And The New Manager Is....

The new Cofis manager, Iwan Williams. 

It was the Boomtown Rats who sang I Don’t Like Mondays and, ever since it reached the top of the UK singles charts in July 1979, the song’s title has somehow become synonymous with the general feeling most people have about the first day of the normal working week. I know that I’ve used the title, and heard it said, many times over the years. But I did not use it last Monday! 

The reason is quite simple as, in addition to enjoying the Bank Holiday I was also lucky enough to be involved in announcing the identity of Caernarfon Town’s new manager.

As already mentioned in previous blogs, I am fortunate enough to be on the club’s committee and have therefore taken part in the search for Lee Dixon’s successor in the hot seat. Monday was the culmination of a two month selection process that has been both enjoyable and, if truth be known, not a little stressful, but only in the sense that it was so important to get the right man.

Once Lee had shared his plans to step down from his role at the end of the campaign, it was imperative that a plan of action was implemented and we decided to invite interested parties to contact us directly. The timing of Dicko's announcement gave us two months until the end of the season and we felt that, if possible, we should get his successor in as soon as the last match of the campaign had been played. This of course would give the new manager as much time as possible to start building towards the 2015/16 season.  

In my opinion, Caernarfon Town is one of the two biggest clubs in the area, with our neighbours in Nantporth being the other. It goes without saying, therefore, that there was plenty of interest in the job and, as with the case with every vacancy, there were one or two candidates who stood out. When all the interviews had been completed, held over the course of four weeks, just one man was left standing, and we were finally in a position to announce that Iwan Williams would be succeeding Lee in the manager’s chair.

Photographer Richard Birch showing how it's done!

Raising the Bar.

Arfon confirmed last week that he was staying on as Chairman and had also hinted the club hoped to announce the identity of the new manager as soon as possible. Therefore, when his name flashed up on my phone on Monday I had a feeling that my Bank Holiday was about to get busier! Iwan was with his Caersws team-mates in the afternoon, as they had a match with Penycae, and Arfon thought it would be good if we could arrange to meet him at the Oval on his way home after the match. The chairman was keen to announce the news on Monday if at all possible as he felt the supporters would be expecting it and he did not want to let them down. Thankfully, Iwan was available to meet with us and so we had a photo-shoot at the Oval that evening.

I was there in my role as Town's Press Officer and was delighted to be taking a few photos for the website and taking down comments from the manager, and was also pleased that we had been able to get hold of Richard Birch to take shots for the Caernarfon and Denbigh. I have Dave Jones to thank for this, as I had been unable to contact Richard, and managed to pass on the message to Dave, who did the rest! Those of you who have read my Oval Ways book will already know how highly I rate both Richard and Dave and they came up trumps once again for the Canaries!

We probably spent an hour at the ground with Iwan, and it was good fun. Richard made sure we got some great photos and the chairman made sure he featured in most of them! In all seriousness, when they posed in front of the main stand I could not help but think of where we could be in twelve months under their guidance.

On a personal note, I was really pleased with the photos I got, and hope you will enjoy seeing some of them here. One was even used by the North Wales Chronicle, which I was pretty chuffed about.

All that was left for me to do after getting the photos and comments was to head home, and release the news on the club's facebook page, twitter account and official website: http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/caernarfontown/News/view/883662

Having seen the positive response from supporters on social media it seems that Iwan has been an extremely popular appointment with the supporters and this is, of course, always a good start. 

I had not met the new manager prior to his interview for the post but he had impressed me immensely with his ideas, and plans, and also with the obvious research he had done. On Monday he again spoke really well about his plans for the club and I have no doubt that Caernarfon Town FC has made the correct decision. Iwan has already mentioned his policy of making sure we’re ‘one club’ and this is something I’m sure we’ll get to hear more about in the near future. But, from what I’ve already heard from the manager, it’s going to be exciting, and progressive! 

I’m biased, obviously, but I’m convinced we’re in for great times at the Oval.   

The Boomtown Rats may not have liked Mondays, but for me, at least, last Monday was a blast!