Monday 11 April 2016

John King, The Two Twenty Crew and the Holy Dean....

There’s only one place I can start this time around, being the recent passing of former Caernarfon Town manager John King.
John King in front of Caernarfon Castle. Photo by Richard Birch. 
The sad news instantly brought back memories of those glorious days thirty years ago when our legendary manager transformed the Canaries into the best amateur side in Wales, and one of the of finest in Britain. When North Wales’ finest sports reporter, Dave Jones, mentioned he was looking for someone to share a few memories of Mr King, I immediately put my name forward, and am so pleased I took the plunge! The following is what I told Dave and, standing by every word I said, I’m happy to reproduce them here, in tribute to a special figure in the club’s history:
“Most Caernarfon Town supporters I know feel that the team Mr King put together at the Oval is the best to have represented the club, and I would agree that it’s certainly the strongest I’ve seen since in my thrity three years on the terraces. 
The team was struggling in the old Northern Premier League when Mr King arrived and he transformed us, in a very short time, from also-rans to one of the best non-league sides in the English non-league system.
Reaching the third round of the FA Cup in 1986/87 was an extraordinary achievement when one thinks that Caernarfon defeated two football league sides in the opening two matches  before narrowly losing out to Second Division (now known as The Championship) Barnsley in the replay at their ‘Oakwell’ ground. There were three thousand people at the Oval for the first match with Barnsley and the atmosphere was electric. I remember Mr King saying that Barnsley manager Allan Clarke was sweating on the touchline during the match in fear of defeat, and I’m sure he was right! The club has had some great times since then, of course, but I doubt that anything could ever match the excitement of that Cup  run.
Caernarfon had such a good side under Mr King that we as supporters fancied our chances against anyone and the FA Cup ties were no different. The players he brought to the club were excellent, one or two of whom had played in the football league, such as Steve Craven and some who then made a name for themselves in the Professional game. Ray Woods played on the right wing for us and appeared for Coventry City in the Premier League a few years later, whilst Dave Higgins and Dave Martindale followed Mr King to Tranmere.
Whilst the cup run was undoubtedly the highlight of his tenure at Caernarfon, it is often overlooked that he also led the team to third position in the Northern Premier League, which was no mean feat in itself.
John King will always be associated with Tranmere Rovers Football Club due to his long history with them, and rightly so, but he also enjoys, and desrves, legendary status at Caernarfon Town Football Club.
One lasting memory I have of those halcyon days for the club was seeing a photograph in the local newspaper of Mr King standing in front of Caernarfon Castle under the headline ‘King of the Castle’ and this is how I will always remember him.”
I was very proud that Dave decided to use my words in the Daily Post and Caernarfon and Denbigh and, making it even better, was that he also included the photo of Mr King that I rememebered, with the manager standing in front of Caernarfo Castle. The shot had been taken by Richard Birch, who helped so much with my Oval  Ways book and Richard has been kind enough to let me use it here.
Like everyone else who was lucky enough to have witnessed that wonderful Canaries side, I have a number memories of that FA Cup run, from the massive crowds at the Oval with the Two Twenty Crew in full voice, watching former Liverpool captain Emlyn Hughes predicting on national television that we’d beat Barnsley, to the Police escort to Oakwell where we danced the Cofi Conga on the terraces.
Magical days, provided by a magical man..... 
Nathan Craig was on the mark against Flint Town United. 
Waiting to Pounce.
I'm sure I was not alone in feeling rather nervous whilst awaiting the FAW's announcement on the Domestic Licence applications last thursday. As we now know, the game's governing body refused Caernarfon's application although the club have made it clear that we'll be appealing the decision and  are confident of success. I won't pretend to know everything about the requirements of the Licence but do know that many people from within the club, including the chairman, manager, committee members and supporters have worked extremely hard to meet the required criteria. That we failed at the first attempt is disappointing of course but, despite the very few who have found it impossible not to try and criticise the club, all of whom have no links whatsoever to the club I should add, I know that the outstanding issue is being dealt with and will be sorted out in time for the appeal date of April 21st. It's an edgy, but exciting time to be a Caernarfon Town supporter, but we WILL get there!
Chris Williams (left) and the Cofi Messi.
The most disappointing aspect of the news was the rather predictable handful of people who were obviously waiting to pounce on the news and took to social media in an attempt to gloat. All rather sad, and we'll just have to see if the same people appear again in a few day’s time!

The Holy Dean of Haselwell.
Back on the pitch, it’s been a mixed bag since the last blog, although this is due only to the weather and not to what the team has been doing on it.
I don’t think anyone had expected the Holywell match to have been called off last week but the constant rain for much of the preceding twenty four hours put paid to everyone’s hopes of another classic encounter between the two sides. I’ve mentioned more than once in the past that the Wellmen are a very good side and always make it tough for the Cofis, but we have a decent record against them in recent years so it’s a match most of us look forward to.
It was rather disappointing to read a few social media messages from our old friend, the Holy Dean of Hasselwell who decided to share a few photos of the Oval pitch on his account, and seemed to suggest that the match should have been played.
Quite apart from the futility of someone making the trip to the Oval just to take photos and try to prove a point (when I could have sent him a few photos myself), maybe he forgot that clubs do not make decisions to postpone matches, referees do. He should know that every club is at the hands of the officials in such scenarios and the inspection was an early one due to the travelling Holywell would have had to do. Having travelled most of the way to Llanfair Utd earlier this year only to be told the match had been cancelled an hour before kick-off, I certainly think it’s a pretty sound idea to carry out an early inspection. So, a bit disappointing,  but hardly surprising, going by past experience of the Dean and whilst he really should have known better, at least he apologised the following day for any offence caused by his remarks. I’m sure it’s not the first, or last time, he’ll need do this.

Jay Gibbs (right, next to referee) strikes his latest perfect free-kick as he nets against Flint  Town United on saturday.  
Thankfully, Saturday’s match with Flint Town United went ahead as planned and it was an entertaining affair, where we were treated to six goals, plenty of attacking football, an extremely rare Chris Williams goal and, incredibly, a mistake from Caernarfon’s number one, Paul Pritchard!
Breesy heading towards the Cofi Army
after his goal.
When the Cofis defeated Flint at their own ground in September I thought the hosts were a very good side and the Canaries had been made to work hard for the victory. It’s been a surprise, therefore, to see them languishing in mid-table for most of the campaign and whilst they played quite well again on Saturday I thought Caernarfon had another gear in hand if required.
The match got off to a decent start with Flint showing plenty of attacking intent but, from the moment Chris Williams went on his brilliant run past three defenders and coolly slotted the ball into the net, Caernarfon were quite comfortable in victory. Man of the match Jay Gibbs struck another perfect free-kick, the ball thundering over the defensive wall and into the onion bag from all of thirty yards. I know there’s a video clip of the goal on the club’s official twitter account and I’d recommend you having a look if you haven’t done so already, it's brilliant! I’m publishing the above photo, showing the ball heading towards its target, just to show how far Jay was from goal! Town’s other goals were scored by Nathan Craig from the penalty spot and Jamie Breese, who ran onto a Gibbs pass before expertly finishing past the Flint keeper.
All in all, it was another fine performance from the team and, whilst I had been feeling nervous about the match since tea-time on Friday, the players obviously didn’t feel the same way and were impressive as they set about their business.
Messi celebrates Jamie's goal in front of the linesman, who
is wearing a rather striking pair of shorts!
Having originally intended to omit all mention of Paul Pritchard’s mistake for Flint’s second goal, I have now reconsidered, although it is only to say that the Cat is allowed one mistake every four years, which is how long it’s taken for him to make one! On a serious note though, Paul has been in magnificent form again this season, and is on the brink of setting a new league record for the number of clean sheets in a season. He is currently just one behind the record he set last year of fifteen clean sheets. 
The Cofis have just five league fixtures remaining and, still sitting top of the league, it would be easy to be over confident of success at this stage. However, I know that Iwan, his management team and all the players are aware that there is still a lot of football to play and there’s another huge test awaiting the side at Llanfair on Saturday.
I’ve heard that a busload of Cofi supporters will be making the trip to the Mount Field, so there’s going to be a wonderful atmosphere at the ground.

Come on the Town!