One of King’s Men. An Interview with Phil Wilson.

If you mention Caernarfon Town Football Club and the FA Cup to most people over thirty five years of age in Gwynedd with even the slightest interest in the beautiful game, there’s a very good chance that the first name that will spring into their minds is John King.
Mr King, of course, was the manager with the golden wand who weaved his magic and transformed a struggling Town side from bottom of the Northern Premier League into one of the top non-league sides in the British game during his short, but historical, stint as manager.
The crowning glory of that stint came when he masterminded the side to the third round of the FA Cup in 1986/87 before the Canaries got knocked out in a replay against Barnsley at Oakwell, succumbing to a solitary Rodger Wylde strike in front of over eight thousand fans, of which I was one.
The manager, and the wonderful team he put together for us to support will forever be held in the highest of esteem by Town supporters, and rightly so. They put the club on the back pages of the national press and on national television and, for those few months, we were amongst the big boys in the World’s greatest cup competition!
Next year marks the thirtieth anniversary of those halcyon days and I am very happy to be able to publish an exclusive interview here with Phil Wilson, a mainstay of the side who was also Mr King’s first signing when he took over at the Oval.
Phil went on to take over the hot seat after Tommy Smith failed in his attempts to replicate Mr King’s success, and has enjoyed a long, and very successful career in the game. I’ll let Phil tell you all about it and also of course, about his time at Caernarfon Town.

Question: First of all, can you give us an overview of your career in the game Phil?
Phil: “I started at Tranmere Rovers and played in the A, B and reserves sides. I had a bad knee in my last season there and I played when I should not have which did not do me any good. I had my cartilage out and went moved on to play in the Cheshire League for New Brighton and Winsford. I was a Striker and was scoring a lot of goals and a number of league clubs came in for me so I ended up going to Blackburn. I would not sign full-time though as I was half way through my teacher training at college. I started very well with Blackburn and had some first team games in pre-season. I was not really a goal scoring striker and so they moved me to right wing where I played well. But it never really worked out there and after going out on loan to Wigan, who were then a top non-league team, I moved to Runcorn and started playing in modfield and this is where I played until the end of my career.
Before the Conference we won the Northern Premier League and lost in FA trophy semi-finals three times. We were one of the best non-league teams in the country and I played there for six great years. Altrincham, when the Conference started, paid a decent transfer for me and we won the Conference but I had a falling out with the manager and went for a short spell to Mossley, where we won the Northern Premier League and lost in the 1980 FA Trophy final at Wembley. I then got the move I wanted by going to Northwich, also for a decent fee. I had had four very good years with them in the Conference and played in two Trophy finals at Wembley, beating Bangor in the 1984 final.
When I was thirty six, with a bad knee and drifting down the leagues John King, who was my manager at Northwich, wanted me to go as player coach with him at Caernarfon. It gave me a new lease of life and you know the rest! I even went back to playing in the Conference with Northwich when Tommy Smith took over at the Oval. I then managed you for two seasons, one of which was very successful. I was still playing at Rhyl at thirty eight when Stalybridge Celtic offered me the manager’s job. We won the league and I managed them for two seasons in the Conference. Other manager jobs I held were at Leek where we won the Northern Premier League and got to the Conference, I was at Northwich for two and a half years in the Conference where we finished high, I returned to Stalybridge and won the league again and we got promoted to conference. I was next at Southport and managed Lancaster to promotion to the Conference North before my final job at Barrow. I went back to Blackburn as a European scout after that and I am still there now, doing all the match assessments on our opponents.”

Q) You obviously had a very impressive playing career and I was wondering what were your highlights as a player?
Phil: “The Highlights were playing at Wembley three times, winning three league titles, a number of first and second round ties in the FA Cup and a couple of third round ties including Caernarfon.”

Q) How did your move to Caernarfon come about Phil?
Phil: “I was thirty six and dropping down the leagues and John King phoned and asked me if I fancied it at Caernarfon.”

Q: Things did not start too well at the club for Mr King, results wise, and legend has it that he was having second thoughts about it soon after arriving. I have also heard that you were instrumental in him staying. Can you give us an insight in what happened and how you managed to persuade Mr King that there was some potential here?

Phil: “They were bottom of the Northern Premier League, he went to watch them and they lost 9-2 at home. Our first game was Macclesfield away and we lost 7-2. I played. I drove him to the game and on the way home he said he was packing it in as it was a hopeless cause and it would be too difficult to turn the team around. I took him down to a Rugby club I played squash at and persuaded him to give it a go. Part of the reason was I wanted to continue playing at a good standard but if he had not stayed he would not have had that FA cup run and it was that run that put him back in the limelight, in the papers and on TV and this got him the job at Tranmere. The rest is history what a fantastic manager he was .
Let’s get something straight, he did not stay because of me, but we talked about who we could bring, players like Kenny Jones (who was older than me), Steve Craven and Ray Woods and we eventually built a great team. Martindale, Higgins, Salmon and Russ Hughes, together with Huwey (Huw Williams) and some of the other good local players. I was past my best but I was reinvigorated, I loved it! I played in some very good non- league teams but that side on the day was as good as any.”

Q: As a mainstay of the side, it must have been an exciting time to be playing for Caernarfon?
Phil: “I am positive that if we had not gone so far in the FA Cup we would have won the league easily and been promoted to the Conference. Those two years and my first season Managing Caernarfon were great years.”

Q: I sold programmes at the Stockport tie and remember arriving at the Oval a few hours before kick-off to sit in on a police briefing and you were running around the pitch on your own. I’m pretty sure you missed out on that match and was just wondering what do you remember of that day, and the whole Cup run itself?
Phil: “I was warming up at the Stockport game because I had been injured for a couple of weeks and was not fit. For us to go and win at York was a fantastic result as they were a decent first division team. The Barnsley tie, our chance was at home and we had a couple of opportunities to win and I was an inch away from getting on the end of a free kick. 1-0 flattered us in the replay.”

Q) You mention that John King was a great manager and I know that everyone would agree with that but I was wondering what made him stand out so much? What were his strengths?
Phil: “John King was a great Manager he made you want to play for him. He had lots of experience and knew how to get the best out of you.”

Q) How far do you think Mr King could have taken the club had he not returned to Tranmere Rovers?
Phil: “If Kingy had stayed at Caernarfon I think he would have produced a team that would have won the league and been promoted to the Conference. However, Caernarfon would never have been able to financially compete in the league, just like Bangor found out. It was his fate that he was able to go back to the club he knew best.”

Q) Can you describe a typical day for you as a player for Caernarfon on match days? How did you get down here, and with who? Also, where did the team train Phil and how many times a week?
Phil: “We would leave the Wirral at 11:30 and drive to pick up some of the Liverpool lads at a hotel near Ellesmere Port. We would go to Caernarfon and go to a pub, the Black Boy I think, and meet all the lads for tea and toast at 1:00. Then we would go to the ground for 2:00. Kingy liked having all the lads together to build team spirit.”

Q) Where did the team train and how many times a week?
Phil: “We trained at Deeside on a Tuesday and Thursday when there was not a midweek game and he only brought the local players through for big games, so they normally trained with the Reserves at Caernarfon. I normally took most of the training.”

Q) What do you remember of the Oval ground, the club itself and some of the characters there at the time?
Phil: “The Oval pitch was not up to today's standard but was ok. The ground was good especially when there was a good crowd. I remember scoring a header against Shrewsbury to win in the Welsh cup and the stand by the social club was nearly full. It was the year when I was manager and we lost to Cardiff in the semi-finals.
There were a lot of hard working people there and they were always very friendly. I remember a young John Watkins.”
Q) What happened to the members of the famous FA Cup side, Phil and do you still keep in touch?
Phil: “Russ Hughes went on to play for me at Stalybridge, as did Steve Craven. Ray Woods played for me in the team that finished third when I was manager and he went on to Wigan and later Coventry. Did you know Higgy, Martindale and for a short spell Steve Craven all played for Tranmere with Kingy, and both Martindale and Higgy did so for a number of years and had great success there. I, at 38, played for Northwich with Austin Salmon in the conference before returning to Caernarfon when Tommy Smith left.”

Q) You had a successful period as manager of the team too, especially in your first season, and brought in some very good players. What do you remember of that team and how did you find the experience of managing and creating your own side? I think we finish third in the NPL in your first season in charge which was very impressive!
Phil: “I enjoyed managing and don't forget the year we finished third I was still playing. Do you remember me bringing a young Ian Woan to the club, and he went on to play for Nottingham Forest and is now assistant manager at Burnley. I also got him to go to Runcorn where, after a few months, he got a move to Forest.
My first sacking was at Caernarfon the season after we finished third in the Northern Premier League, which was better than the FA cup team. We lost in the qualifying round of the FA cup away in the North East and after the high expectations from two years previously I was sacked. I learned there was no loyalty in football. It is funny that in my first season managing Stalybridge I took over with the team in the bottom two in November and we played at Caernarfon in the final match of the season. We won and they went down and probably never reached the heights again.
When I came back later on to help Terry Murphy out, the then manager who was ill, it was a bad move for me. I had been managing in the Vauxhall Conference, the top non-league in the country, and then player manager at 39 in the first division of the Northern Premier League. My heart was not in it, and I left in pre-season to go and manage Leek Town.”

Phil in action whilst player manager at Caernarfon. Photo by Richard Birch.

Q) You obviously played and managed at a very high level of football and I was wondering what your day job was and did you find it hard to try and juggle both careers?
Phil: “I was a PE teacher and then later an Advisory teacher for Looked After Children. I did not find it hard because football has always been first in my life whilst my teaching paid the mortgage.”

Q) How do you think today's equivalent of the Conference League, the National League, compares with the one you played in?
Phil: “The Conference has become a full time league with only a couple of clubs now being part- time. I was one of the few part time managers even when I was managing in it in the nineties and early in the 2000's. I would not go full-time because managers get the sack and I would still have a teachers job to fall back on. Incidentally, I was only sacked three times in twenty years. The league is no better than it was except it is now full-time. In my day the top non-league players were better off in the non-league with a good job and earned more money. They did not want to be full time.”
Q) You must have seen many changes in the game over the years and I was wondering what you think of the game today? Has it changed for the better?
Phil: “The game does not seem to have the characters and leaders that were around in my day Technically it has improved but heart and determination is lacking.”
Q) When did you join Blackburn Phil, and in which post, and what does your job entail these days?
Phil: “I joined Blackburn after my last job at Barrow, It was only supposed to be until I found another club but I never ever went for another job. I was going all over Europe watching games as well as a lot Premiership matches, I had no pressure and after about a year I was happy to continue to do it. I have been there nine years and now we are no longer in Premiership I do all the match reports on our next opponents.”

Q) Finally, can you sum up your time with Caernarfon Town in one sentence?
Phil: “As I have said earlier the three years I had there, two with Kingy and then the season we finished third, were some of the happiest I had as a player because at my age I thought I was finished and I proved myself wrong.”

A massive thank you to Phil for taking the time to answer my questions and being so honest with his answers. As someone who looked on from the terraces as the team he played in, and later managed, proved a match for everyone over a three year period in the eighties, it was great to hear his side of the story, and also to learn about his long career in the game. I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did!

Ray Woods, a Massive Step Forward and Kev Bach - Again!

The legendary Ray Woods. 

After what seems like a particularly long pre-season preparation period we’re just days away from the new season and, just like everyone else connected with Caernarfon Town Football Club, I’m very excited at what lies ahead. 

I must say that, as much as I’ve enjoyed all the pre-season friendlies over the past five weeks, they’re no substitute for the real thing and I’ve been counting the days to the big kick off ever since the league cup final in May. I’ve attempted, in the last two blogs, to describe what’s been going on, in and around the club, since then and I hope that the club’s various press releases and social media updates have been a help in keeping everyone relatively up to speed with everything. All that’s remains for me to do now then is to quickly cover the last two friendlies and mention a few things that have happened and may be of interest since the last blog.

The defeat to The New Saints at the end of last month was followed with a run-out for the reserves  against a decent Llanrwst outfit. It was an excellent performance by the youngsters and I was particularly impressed by their attitude in the second half, when they found a way to win after losing  their two goal lead. Iwan had decided to include one or two senior players in the starting line-up to help the youngsters settle and they did this in great style, scoring twice without reply in a very good first half. The manager brought the senior players off at half-time and Llanrwst got back on level 

Corrig scores his second against Llanrwst. 

terms by enforcing a more robust approach but, just when it looked as if the Roosters would go on to win, Town’s youngsters showed their mettle and fully deserved their late winner by Herbie Hofstede. Everyone had played well but Corrig McGonigle stood out for me, finding the net twice and setting up the winner. He has been very impressive so far and seems to be a real goalscorer, and who doesn’t love one of those in the side?

GAP Connahs Quay had been scheduled to visit the Oval for our final warm-up match on Saturday but, due to being stuck in traffic on the A55, they could not make it to the ground so the match was called off. There was no blame at all on Connah’s Quay but it was such a disappointment  to call it off less than two hours before kick-off although, thanks to social media, I think we managed to get the message out to most of the club’s supporters. 

Ray Woods near the spot he struck from a free-kick for the Cofis. 

Despite the disappointment, however, on a personal level I still had an enjoyable time at the ground as I got to meet one of the club’s greatest ever players, Ray Woods. Those who are old enough to remember John King’s brilliant team of the mid-eighties that propelled the Canaries onto the back pages of all the main national papers and onto our television screens will know how good Ray was. He was undoubtedly one of the team’s brightest stars, causing havoc as he ran at defences on the right wing and I can well remember seeing him taking on, and dribbling past left backs at will. He was so good, in fact, that he went on to play for Coventry City in the then equivalent of the Premier League, becoming manager Terry Butcher’s first managerial signing, the former Ipswich star paying Wigan £200,000 for Ray’s services. The last time I saw Ray was when he lined up for the Sky Blues against Liverpool at Anfield in the early 1990’s, he had an excellent game on the right flank and was just as good as I remembered him from his Oval days. Unfortunately, a troublesome groin injury led to repair damage to his stomach and a change of manager resulted in Ray’s time in the top flight coming to a premature end as he returned to Wigan after three years at Highfield Road.   

Now fifty one, Ray had hoped to catch his old side in action on Saturday but things didn’t quite work out that way. However, he still spent a good hour at the ground and it was great to meet someone who I’ve held in such high esteem for the past thirty years. Having just married two weeks ago, it was also really nice to meet his wife Faye and they have promised to visit again in the not too distant future. Before they left the Oval, Ray walked onto the pitch and we discussed his time with the club. It was brilliant to hear him talking so fondly of the club, and the team he played in and he shared a few great anecdotes, whilst also mentioning a goal he scored for the Cofis all those years ago from a free kick at the Hendre End. I was also pleased to hear him say that the ground looks wonderful these days and how pleased he was that it had been developed so much. Of course, it was a golden opportunity for me to take a photo with one of my heroes as a teenager and I didn’t pass it up! Before leaving, Ray also posed with this season’s new shirt and was rather impressed with it! (see top of blog entry).

Town's new keeper, Mike Jones. 

The following day I received a message from him to say how much he’d enjoyed the visit to his old ground and that it had felt very much like going back home. A really nice thing to say and, if at all possible, I will hope to carry out an interview with him for the blog in the not too distant future. Ray Woods, what a player he was!  

Before moving on from those halcyon days of the eighties, I’m pleased to say that I’ve recently been in touch with another member of that legendary team, Phil Wilson, and Phil very kindly agreed to an interview with me which I hope to publish in the next week or two. Just like Ray, Phil is a real gent too, and has plenty of interesting to say about his time with us and his long career as a player and manager.
Back to the present team now, and this week’s match with Nantlle Vale. The Canaries were much too strong for Vale, and whilst I didn’t learn anything new about the side I’m sure it helped both teams to reach the fitness levels they’ll require for the season. Following Saturday’s cancellation it was important that the players had a final run out before the real action begins and so it served a purpose. Just as importantly it also gave our new goalkeeper, Mike Jones, an opportunity to play behind the defence for the first time, which can only be a good thing. Incidentally, I had a quick chat  with Mike on Saturday and he is really excited at joining Caernarfon and seemed quietly confident we can do well this season. He has a great attitude and I’m sure will be a success at the club.

Iwan and Jay with Margaret Jones of Gofal Bro Cyf.

It’s also been a nice surprise to see that Kevin Roberts has returned to the fold, having originally decided to return from the game during the summer. I was disappointed to see him go last month so am really pleased that he’s back with us. I’m sure I’m not the only one who will be looking forward to seeing a few more of his bone-crunching tackles over the course of the campaign! 

Away from the pitch, there’s been a very exciting development at the club with the announcement that Gofal Bro Cyf have become our new main sponsor. As was stated in the official press release, the sponsorship deal is the biggest in the club’s history and in my opinion it’s a massive step forward for us if we are going to compete with the top clubs in the country. It was nice to meet the company’s proprietor, Margaret Jones, and her staff at the ground on Saturday and it’s good to know that we’re being backed by such a reputable company and, just as importantly, by such nice people. Let’s hope we can give them plenty of coverage during a successful campaign! 

Gareth Edwards in the new training kit.

We only had one home and one away shirt on the day and so I was limited as to the photos I could take so Jay Gibbs thankfully  agreed to pose for a few shots in addition to the usual ‘sponsors photo’. I don’t think Jay was too comfortable at taking the photos but he stuck it out, and did a great job. I would have hated to play against him (not that I was ever good enough to have done!) because he is such a competitive character, but off the field he is a gentleman and always very helpful, and I was very grateful that he helped me out on Saturday. Thanks Jay!

The new kits will be available to buy soon but, for now, if any of you fancy getting yourself the new training gear the players are using, here’s the link to where you can order them directly:

http://www.totalteamwearuk.com/clientshops/caernarfontownfcacademy/default.htm

This time last year I wrote a blog entry titled ‘This Can Be Our Year’ where I stated that the 2015/16 season could a very successful one for Caernarfon Town. If truth be told, whilst quietly confident about our prospects there was also an element of the unknown as we had a new manager and a few new players in the squad. This year, however, I know exactly what kind of manager Iwan is and the calibre of players we have at the club and, whilst I’m well aware that other teams will have strengthened during the summer, I am confident that the 2016/17 season will be a very exciting one for the Cofis and that we have a good opportunity to return to the Welsh Premier League at the end of the new campaign.

It’s going to be a long season, but everyone at the club is ready for it!

Come on Town!!