Local derbies, Paul Daniels and Mariah Carey

I don’t know about you but December, for me, always feels as if we’ve been transported back to  the eighties or nineties. Everyone is full of joie de vivre, people act like school children in their works Christmas parties, Shakin’ Stevens, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Wham make their annual re-appearances in the official singles charts and Mariah Carey can’t stop singing about how all she wants for Christmas is youuuuuuuuuuuuuu……

And football supporters are usually expected to make big sacrifices to watch their team play over the festive season. Thankfully, Gwyn Derfel is usually quite understanding and will try and ensure teams play their nearest opponents twice over the period, which for Caernarfon Town these days means Bala. I’ll never call our matches against the Lakesiders a local derby for the simple reason that it’s not but please don’t take my word for it; a quick glance at the definition of the term ‘local derby’ in the Cambridge dictionary should be ample proof to convince any doubters: 'a sports competition, especially a game of football, between two teams from the same city or area’. Certainly no boxes ticked there and when you add that the teams speak totally different languages on the field then it’s a no brainer isn’t it? And if, for some reason, you’re not familiar with the sides then I can confidently proclaim that the only Welsh you’ll hear in these matches is from Caernarfon players.

As we now know, all fixtures over the festive season have been postponed to a later date and this is a matter I’ll get back to later on.       

So, having complimented the powers that be at the head table of the Cymru Premier League for their common sense, I’ll now raise one or two matters that have confused me in recent weeks. The first was the rumour on social media that the FAW wants to reduce the Cymru Premier League to ten teams and make it a professional competition. Interesting stuff and, in my opinion, impossible. Many people have been saying for a number of years that the league needs to be increased, not reduced, the main reason being the monotony of playing sides four times a season and, in some cases, more. Talking as a supporter I would much rather see us play Colwyn Bay, Llandudno and Rhyl twice a year than the likes of Connahs Quay Nomads and Haverfordwest four times.

I know that some people see things differently, and I’ll be as honest as I can here without pointing fingers, but I have a suspicion that a few of the other clubs in the league would disagree with me, as they’ll see less clubs in the top flight giving them an opportunity for a bigger slice of the financial pie that is currently on offer. After all, these same clubs obviously don't rely on their match day income if their attendances are anything to go by.  

My belief is that seeing more ‘locally based’ teams visit our ground once a season would increase interest and gates, and therefore raise the league’s profile, and advertising opportunities? That’s my theory anyway but, as we have all come to realise over the years, whilst clubs are always asked for opinions on such matters the decisions will always be out of the layman’s hands.

As for the notion of making the league professional, I can’t see it getting out of the starting blocks. When you consider that the only club to go fully professional in recent years in the top tier has been TNS, a unit backed by a millionaire businessman who qualify for European competition every season (and reap the lucrative rewards for doing so), who in their right minds could think that other clubs can afford to employ staff, and players on a full-time basis? Or has the definition of professional changed? I can only imagine what the cost of having thirty or even more full-time staff would be for a club but I’m pretty sure that 99.9% of clubs playing in the Welsh set up couldn’t afford it. Caernarfon Town is lucky to have the highest home attendances average every season in the top tier and there is no way that we could afford it, never mind most of the other clubs in the CPL, who are lucky to hit three figures for most of their matches.   

I’m sure there will be plenty of discussions, debates and rumours in the coming months as to the future of the Welsh game and my one hope is that the FAW’s new Chief Executive, Noel Mooney, shows more interest from the top tier to grassroots, than his predecessor. Some believed that Jonathan Ford concentrated more on the national side than the clubs that are the beating hearts of their community and the country and, from what I know, and have seen, I would agree with that summation.

On the field, it’s been a pretty frustrating time of late for the Cofis. We had just defeated Haverfordwest away when I wrote the last blog and we’ve played three matches since then, all of which we could, and probably should, have won in my opinion. I’m as biased as the next supporter but doubt that spectators who saw our defeat to Penybont and draw with Aberystwyth, both at the Oval, would disagree that Caernarfon were the best side in both matches. Possession and goalscoring opportunities wise, we always had the upper hand over our opponents but a combination of profligacy in front of goal and individual mistakes at the back meant that we gained just one point out of six. The aim at the start of each season is a top six berth at the end of the first phase and we’re still in with a shout, but those two results have made it much more difficult for us this time around and it will take a good run of form, and results, to get us to where we want to be.

From where I watched both matches, the players gave their all for the cause and whilst things did not pan out the way we wanted them to in both fixtures, no one was more disappointed and frustrated  with the results than Huw and his staff and squad. I’m lucky enough to be able to see our manager immediately after every match and I know that he was hurting as much as I was, and that’s something I respect as a supporter. I think frustration has been a familiar feeling amongst us all this season because, when we play as we can, I think we can beat every team in the league. We certainly have the players for it, and I think it’s worth mentioning that the radical change in our style of play this season, where we play from the back, will sometimes see us giving the ball away in compromising situations, which has definitely happened over the last four months and cost us a few points. However, when we get it right, the team looks classy and exciting and I’m hoping we persevere with this style.

Thankfully, we got back to winning ways in our last match, a 4-3 victory over title chasing Flint at Cae y Castell. First of all, I’ll own up and say that I was not there so the reports I have had of the match are by club President John Watkins and members of the Board. A particularly difficult session on the dialysis unit the day before the match meant that I was not up to going and I’m obviously that I wasn’t there! Any win at Flint is a great result but this one felt especially so, as they have been in excellent form all season and are challenging for Europe. When they defeated us at the Oval a few weeks ago, some of their board members and supporters gave Rob Hughes a hard time and I’m more than pleased that he scored on the night! Aaron Simpson’s red card seemed extremely harsh and, as I’ve already

mentioned in a recent blog, after a promising start to the season the CPL’s match officials have reverted to their usual tricks of late and started brandishing more cards than Paul Daniels during his seventies heyday! Oddly enough, the match referee decided not to take action against a player who could have broken Dion Donohue’s leg very early in the match? This inconsistency might be something that Mr Mooney can look into, if he really is serious about improving the league?

This week, Sgorio announced their team of the season so far, and it was great to see Rob Hughes included. Everyone who has seen Rob this term will know that he's a real talent and when he's on his game there can't be many better players than him in the league. A real nuisance when he plays for the other team but brilliant when he plays for your own side and I'm sure there's more to come from him! I was very surprised that Dion Donohue didn't make the cut as he's been fantastic for us so far and I'm not sure that the two they've picked as centre halves have played better but it's all subjective isn't it. And I won't ever question why Darren Thomas is not in the line up as he always seems to get overlooked when such lists are made.    

And finally, a word about the FAW’s decision to postpone the league over the Christmas period. On the evening of our match at Flint, all CPL clubs met online with members of the FAW and discussed the possibility of rescheduling our festive fixtures. Having spoken with our board members, we agreed that it would be preferable to reschedule the matches than playing them behind closed doors, or in front of fifty spectators. Seven other top tier clubs were of the same opinion and, at an FAW meeting the following day, the decision was taken to take a two week break from all action.

In my opinion, it was the correct decision and will hopefully ensure that when the matches are played, supporters will be able to attend. The overriding factor, as far as our club was concerned, is that we don’t want to play any more matches without the Cofi Army. We had enough of it last season and it’s not fair on anyone, the supporters, the players and the clubs. And let’s not be naïve and think that financial consideration were not discussed – our home festive match is worth twice as much in takings as most of our other individual fixtures at the Oval, and whilst the rescheduled date will not be as good, at least everyone will get some money in. With Mr Drakeford’s ceiling of fifty attending presently, this would not be enough to cover our season ticket holders.

So, it remains to be seen when attendance restrictions will be lifted and it goes without saying that we all hope it’s as soon as possible. Until then, I’d like to wish everyone who is of a Caernarfon Town persuasion and who has popped into the blog over the past few weeks a very happy, and healthy New Year!  

Paul. 

#UnClwb 

Two out of three, dialysis and white boots

 

It’s now been near enough three weeks since my lost blog and, in all honesty, not a lot has happened at Caernarfon Town Football Club. The first team has played three matches in that time, with a two thirds success rate.

The victory at Cardiff Met was much needed and, from what I have gathered from my trusted sources, John Watkins and Huw Griffiths, hard fought for! Met have been a very decent outfit for a number of years although I think my initial understanding of who could play for them (just current students at the university itself) must have been way off the mark because Eliot Evans has been there so long he must be nearing his fifties! A slight exaggeration maybe, as he’s only twenty nine, but I know there is some kind of criteria that needs to be met in order to play for them. Anyway, whatever it is, Christian Edwards has worked wonders there for the last four years and a victory down at Cyncoed Campus is always a good result. And much needed given our previous run of defeats.

Next up was a home fixture against Connahs Quay Nomads and I thought the 0-1 defeat was harsh on the Cofis. We played well in patches and it was quite obvious that Huw and Fish had set the team out to stay compact and look to hit the visitors on the break. The ploy very nearly worked on three occasions in the first half, with Nomads keeper Oliver Byrne pulling off fine saves to deny Rob Hughes twice and Mikes Hayes. Unfortunately, a superb strike from Neil Eardley was enough to see the reigning champions pick up three points.

I have to be honest here and say that I quite enjoyed the way Nomads played, and that’s a sentence I’m very surprised to be using. Their style is very different to what we have seen from them in past years and the reason for this must be the change in management, with Craig Harrison obviously more of a convert to the beautiful game than his predecessor, Andy Morrison. From the off, they looked to move the ball around the pitch, and it was a far cry from the long ball unit who used to create problems, and bore the pants off, opposing teams, and supporters, for so many years. Having said this, one trait that they’ve definitely kept is their screaming for free kicks whenever someone gets within two feet! They are, without doubt, the worst at doing this, and it grates when you have to play them four times a year. Something I didn’t miss was the constant shouting and hollering on the touchline from the previous manager, although it was quite odd not to see, and hear, him there as the usual pantomime villain. In all seriousness, Morrison did a brilliant job at the Deeside Stadium but, judging by some of the Welsh media’s behaviour, you’d think the bottom had fallen out of football and they’ll be mourning his departure from the Welsh game until the end of time!

One final comment on the Nomads match is about the referee, who I thought had a good game, until his final meaningful act of the evening. We were deep in injury time when he showed Rob Hughes a second yellow card, and red card, for what I can only call a ‘ghost foul’. I was directly to the side of Rob’s attempted tackle for the ball when it happened and know that he did not get near enough the opposing player to even touch him, never mind bring him down. Of course the Nomads player made a meal of it and you’d like to think the man in the middle knew he’d made a mistake but when have we ever been privy to that information even when it happens? Unfortunately, we seem to have three players who draw the attention of match officials more than most. Rob, Noah Edwards and Darren Thomas, all frequently receive yellow cards, and I’d say that in some cases, they’re unjustified. The best example I can give is the absurd red shown to Darren in the Welsh Cup tie at Penybont that I mentioned in the last blog, and I know there are plenty of examples of these three players being on the end of baffling decisions. Obviously I have my blinkers on when Caernarfon play but generally speaking I can see why most cards are shown, and I’m also convinced that some players are subjected to harsher standards than others.

Our latest match was another away victory, this time against Haverfordwest County at the Bridge Meadow Stadium. Again, due to my present health issues, I was unable to travel so far in one day and so I relied on details from Mr Watkins to work on my match report. John told me that the team played well and deserved the victory and that’s good enough for me. I saw a few comments on twitter about the small squad that travelled to Pembrokeshire and whilst it was not ideal, these things do happen sometimes. We have a smaller squad than most clubs and so when six of the players are unavailable due to a multitude of reasons, it has a big impact on match day. It was unfortunate that we had just two substitutes available, but, on the other hand, I think the victory was even more impressive when considering that we had so many players out. It was also good to hear that Steve Evans had an excellent match. Due to his age, some raised an eyebrow when we signed him but Steve has showed that, when fully fit, he can still do the business at this level, and Ii'm pleased that his recent injury niggles seem to have passed. 

Some people have asked if it’s wise for me to continue as chairman when I’ve just gone back on dialysis during the summer. My answer is always the same, in that my health issues do not really affect my duties with the club. Apart from being unable to make the longest journeys to South Wales (unless we’re hiring a bus of course), nothing has changed. I attend three four hour dialysis sessions weekly, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, and I’m usually at the hospital in Alltwen, Porthmadog, from seven until about quarter to twelve.

People can still reach me during this time and, in fact, with little to do for the four hours I’m ‘wired up’ to the machine, I have plenty of time to think about the club and plan things out. Being on dialysis is a challenge, and it’s not what I wanted to go through again, but making the most of the time I’m on it means that the club gets a lot more attention from me than before. It sounds odd but that’s the genuine truth and if I ever think that my health is getting an adverse affect on the club, I'd like to think I'm big and ugly enough to make the right decision. As things stand, however, with the support of my family and an excellent board of directors, I think things are going well. 

Like every other supporter, one subject that I often think about is getting the club into Europe. It’s something we all want and we’re all working towards but, of course, we’re competing with clubs who are spending silly money in the hope of qualifying for an overseas trip. I’d even go as far as saying that, from what I’ve heard, there are a few clubs who are paying silly money just to stay in the Cymru Premier League. You get that sense every summer when we try and sign new players and the figures we’re being quoted for wages are sometimes quite unbelievable. We were less than twenty minutes away from qualifying for Europe last season and I’m convinced we’ll get there eventually but we’ll never be a club that gambles everything on reaching the Holy Grail – what would be the point of a £200k windfall for qualifying when most, if not all of it, would go towards clearing debts worked up in trying to get there in the first place? Makes no sense at all does it? Just imagine what a boost it will be for us when we do make it, and have done so with no debt!!

Before finishing, I just have to mention two former Caernarfon Town favourites, who have been doing well at their new clubs this season. The first is our former captain, Gaz Edwards, who is experiencing a fine time at Airbus, at the top of the Cymru North League and looking favourites for promotion back to the top tier. Frankly, I’m a bit worried about him, as I’ve recently seen a photo of the big man in action and wearing white boots! The last thing I expected from Gaz was seeing him wear a pair of boots that match his teeth and I’m not sure if he did it for a bet or he’s reached a middle age crisis. Anyway, I think he's down for the Penybont match so if anyone sees him there, could you possibly tell Gaz that big centre halves don’t wear white boots!     

The second former Cofi who has been in my thoughts was Joe Williams, who was part of the Colwyn Bay side that beat our rivals up the road on Saturday and gave the home supporters an excellent comeback after receiving some stick from them. I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to what he allegedly said to them, but suffice to say, Joe hasn’t forgotten his impressive history with Caernarfon Town Football Club! 

So, there we have it, a second blog in three weeks and whilst hardly prolific, I suppose it’s better than nothing! Thank you to those who provided positive feedback last time out, it was appreciated. I’ll try and get another one done before Christmas if this one goes down well.

See you at the Oval on December 4^th!

#UnClwb

The maverick, rebuilding and high level finger pointing

A few memories popped up on my facebook timeline over the past two weeks which got me thinking about the blog. It was around this time seven years that my Oval Ways and Treble Days book was published which was, of course, the precursor to this blog.

As I suspect is often the case with these things, I began writing the blog with a real passion and fervour to share my thoughts on all things Caernarfon Town Football Club and, for a number of years, I managed to generate a regular output. However, as my role at the Oval and the responsibilities that come with it increased, there has been an inevitable effect on my time and sharing my thoughts on the club and Welsh football has been confined to Twitter.

If there is a problem with Twitter, it’s that we all find it impossible not to tweet something when we’re feeling emotional after a match and so I, like everyone else, have managed to ruffle people’s feathers on a regular basis. In some cases I’ve regretted doing so……but not often!

There’s another obvious problem with Twitter. I’m convinced that there are people out there who do nothing but trawl around it all day, waiting to pounce on anything and everything, just to feel good and important. Keyboard warrior is a great noun for these people although, looking at the meaning of  the word ‘warrior’ in the dictionary ('a brave or experienced soldier or fighter') it’s certainly not an accurate reflection of them.

And so today, as it lashes down outside and my better half has told me she’d rather do the housework than go out for a drive in the car, I find myself with a spare hour or two.

Is it time for a blog? Time for an honest opinion as a supporter? Should I really be writing a blog as chairman of a Cymru Premier League club?

Why not?

The 2021/22 season is already three months old and things have been going reasonably well on the pitch, although we’ve definitely hit a poor run of form, and results of late.

Huw was left with a second rebuilding job this past summer after a number of players decided their futures lay away from the Oval. It happens most years at most clubs but, having had a settled side for a number of terms before the Summer of 2020 and having already experienced an overhaul in time for the start of last season, it was a challenge for the manager to repeat the feat again this time around.

To be honest I sense that Huw seems to love the challenge and I’ve seen first hand how extensive his  base of contacts is, not just in the Welsh game but over the border too. I knew this from last summer of course but to be able to sign a goalkeeper from Liverpool Football Club on loan for the season is some coup for us and getting players of the calibre of Steve Evans, Josh Bailey, Dion Donohue, Danny Gosset and Rob Hughes shows that we’re continuing to head in the right direction.

Jakub Ojrzynski has been outstanding in goal for us. He may be inexperienced in senior football but you’d never think it after his performances so far. Having just signed a five year contract with the Reds, Jakub is obviously highly rated at Anfield and so to get someone of his calibre into our club is special. Although he may miss a handful of matches due to being with Poland’s under 19 squad, he more than makes up for it with what he will provide for the majority of the season. He is also a really nice guy and it’s great to see him with the young kids after matches, who all want a photo with a Liverpool FC player. And, having seen his initiation song on the bus home from Penybont, I can also say that he’s as down to earth as you can get!    

Dion needed no introduction to Caernarfon Town supporters as he’s been with us before and has always been well-liked by the Cofi Army. Playing for us as a teenager under the management of Lee Dixon, I don’t think there was any doubt that Dion had what was needed to make it in the professional game and he’s been a regular to the Oval as a supporter in the intervening years. He always said he’d love to play for us again and so whilst we didn’t expect it to happen so soon, everyone is delighted that it has and that he now wears the armband as out captain. A really nice person and one of the best players in the Cymru Premier League today.  

Danny was another we all knew about at Caernarfon as he played briefly for our reserves a few years ago. I’ve known him since he was a young boy and was gutted that he broke through into senior football for our rivals at Farrar Road and then went on to Bala. He excelled at both clubs and was chosen for the Wales ‘C’ side, so is obviously another top player in our game.  We’ve been hoping to sign Danny for a number of seasons and were all excited that he finally joined us. He’s been injured of late but the start he made before being out of action was proof enough that we have a quality midfielder in our ranks.

The third ‘impact’ signing we made is Rob Hughes. Having failed to get him in 2020 I knew we’d be in for him again this year and I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t know too much about him, although had heard he was a bit of a maverick. Huw told me that he was a big talent and would be good for us and he was spot on! Rob has been excellent so far and there’s little doubt that his performances even this early in the season have made him a favourite with the supporters. Ball players who unlock defences and scores goals are hard to find and thankfully we have one in Rob, who can link up with our other magician, Darren Thomas.

The problem we have had in the last month or so is that injuries and suspensions have hit us hard. Dion, Daniel, Steve Evans, Sion Bradley and Mike Hayes have had injury problems whilst Noah Edwards and Rob have been suspended, and it seems that Huw has very rarely been able to pick from a full squad. The latter two were ruled out of our home defeat to Barry Town through suspension and so, if everything goes well during the week, we may have a full squad to travel to Cardiff Met next Saturday.

One thing I am pretty sure about is that once everyone is fit, we’ll be a match for every other team in the league. The New Saints were fortunate to beat us early in the season and they’re the team we have to target as far as our ambition as a club is in the question. I’m sure we’ll get there one day but, considering our resources, it will not happen overnight. Some supporters will expect us to win every match, and as a supporter that's what I always hope for too but, based on our small squad this season, we need to keep everyone fit to compete week in, week out.    

Part of our future plans will rely on the progress of our youngsters through the Academy and, from what I have seen and heard this season, things are looking promising on that front. I’ll be honest and say that I have never really watched any of our Academy sides regularly because the first team takes the majority of my spare time.

This season, however, I have made an effort to watch the Under 19’s at the Oval and have to say that they are impressive. Our Head of Academy, Dave Cavanagh, has been telling me about this crop of players for two or three years and what has been really encouraging is that the majority of the squad,  which plays in the Welsh Premier Development League, are just sixteen and seventeen years old. So far this season they remain undefeated in the league and reached the quarter finals of the Welsh Youth club before losing out to TNS. Striker Gwion Dafydd has already made an impression in our first team and it seems that there are a fair few in the squad who may one day progress into the senior side.

A huge advantage to the squad is that they are coached by the first team’s assistant manager, Richard Davies. ‘Fish’ (photo, right) as he is more commonly known, joined us five years ago when Iwan Williams brought him into the set-up and has become a very respected coach, so the boys are getting top class coaching in addition to having the opportunity to impress an integral part of our senior management team. I’m convinced it won’t be too long until we start seeing a few of the side lining up for us in the Cymru Premier League.              

Unfortunately, and certainly not surprisingly, we’re still seeing the same tired problems cropping up with match officials. Just to make it clear, I think it takes a lot of commitment and not a little thick skin to officiate football matches at any level, and I take my hat off to those who do so. It’s easy to have a go at them, and some see it as part of the game to do so, but I know that I would never be up for doing their job.

We all make mistakes in our places of work and, rightly so, we get called up for it. However, we see some pretty contentious decisions being made on a regular basis in the Welsh game and yet the same officials pop up at matches every week. I can mention two or three fixtures this season that have been victims to extremely poor decisions, with our Welsh Cup fixture at Penybont being a prime example. I’m referring to the sending off of Darren Thomas and Lewis Harding midway through the first half for what is usually described as a bit of ‘handbags’. It really was nothing more than a bit of push and shove between the players and yet they were both shown straight reds, much to the confusion of everyone else at the ground. The incident seemed extremely innocuous at the time and even more so on the Sgorio highlights package later on. There was simply no need for early baths.  

I’m sure I sensed a change in the way matches were being officiated at the start of the season, with more tackles being given the green light by referees but there has been a gradual return to the usual ‘whistle for a free kick every time there’s a tackle’ policy of late, which negatively affects matches.      

Thankfully, long gone are the days when I used to stand on the Kop at Anfield as a teenager and join in with the chorus of “Who’s the B****** in the black” but I’m afraid that when this type of officiating occurs, it will leave people extremely frustrated both on and off the pitch. It’s a shame for the officials to be subjected to some stick from the terraces but a change in attitude and an injection of common sense would probably help them. It will be interesting to see how things pan out for the remainder of the season and my hope is that we see a return to the attitude where players were allowed to challenge for the ball and the action allowed to flow. But I wouldn’t bet on it.        

One thing I do know is that, by even sharing my views on match officials, I am opening myself to some high level finger pointing. It seems that we can never question anything in the Welsh game without someone, somewhere, taking umbrage and deciding we may have to justify ourselves. A case in point being when I spoke with Welsh news website Golwg 360 on the eve of the season.

When I agreed to an interview with the company’s reporter I did so on the understanding that it would be about our hopes as a club for the new campaign. In amongst all the questions and answers I mentioned that I would have preferred if our opening match, at home against Cardiff Met, had not been picked as the weekend’s live match on Sgorio. My sole reason for this is that I knew it would have a negative impact on our gate and so would cost us money. I was surprised, and rather disappointed that the editor at 360 latched onto this and made it the headline of the piece!

He agreed to change it after I protested that it was not an accurate reflection of the piece but the damage had been done and plenty of people had already read the article. More importantly, people at Sgorio had seen it, which I felt bad about. I know and appreciate how important Sgorio is to the Welsh game and I respect what they do for all the clubs. Without the coverage they provide our supporters would not get to see highlights of all our matches and would lose out on such a vital part of following the team.  Not every supporter can travel to matches, be it at the Oval or away and so their live matches and highlights are essential to keep them involved.

This was one instance where I felt I needed to make an apology, and this is what I did to the Sgorio team on match day. Unfortunately, I was also made aware that the story had reached a high level at S4C, including Sue Butler, their Sports Commissioner, and so I contacted her to explain what I had meant in the interview. Thankfully, she was as understanding as I could have hoped for and we recently had a an enjoyable meeting at the Oval to discuss the matter. Sue is certainly someone who wants the best for Welsh football and I think it says a lot about her that she was happy to listen to my side of the story. I’m not sure that it will ever happen with match officials but if we continue to let poor decisions have negative impacts on matches without at least highlighting them then we have no chance have we?

If any of you are still reading at this stage then I thank you for hanging in there, and hope you’ve enjoyed a few minutes of my thoughts on Caernarfon Town related matters. There’s more from where this came from and so, if you think it’s worth me writing another one soon, please share and let me know!

Un Clwb.