One Club, Living Within Its Means.

When I wrote my last blog, all of three weeks ago, we had just announced the identity of the new manager and it was still big news in local footballing circles. I am pleased to see that the initial positive response to the appointment has continued and Iwan himself has certainly made a good start to his tenure at the Oval.

Iwan will ensure a 'One Club' Philosophy 
at the Oval.

He very kindly agreed to answer a few questions for me recently in which he shared his thoughts on succeeding Lee Dixon and also his philosophy on the game. It was an odd feeling putting the questions together as I had only ever previously done this for Lee in the past.  I knew how important it was to give Iwan a platform to share his plans and found it quite difficult thinking of how best to do this. There was no need to worry however, as the new manager was more than up to the task of making the most of my limited interviewing skills. I was really pleased that he had decided to answer everything in great detail and in fact he came across in exactly the same way as he had when applying for the post. During his initial interview with the committee Iwan had spoken passionately about building ‘one club’, where the first team, the Academy, Football in the Community and the supporters become equal parts of Caernarfon Town Football Club. He had printed an impressive presentation of his plans to develop the club and how he will be going about doing this. Throughout that initial conversation, the idea of building that ‘one club’ mentality shone through and fit in perfectly with what the committee has always tried to do.

Iwan  (top, third from left)attended
an Academy session recently.

I know that Iwan will do his very best to foster this philosophy and believe he will be successful in achieving his goal. The signs are very encouraging as he has already visited the Football in the Community soccer schools and Academy sessions (photo, left) and I was also pleased to see him at the recent Gwyrfai League junior football tournament at the Oval. Furthermore he will also be taking part in a question and answer session with the Canaries Club on Tuesday, 5^th May at Caernarfon Football Club. The meeting is open to members and non-members alike so if you want to ask the new boss a question, or just want to hear what he has to say, head over to the club for a 7pm kick off.  For those of you who want to know more about the Canaries Club, please visit their website at: http://clwbcanariesclub.wix.com/clwb-canaries-club

It has already been four weeks since the last match of the Canaries’ 2014/15 season and, despite the lack of action on the field in this time, there has been plenty going on at the club. As already mentioned, we held the Gwyrfai League tournament three weeks ago and it was wonderful to see so many youngsters playing football on the Oval for the whole weekend.

The Saturday saw the under 7’s and 9’s age groups play, and there were five small pitches set up on the main pitch, with matches being played all day. I have been to a few similar events in the past and they have always over-run, sometimes by two or three hours! Therefore, it was with trepidation that I agreed to referee some of the matches but to be fair to the organiser, Barry Evans, everything ran  smoothly and ended on time, which must be a first for junior football, not just in this area, but everywhere!

The football was excellent and I enjoyed the refereeing but, as always, there was the obligatory ‘prowler’, who coaches his team by shouting at them whilst walking on the pitch throughout the match, and there was also one coach who wanted to have a running argument with me as he thought I had mistakenly awarded a throw-in to the opposing side (I kid you not!). And here’s me thinking FAW guidelines state that junior football is non-competitive and should be about the development of the players above all else?

Waunfawr Under 11's were thrilled to meet Nathan Craig
at the Gwyrfai Junior tournament..

Anyway, the weekend was a great success and I know that the team I help coach (of sorts!), Waunfawr Under 11’s, had a wonderful time on the Sunday. We may not have won our matches, but the boys really enjoyed themselves, which is all that matters. They were thrilled to have the opportunity to play on the Oval and one of their highlights was meeting Nathan Craig on the day (photo, left).

In fact, they had so enjoyed it that Nathan agreed to pop over to run a training session for them this week. Those who have come across Nathan will know that he is a great guy, very friendly and unassuming, and it will come as no surprise to you that all the youngsters enjoyed his session on Wednesday evening. The work he does for the Football in the Community Project is such an important part of what we as a club are all about and, judging by what I saw this week, we could not wish for a better person to be working with the community on our behalf.

Work will be continuing at the Oval during the summer, with lots going on at the Hendre End. The rebuilding of the perimeter wall that collapsed during the Welsh Cup encounter with The New Saints in November is a priority and seats in the stand will be replaced by new, more colour co-ordinated seats, whilst the terracing between the dugouts and Hendre End will be rebuilt and strengthened. Hopefully, the work will be completed before the start of next season and I can’t wait to see how the ground will look on the day of the big kick off! 

As always at this time of year, the rumour mill is going into overdrive, with all sorts of

names being mentioned as being on their way to the Oval this Summer. Only the manager can confirm whether any of the names being mentioned around town will actually end up playing in the yellow shirt next season but one player I know will not be lining up again for us is Ywain Gwynedd.

I had heard that Ywain was thinking of hanging up his boots at the end of the season but had hoped that it was just another of those aforementioned rumours going around. However, when I read his message on facebook that he was retiring from the game I was, to use footballing parlance ‘gutted’. Yws arrived at the Oval as

one of Steve Smith’s first signings in 2010 and during the past five years he has been a major part of the club’s resurgence on the field. I said many times last season that the team performed better when Ywain was in it and I stand by that. His never say die attitude on the pitch, together with impressive fitness levels, gave the team real energy and he could always be relied upon to score goals on a regular basis. Two such netfinders from last season were amongst my highlights of the year. The first was his late winner at Flint, when he rose at the far post to meet a corner and headed into the roof of the net. The match had seemed destined to end in a draw until Yws entered the fray from the bench and he certainly made the difference on the day. The second memorable goal from last term was the one he scored against Llandudno at the Oval, his extraordinary bicycle kick from just inside the penalty area sailing over the keeper and into an empty net. It was so typical of Ywain, popping up with a goal in an important match, and he is certainly going to be missed next season. Incidentally, Yws has agreed to answer a few questions for the blog and so you can expect a feature on the Cofi Keegan soon!

Ywain Gwynedd scores the winner at Flint
this season.

In regards to non-Caernarfon Town related news, I was surprised that Bangor City had originally been refused a Domestic Licence by the FAW due to an unpaid tax bill of £27,000. Of course they have successfully appealed against this and to be honest I expected nothing less. I am also pretty sure the FAW would have had everything crossed that the problem could be solved too as the Citizens are the biggest draw in the Welsh Premier League and their relegation could have proved disastrous to the league. Exactly how they managed to get into so much financial difficulties puzzles me and I can only think that the purse strings may be tightened somewhat as a result of their near-miss.

Thankfully, there are no such problems at Caernarfon and I hope there never will be. Sustainability is a key word at the Oval and, having been close to folding five years ago, the committee will ensure that the club continues to live within its’ means.  

I’ll be back with another blog in the next few days, when I’ll be taking a look at Caernarfon Town’s end of season presentation night, which was held at the Lynne Jones Room at the Oval on Friday, 1^st May.

I may also be casting an eye over a local reporter’s Cymru Alliance team of the season, and asking why he only picked three Town players in it….