Football, ultimately, is all about heroes and villains.

Fans will develop their own club folklore, generating names of the past. and reviling opponents who have rubbed them up the wrong way.

We said goodbye to a genuine club hero this week, but we also saw a new one emerge.

James McLean’s departure had, in some ways, an air of inevitability about it. He has not been a regular this season, although Phil Parkinson clearly saw him as a key player in the squad, had no qualms in making him captain when he was involved, and clearly held great respect for the Irishman.

We know how committed he is, sometimes almost astonishingly so, to the cause of his club. Wrexham was no exception.

Celtic bonds tend to run deep, and McClean relished fighting our cause. In return, we were keen to leap to his defence when he received abuse from opposing supporters.

That abuse. was constant and deeply unpleasant, and McLean was provoked enormously. Sometimes he rose to the bait, but in his defence, you’d have to be superhuman not to.

His drive down the left hand side propelled us forwards, his will to win infectious. He set the standard for those around him. I’m sure he was a demanding captain, not least because of his own remarkable physical commitment.

Surely nobody works as hard as he to be match fit. He took on an indestructible air. A robocop of a player, you felt he’d be able to keep going in his mid 40s at the same physical level, such was his professionalism and commitment to making the most of his attributes.

McClean contributed some of the most memorable moments of our most memorable times as Wrexham fans.

That performance at Blackpool, where we needed victory to retain our hopes of going up automatically, will live long in the memory. Everyone stepped up to the plate that day, but the skipper played the captain’s innings, driving us forwards constantly.

His cross-pitch celebration after scoring is one of the iconic moments which will remain in Wrexham folklore forever.

Now he’s gone. We can only enjoy our good fortune. in having him at all.

He will wind his career down at a club which is dear to his heart, in a league which is not at his level. What better way is there to say goodbye to someone than to wish them good luck, knowing that they have something extremely exciting to look forward to, which they’re almost certain to be a glorious success in.

Life moves on, and new heroes come along, though. It’s dangerous, perhaps, to dub a player with such a soubriquet after only 12 matches for Wrexham, but that’s what Faye Knox is.

On Sunday, we faced up against an aggressive team, Briton Ferry, in the Adran Trophy semi-final. A physical style of play and a direct approach is something I quite enjoy, not least because it’s a contrast to a lot of what you see in the Adran Premier. The trouble is, Briton Ferry cross the line, and that’s part of their DNA. My begrudging respect for them tends to run out.

It certainly did on Sunday.

They were nasty, and they were also causing us problems.

However, in Knox we have a player with the ability to punish opponents.

Skilful, elegant, and technically terrific, she has a fantastic touch and a wand of a right foot. In attacking positions from about 30 yards out, she’s a player you need to feed.

She took the game by the scruff of the neck. We missed early chances, then it was Briton Ferry’s chance to turn the screw, and we had to defend bravely.

We took the lead, though, when Knox flicked the most nonchalant of free kicks over the wall. A brilliant technical goal, which was just what we needed.

Still, it was only 1-0 at the break, and Lizzie Craven had to made a fine save to repel a free kick of Britain Ferry’s own.

The tie was in the balance, a place of the final, still up for grabs. But then Knox came along again.

A brilliant run, picked out perfectly by Katie Barker, and she rounded the keeper to make it two.

Another fabulous dribble by her, and another pass from Barker, and she pirouetted, pulled off a Zidane Turn, in the goal mouth, and prodded the ball home to complete her hat trick.

It was the first hat trick a Wrexham player has ever scored in a quarterfinal or semifinal of a cup competition. It wasn’t Knox’s first of the season, though.

Knox, despite only being at the start of her time with Wraxham, has already kept two match balls. And she didn’t even start a match until November, having arrived in October!

That’s the thing with heroes. They tend to step up and give you memories. McClean did plenty of that. And while Knox’s pirouetting hat trick goal was certainly a beauty, compared by my co commentator, Lucy Scott, to Hal Robson-Kanu’s goal for Wales against Belgium in Euro 2016.

There are more memories to come from her. I wish him McClean well, and can’t wait to see what Knox does next.