd of 6,700 - still hurts supporters, who were asked to pay full whack to watch last week’s latest play-off exit.

I think the club’s board missed a trick by not reducing prices for that game.

How brilliant would it have been to have filled The Racecourse to the rafters and prove that it’s not just for Wales games that the ground reaches its full capacity.

Now may not be the time to look back and criticise a band of fans who are just volunteering their services in running a football cub.

But something’s not quite right at Wrexham Football Club - 12 years of non-league pain tells you that.

Last week’s heartbreak and hurt is still raw but you get the impression that even some of their most loyal followers are getting fed up with all the ‘bad luck’ stories.

They just want success and they’ll be keeping their fingers crossed it comes next season - and that Hughes is the man with the plan to take Wrexham back to the Football League in 12 months’ time.