ARFON GRIFFITHS - Wrexham’s greatest ever player - is desperate to see the good times return at The Racecourse.

Hightown-born Griffiths made more than 700 appearances for his hometown club in a record-breaking Reds’ playing career spanning 20 years and culminating in the glorious promotion season in 1977/78.

The club’s soon-to-be new owners, Hollywood actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, talked about watching videos from that year when Division Three champions Wrexham also lifted the Welsh Cup and reached the quarter-finals of the both the FA and League Cups with Griffiths in the Reds’ hotseat.

Griffiths - dubbed the Prince of Wales by Wrexham supporters - would love to see the club rise again after 13 seasons of languishing in the non-league doldrums.

“Something had to change and you’ve got to have money behind you if you want success,” said Griffiths.

“These two look as if they have plenty of that but, like a lot of people, I wonder why choose Wrexham?

“One thing is for certain if it does work out, the fans will come back in their thousands.”

Under Griffiths reign in that never-to-be-forgotten 1977/78 season, Wrexham had five-figure attendances for most home games with 23,451 crammed into The Racecourse to watch them presented with the Third Division Trophy.

“They were great days and you would love it for the younger generation to have a successful team to watch,” added Griffiths. “If Wrexham are doing well, fans from all over North Wales will be coming to town to watch them.”

Griffiths also knows all about the American razzmatazz having spent a summer playing for Seattle Sounders in 1975.

“I’ve got a picture of me playing against Pele and New York Cosmos,” he added. “It was the first televised game in America to be screened coast to coast.

“I was still with Wrexham but John Neal let me go out there and I really enjoyed it.

“I remember it being 90 degrees in that game and when you see the picture, that’s as about as close I got to Pele!”

As for things hotting up at Wrexham, what would be Griffiths’ three pieces of advice to the club’s new regime?

“Firstly, you’ve got to get the right people in charge and by that I mean a chief executive to run the club well,” said Griffiths. “Then you get a decent training ground and then do what Wrexham Football Club has always done over the years, produce their own players.

“It’s vital for the club to do that. You look at the Seventies and the amount of players that came through, Joey Jones, Dave Smallman, Mickey Thomas, Graham Whittle. The list is endless.

“Wrexham don’t seem to do that anymore.We had the benefits of good young players alongside experienced pros on the pitch and then you also look at the money that came in from the sale of Danny Ward. A successful youth policy is vital for any club and the new owners should look at that.”