Where legendary Caernarfon Town players are concerned Ray Woods is up there
amongst the footballing Gods. Cofi supporters of a certain age will need no
introduction to Ray and in fact I’m sure that even today’s younger generation
have probably heard tales of how he used to rule our right wing, terrorising
defenders with his trademark zig-zagging runs and generally causing havoc to
all comers who fancied their chances on our patch.
In a time where moustaches and permed hair ruled football fields
across the country, Ray was a cut above most of the players you’d see in non-league
football grounds and, far from being the typical troubadour you’ll see in the
professional game these days, he was the real deal. Quick, tough and tricky, Ray
became a vital member of John King’s squad that put us on the footballing map
by reaching the third round proper of the FA Cup in 1986/87.
Ray visited the Oval during the 2016/17 pre-season schedule and I was
delighted to finally get to meet him. I have already written an account of this
in a previous blog so won’t repeat the details here but suffice to say it was a
thrill to chat to him about his time with the Canaries. He promised me that day
to answer a few questions for the blog and, of course, he has been true to his
word.
A small part of this interview has been published in the special
booklet I produced for Alex Philp for the FA Cup team’s reunion last March
(which is still available in the club shop) but most of it is new, including
Ray’s thoughts on the reunion and the present Caernarfon Town side.
So, here it is, my interview with a real Caernarfon Town
legend, who also just happens to be my favourite ever Town player….
Can you give us a brief breakdown of your career in the game Ray, from
the very beginning right through to the time you hung up your playing boots?
Early Days….
I began at Fender middle
school where I played two years above my age and then Woodchurch High school. I
played for Birkenhead, Wirral and Merseyside representative teams and between
the age of eleven and fifteen I played for Shaftesbury Boys Club on a Sunday.
At fourteen, I was scouted to play for Prenton Park Rovers, who were Tranmere
Rovers’ youth team and signed apprentice forms for Tranmere at sixteen. I made
my debut for Tranmere at seventeen against Bristol Rovers.
I signed professional
forms a year later and made around eighteen appearances before leaving the club
at twenty. I played Sunday League football for the Victoria Lodge where I
played alongside players such as Ian Woan and Mark Carter, who had good
professional careers later on, and others were Ian Cockbain, Russ Hughes, Bobby
Tynan and Mark Palios, who is chairman of at Tranmere these days. The manager
was Barry Mitchell, who became a good friend and massive influence on my
career. On Saturdays I played for Runcorn and then Mark Palios took me to
Bangor before I moved on to Northwich Victoria and played with Steve Craven who
became a good friend of mine.
Initially I said no….
Steve Craven left to play
for John King at Caernarfon and John, who knew my mother well, asked her if I
would be interested in a project he was building in Wales.
Initially, I said no but
then John came to work on Council Sport Initiative AT4 giving sport to people
out of work, which I was working on as a coach. John persuaded me to leave
Northwich and join Caernarfon, who were rock bottom of the Northen Premier
League, many points adrift from safety. The rest there is history!
Colne Dynamoes….
I was bought by Colne
Dynamoes but didn't fit into their playing style and, whilst keeping my hand in
playing for local Birkenhead team Heswall and the Victoria Lodge, I was spotted
by Brian Hamilton, my old Tranmere Rovers, whom I didn't get on with, but he
was by then General Manager at Wigan Athletic. He told their manager, Ray
Mathias about me and Ray, who was my old coach at Prenton Park, came and watched me play on Sunday for
the Vicky Lodge. After the game he asked me to sign for Wigan but there was an
issue with Colne Dynamoes about my registration contract. It got sorted and I
signed for Wigan on the agreement that Bryan Hamilton had nothing to do with
the first team training. I made a couple of substitute appearances and after
two months Ray Mathias was sacked and Bryan Hamilton took over. I thought my
professional career had finished before it got started due to my relationship
with Bryan from from days gone by but he put me in the starting line-up
straight away which was a big shock!
PFA and Lilleshall….
I made seven appearances
up to the end of the season and looked forward to pre-season but in a friendly
match against Heswall I tore my adductor muscle which kept me out for over a
year. The PFA helped fund my rehab at Lilleshall and I was there for nearly
four months. I was sure Wigan would release me but Bryan signed me on a month
to month contract to see if I could get back playing again. At Lilleshall I not
only got the injury fixed but also used their faculties to get fitter than I'd
ever been!
Wigan’s Number 7.
I started pre-season in
90/91 flying and went to Russia with the squad where I had a reaction to my
groin after one of the games. Nigel Adkins put me in an ice-bath and I
recovered well after we got back and so started the season as Wigan's No.7.
After twenty matches I'd won ten man of the match awards and was attracting interest from a
string of clubs, including Sunderland, Celtic and Milwall.
After one of our matches
was postponed I was phoned and asked to go into the Club. I wondered what was
wrong and if I'd done something wrong but when I got there Bryan and the club
secretary put a new contract in front of me.
I asked why as I'd already signed three new contracts since my good form
began and Bryan then told me they had received five bids for me but only one
matched their £250K valuation of me and
that was from first division club Coventry City, who we had just played on the
television in the F.A. Cup over a replay and I had been man of the match on
both occasions.
Coventry and England ‘B’.
I met with Terry Butcher
and Mick Mills that night and agreed to go down to their training ground,
taking my friend Barry Mitchell with me and we agreed a three and a half year
deal after negotiations. A week later I took my mother with me and had my first
training session with the likes of Kevin Gallagher and Cyrill Regis, completed
my medical and then signed my contract at the Press Conference on Midlands
television. I played my first match in a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace and went
on to make over twenty appearances, attracting interest from the then England
boss Graham Taylor, who had watched me
as we beat Luton 5-0 and wanted me for the next England 'B' call up.
Shrewsbury….
Unfortunately, my groin
problems returned after a game against Arsenal and this time it was to keep me
out injured for nearly two years, after having a stomach repair and a tenotomy
which was the same injury I had had at Wigan but on the other leg. This
effectively killed my career at Coventry and after a number of changes in
management, all of whom had not seen me play. I was released and signed a two
year contract with Shrewsbury, a team I'd joined on loan earlier and helped win
promotion.
In the second year of my
contract I produced some of my best form for years but fell out with our boss
Fred Davis after a game with Liverpool in the F.A. Cup so left when my contract
was up and joined Wayne Clarke at Telford before finishing my career at
Worcester City, where I became Youth Academy Manager for nine years.
Question and Answer Session:
OW: What was your
favourite position as a footballer?
Ray: “I have
played in a number of positions but always classed myself as a right winger.”
OW: Who was your
favourite player whilst growing up and who do you support?
Ray: “I have
always supported Liverpool and my favourite players were Roger Hunt and then
Graeme Souness, who I got to play against later in my career.”
OW: Who was the biggest
influence on your footballing career?
Ray: “Barry
Mitchell and Bryan Hamilton”.
Oval Days with Caernarfon Town.
OW: What did you know of
Caernarfon Town Football Club before you joined us?
Ray: “That it was
in Wales!”
OW: Do you recall your first match for Caernarfon
and what were your first impressions of the club?
Ray: “It was
against Southport away. They won the league that year and we were miles behind
anyone in the league. We were 2-0 down at half-time and I was expecting a
rollicking off John, which is what I'd been used to from previous managers, but
John was calm and upbeat and said we were ‘As good as them but just need to
prove it to ourselves’. He asked us to go out and win the second half, no
matter what the end result was. We went out and battered them second half and
went 2-3 up before they got a late equaliser but that was the start of the run
that kept us up and led to better things. Impressions of the Club were it was
smaller than I was used to but homely and friendly and the feeling that it was
a nice place to play.”
 |
| Ray (back row, third from left) lines up at the Oval with his FA Cup team-mates. Photo by Richard Birch. |
THE FA Cup
run.
OW: Do you recall anything of the qualifying rounds
before the first round proper?
Ray: “I don't
really recall the games other than the last one at Chester Le Street. We were
leading 2-1 with a few minutes left and I gave the ball away and they went and
scored. Kenny Jones came running up to me and said he'd kill me if we lost this
game. He then proceeded to pick the ball up forty yards out and put it in the
top corner for us to win 3-2.”
OW: As the team started getting into the latter
stages of the qualifying rounds, did you start to believe that you could
possibly make a real impact on the competition?
Ray: “We were
doing really well in the League and carried the form on from the middle of rhe
previous season. We had very good players and you knew we could achieve good
things as a group. We had good team spirit and believed we could give anyone a
game on our day but we also had consistency which was important.”
OW: Can you please recall your memories of the matches in
the first, second and third round:
Stockport at home: 1-0.
Ray: “I remember the crowd and the brilliant atmosphere
they created. I knew Clive Evans, who played for Stockport, very well as I
cleaned his boots as an apprentice at Tranmere Rovers.”
The matches with York, 0-0 at the Oval and 2-1 away.
Ray: “I remember setting up Austin's goal in the replay by
a deflected cross and being part of a great team move for Cravo's second. I
recall the reaction to beating York, who in that year had knocked Arsenal out
of the League Cup, being one of shock by professional in the game and everybody
else but we thoroughly deserved it on the night and it was no fluke.”
The matches with Barnsley, 0-0 at the Oval and 0-1 away.
Ray: “The only thing I remember is it wasn't a great game
but we had Phil Wilson's chance in the last few minutes to win the game but
‘50p head Wizza’ missed a sitter to put us into the fourth round.”
OW: Looking back at that run, did you feel
disappointed at the time not to have been drawn to face one of the First Division sides in the third round?
Ray: “I never felt
disappointed with the draw as it was still a good second division team managed
by a legend, Alan Clarke and a team we could give a good game to.”
 |
| From left to right: Russ Hughes, Ray and Dave Martindale celebrate Town's victory over York. Photo by Richard Birch. |
The FA Cup
Squad in Ray’s own words…..
Russ Hughes - Reliable and agile but too many teeth in that
head of his.
Dave Higgins – Nut job but strong and a great defender.
Glynn Jones - Quiet, reliable and steady but looked like Me
Bean.
Robyn Jones - Intelligent and solid like a bulldog.
Ken Jones - Old and scary but team's rock.
Huw Williams - Strong and steady.
Dave Martindale – ‘Del Boy’ with talent who would try to
sell dodgy gear to supporters out of a van at half-time.
Dave Wignall - What a passer and would have been brilliant if
he could run.
Bobby Tynan – ‘Mr Crocked Knee’ would have to ice after
every game but what a player he was and had everything to be top player.
Phil Wilson - My wife has a brown leather distressed
looking handbag that's wrinkled with age and that’s Wizza for you but what an
engine and heart.
Steve Craven - Sometimes you'd have to wake him up on the
pitch when he was having a snooze as he was so laid-back but what talent with
immense ability.
Austin Salmon - Worked on the trainlines and had the touch
of a train but also the impact of a train at times. So strong and powerful and
with an eye for goal.
Stuart Clynch - Little ‘Billy Whizz’ had great technique
once you got the splinters out of his backside from sitting in the bench so
much.
Ian Cockbain - As a footballer Ian was a great cricketer.
Shirley Temple look-a-like he liked a lollypop or two but was a good impact sub
who loved coming on for me so he could gloat about it.
OW: Obviously, those were special days at the club,
and the FA Cup team is still regarded by many supporters as the best we’ve had.
How good do you think was that squad Mr King put together?
Ray: “It was a
very good non-league squad and possibly could and should have got promotion to
the Conference if we had not have had so many Cup games to add to a tough
league. We had strength, pace, ability, maturity and fight in all the right
positions due to Kingy's good eye for spotting players.”
OW: What are your thoughts on Mr King? How good was
he as a manager and what made him so special?
Ray: “John and I
worked together as I've already mentioned and sometimes out relationship was
strained as I was quite head-strong and argued with him when I shouldn't. I
don't think John was a particularly great coach on the training pitch but he
had a focus on how his team should play and what each player should do within
that formation that was unshakable. I feel he was a brilliant manager of
players because he made you feel you could achieve great things for him and you
wanted to do so.
He was eccentric
in the way he put across his philosophies and I remember Ian Muir, at Tranmere,
telling me he thought he was a crack-pot with his boat and rowing analogy for
the season ahead, until he bought into it, saw it worked and that he was a
great man-manager.”
OW: Do you have one special memory of Mr King?
Ray: “This is
bitter-sweet for me as I was very disappointed John didn't take me with him
when he left for my hometown Club at Tranmere and I felt I'd done enough for
him to warrant the chance to go with Dave Higgins and Dave Martindale. I won
player of the year in our most successful year and wanted to break back into
professional football but he didn't take me with him.
Many years later
we were on a panel for a Question and Answer session at the Victoria Lodge with
people like Jim Harvey and Ian Muir and my overall feeling was that I'd proved
him wrong and reached the top of English Football League on my own. However, I
do think he taught me great lessons and I thank him for that.
OW: Do you have a story or memory from your time at
the club that stands out and is suitable to share with us?
Ray: “Ian Cockbain
started a home game for us and after about fifteen minutes you could see him
running off the pitch and into the changing room. He came back a bit later and
at the end of the game he told us he'd had a bad stomach and needed the toilet
urgently. As he's telling us this I'm looking for my underwear and I can't find
it and Coey starts laughing and hands me a pair of my underpants that he used
as he had to change his own. Obviously, I threw them away and went home
'commando' style!”
OW: In addition to the cup run, the team also
finished third in the Northern Premier League. How good an achievement was
that?
Ray: “I think we
played over sixty five games that season in all competitions and possibly would
have won the league without the Cup games but it was still a great achievement
to finish in the top three of a tough league.”
OW: What did you think of the Oval as a ground?
Ray: “The Oval has
a large slope on the pitch but always felt great to play on for me and I felt
at home there. The ground now looks fantastic, having recently visited, and is
really set up for the next level.”
OW: What was your professional job at the time you
played for us Ray and what do you do these days?
Ray: “I worked
with John King for Wirral Council's AT4 Sports project as a football coach. Now
I run my own football company in schools and holiday clubs called 'Nutz4
Soccer'.”
OW: Is there anything else you’d like to add about
your time with Caernarfon Town?
Ray: “For me, this
represented the real start of my career in football and I will always have a
great deal of affection for the club. The one down side was not being presented
with the 'Player of the Year' trophy that I won that FA Cup run year. Steven
Craven had won it the season before and was presented with it at the last home
game of the season and I remember thinking I wanted that.
However, at the
end of the season we were so pre-occupied with John's and a few of the lads’
departures to Tranmere and also a trip to Spain, which the club had authorized,
that I didn't actually receive the trophy.”
On
March 18th 2017, the FA Cup side returned to the Oval for a special
reunion to celebrate that special time for the club and Ray and his former
team-mates enjoyed the present side’s victory over Holywell before enjoying an
evening at the social club, where they and the supporters were treated to the
premiere showing of ‘All the King’s Men’ a dvd release consisting of highlights
and interviews from that memorable cup run. Ray was also finally presented with
his player of the year award for the 1986/87, with Steve Craven also receiving
his Top Goalscorer award. I asked Ray for his thoughts on this special day:
OW: How
did you enjoy the recent reunion with the FA Cup side Ray, and how nice was it
to meet up with your former team-mates, and also with Mr King's family?
Ray: “The re-union was a brilliant occasion for the former players and
the appreciation we felt was overwhelming.
It was great to see some old friends again and remember/relive happy
memories. People like Stu Clynch, Steve Craven and Russ Hughes whom I had good
friendships with but as often happens in football, drifted apart and others
like Dave Wignall, Ken Jones, Bobby Tynan whom I have a lot of respect for but
never thought our paths would cross again.
It was great seeing Marion King looking so well and lovely catching up
with John’s daughters, Jackie and Jane, as I used to attend the same school as
them and they seemed happy and content with life. We all massively appreciated
the effort the Club and the people of Caernarfon went to for bringing us all
back together for this celebration.”
 |
| Ray finally receives his award from Richard Morris Jones. |
Ray: “On a personal note, it was fantastic to receive the Player of the
Year Award from all those years ago and it sits pride of place in my living
room. I understood that there was a lot going on at the Club after the cup year
with many changes as John left for Tranmere and so what a brilliant gesture to
make by marking both Steve Craven (Top Goalscorer) and my achievement with such
wonderful trophies. It will be remembered with gratitude by myself and I`m sure
Steve forever.”
OW: Did watching the FA Cup video on
the night bring back a few memories for you?
Ray: “Seeing the Cup Video Highlights was a memorable part of the
evening and even brought back some long forgotten memories. The time taken to
source the content and then to put it together in such a professional manner
was outstanding and everyone involved should be very proud with the outcome.”
 |
| The FA Cup side with Mrs King. |
Ray: “The current team put on a great display. I enjoyed the way they
built from the back and played through the thirds of the pitch with everybody
looking comfortable in possession. On the day it was a mismatch and the team
scored some great goals both collective and individual. Darren (the Cofi Messi)
stood out on the day and his strike was pure quality. I would have been happy
to play with him in our FA Cup team but as a team they look strong and
organised and Iwan should be proud of the legacy that he is building.”
My heartfelt thanks to Ray for taking the time to do this, and for being so honest with his answers. A class act on and off the pitch!
No comments:
Post a Comment