WREXHAM’S Football League exile went on for 15 years but Ollie Palmer knows the dark days lasted a lot longer than that.

Success-starved supporters endured struggles behind the scenes as their club went into administration and battled for survival before the Reds were relegated to non-league following a miserable 2007-08 campaign.

A decade and a half later and Wrexham clinched the National League title following a record-breaking campaign under Phil Parkinson.

Fans are looking forward to the new League Two season, which kicks-off at home to MK Dons on Saturday and Palmer says they thoroughly deserve the success that has been served up since Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney completed their takeover.

“The fans have waited a long time for it,” said Palmer. “People talk about the 15 years but it was also the years before that.

“What the club was going through 16, 17, 18 years ago, it goes on much further than that for this football club.

“It is very much deserved and people from the outside looking in, a lot of people can’t help but be happy for the football club to be in this position.”

Multi-millionaire actors Reynolds and McElhenney have bank-rolled Wrexham but Palmer insists money doesn’t guarantee success and says Parkinson deserves credit for recruiting the right players who finally secured promotion back to the league.

“You have got to give a lot of credit to the manager because a lot of clubs have chucked money at this league in the last 10-15 years and not got anywhere,” added the frontman, who scored 17 goals in all competitions last season.

“The owners have invested heavily in this football club but we are not the first club and it hasn’t always proved to be successful for other clubs who have done the same.

“You have got to recruit good characters and then the manager has got to select the right personnel, and he has done that.”