There’s been a lot of optimistic talk this week suggesting we can draw inspiration from the example of Luton Town’s promotion to the Premier League. The logic of arguing we can make that remarkable step because they have is specious: just because The Hatters have made it, doesn’t automatically mean it’s on the agenda for us.

That’s not to say there isn’t something to learn from Luton’s example though. There are some eerie similarities between their story and ours which makes the comparison tempting.

Wrexham’s on-pitch decline was sparked by a 10-point deduction for entering into administration, the first club to receive such a sanction. We were relegated from League One by 8 points that season, or should I say demoted, because the points we won would have seen us safe with 2 games left to play.

Two seasons later we avoided the drop into non-league on the final day of the season, but it only served as a stay of execution as we went on to suffer the most grim season in our history, completing our inevitable slump out of the Football League.

Luton, meanwhile, spiralled down the divisions, suffering 3 consecutive relegations, and began the 2008-09 season on -30 points as a punishment for their off-field problems. Their first home game of that season listed just 8 players on their side of the team sheet, with the remaining squad numbers listed as To Be Confirmed. It’s hard to imagine how frightening that would be for the club’s fans – unless, of course, you’d had to club together to pay a bond to allow your own team to start a league campaign yourselves!

Relegation was inevitable for Luton, although they did summon up enough defiant spirit to reach Wembley in the EFL Trophy – the same competition Wrexham won in the season we were docked points and demoted.

A shared anger at the Football League unites us, although that could be said of a number of clubs! Certainly both clubs suffered for the wrong-doings of previous owners, attempting to reinvent themselves while carrying punishments earned those they’d spent years opposing. That sense of injustice perhaps burns brighter in Luton than Wrexham as their penalties were greater and the extended time we spent in the National League led to frustration being turned towards the length of our sentence rather than how we ended up there in the first place.

Then, of course, our fates are further intertwined by our playing history. Our fates seemed intertwined for much of our shared time in the Conference. Neither of us could get through the ordeal of the play-offs: the pattern was usually that Luton would end our season in the semi-finals, then fall at the final hurdle.

Even before they collapsed into the National League, our games with Luton were oddly memorable despite the 152 miles which separate the two grounds. The ludicrous fight-back from 3-0 down to win in 2000, the 5-2 win with an aging Andy Dibble in goal for The Hatters in 1997. Wonder what happened to him after that?

To make the leap from fifth tier to first so swiftly – and remember, they were in contention to complete that remarkable journey last season – is incredible, and certain factors have got to be in place.

Firstly, having collapsed into non-league football so dramatically, it was essential that Luton got their house in order, on and off the pitch.

Financially and organisationally, they have clearly done exactly that. The 2020 Consortium took over during the dark days and oversaw the transition from dysfunctional farce to an exemplary club.

Gary Sweet, the CEO who guided the club up the divisions, sparked the formation of the Luton Town Supporters Trust with a message board post 20 years ago. Now he has to deal with an antiquated stadium with a restricted capacity of around 10,000. Unfortunately for him, he can’t just stick a Kop on it.

Getting it right on the pitch took time, partly because the ludicrously inadequate sole automatic promotion spot makes a crisis out of a near miss. Luton scrolled through managers before landing on the right one. John Still, like Phil Parkinson, was the experienced man needed to establish a stable platform from which to build.

Both sides sprung from the National League with a great deal of momentum behind them. Obviously, collecting more points than any side in history puts a considerable spring in Wrexham’s step, and after 4 seasons of near-misses Luton ended their non-league sojourn in style by romping to the title, establishing a record for the greatest winning margin in the division’s history.

We’ve even had the shared experience of a manager leaving when promotion was close, and returning for the COVID season, dividing the absent fans but doing important work building up to the massive step up: Nathan Jones returning before the leap into the Premier League and Dean Keates being in the hot seat when Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds took over.

And there you are: I’m getting carried away. The coincidence of two managers with similar career paths means nothing and promises less. We’ve got to be realistic, and accept that while Luton have shown the journey isn’t impossible it’ll be achieved by writing our own story rather than aping someone else’s.

Just because they did it doesn’t mean we can just sit back and expect the same: as Lady Macbeth told her husband, just sitting there and waiting for what you wish for to fall into your lap just isn’t realistic.

“If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me/Without my stir”

-Macbeth, Act I Scene 3

Not that I want to push that comparison too far though: some of the stuff that couple got up to wasn’t great. They were more MK Dons than Luton.

Congratulations to Luton, then, for blazing a trail we hope to follow to some extent. They’re even off to Las Vegas to celebrate. It seems they’re following our example now!