So the curtain comes down on another season at Richmond Park and it looks very much that we will end up in ninth place just short of automatic qualification for next season’s FAW Premier Cup. Well done Tomi Morgan for guiding us up from a 15th position when he joined us last December and, of course, for helping us to create history in reaching this year’s Welsh Cup Final.

A warm welcome this afternoon to our friends from Central Wales. Newtown are a club which I admire particularly. With a little more consistency, they may well have qualified for next season’s Intertoto Cup, but congratulations to the Robins for their excellent showing in this year’s FAW Premier Cup, especially their superb televised performance against Wrexham.

The Intertoto Cup competition has always been the poor relation of the European Tournaments but its recent restructuring has given it a new dimension and a welcome boost. Previously staged on a group basis, where some matches in later stages were rendered purely academic, the introduction of two legged play-offs in all rounds has kindled considerable interest, illustrated by the fact that all UEFA National Associations have entered next year’s competition, except for Scotland and the Ukraine. So this competition will be indeed another incentive for our LoW clubs next season.

I was disappointed to hear this week that our only path to UEFA Cup qualification next season is by winning the Welsh Cup even though our opponents in the final, Inter Cable-Tel, have already qualified by achieving second place in the LoW. With the amalgamation of the Cup Winners Cup and the UEFA Cup, the rules regarding qualification have been amended for next season. Still, it is now up to the boys to win the final so that we can not only qualify for Europe but also the Premier Cup.

Our ninth position in the LoW is our highest since joining in 1996-97. Nevertheless, our performances have been rather patchy, notwithstanding the Welsh Cup, although they improved as the season wore on. We started last August on a low note when we lost at Cwmbran only for the team to send our pulses racing with a 2-1 win against Cable-Tel at the Cardiff Athletic Stadium (Is this a good omen?). The in-and-out form continued with a heavy home defeat against Aberystwyth, a win at Conwy and a crushing home win against Connah’s Quay. Then the trouble started in October with two 1-0 defeats at the hands of Rhayader and Caersws which were to prove costly in the long term in relation to FAW Premier Cup qualification, and after draws at Holywell (a fair result) and Newtown we suffered a horrendous defeat at the hands of Rhyl at home - a game we should have won. I think that the defeat precipitated John Mahoney’s resignation. After our success against Barry in Tomi’s first game, we suffered only one defeat in the next 10 games which brought our ship on an even keel. Incidentally, the defeat was against Cable-Tel and we were indeed unlucky to lose through a last minute goal. I think we showed some inconsistency in March and April but there were mitigating circumstances, with our Welsh Cup involvement. A little more luck or perhaps a little more application with fewer errors against Caersws, Rhayader and Rhyl might well have gained us qualifications for the Premier Cup.

Thank you for your excellent support this season. See you again hopefully next season but in the meantime there is that small matter of a Welsh Cup Final to contend with! Enjoy today’s game!

AT PRECISELY 4.29PM last Saturday after a seemingly interminable period of injury time at Newtown, the referee blew his whistle for the final time and our Chairman who happened to be standing next to me at that magical moment embraced me in sheer joy. This gesture summed up the feelings of all of us connected with the Club whether at player, management, supporter, or committee level. I know that the media profile of the Club has been extremely high since last Saturday but I hope you will forgive me if I again refer to that special day! A major contribution to our stunning success was the marvellous support the lads had at Newtown and it was a joy to behold to see the predominance of the colourful yellow scarves in various parts of the ground and this support no doubt lifted and inspired our players. Tudor Rees, a great servant of the Club, told me he had spoken to a Conwy player after the game who had expressed the view that our players showed that they wanted to win and no doubt the support we had was a telling factor in this respect.

When the dust had settled after the game, I thought of how much the Club has come forward in the last six years since the establishment of the ‘new’ regime, who virtually turned the Club around when it was ailing with even its Welsh League future in doubt. I then expressed this view to our Chairman, thanking him for guiding a fine administrative and hard working team so professionally, with his vision and ability to persuade sponsors that any investment made in this Club will be mutually worthwhile. And, true to form , Jeff Thomas’ response was typical of the respect he has for people. He said that the progress that the Club was making would not have been possible but for the dedication and hard work of people within the Club in the past. Knowing those who had guided the Club’s fortunes in the past in days when, despite the constant successes of our junior teams, the senior teams and especially the first team were only moderately successful, the occasional promotion from the 3rd Division of the Welsh League to the 2nd Division being the only source of rejoicing, Jeff’s tribute did very much bring a lump to my throat. It would be invidious of me to name names, but nearly all the former Committee are still connected with the Club in one way or another and I think the motivating factor in those days was that there were always good players with considerable dedication turning out for the Club.

Well, we’ve had numerous messages of congratulations from clubs (especially in the Welsh League) for reaching the final, and from some FAW members. It is also worth mentioning that Ken Tucker, Secretary of the CC Sports Welsh League, offered his congratulations on behalf of his management committee and was particularly pleased to see our success, especially as we are former member of his League. Web-site specialist Vince James in fact received a congratulatory E-Mail from as far off as Norway! British Lion Gordon Brown also sent his good wishes via our Chairman who also received, believe it or not, a letter from the famous Rangers of Scotland - these were something special, weren’t they?!

Don’t forget to read our Programme Editor’s interview with Mike Vickers, one of our Tote organisers. Well Mike joined the Committee in February 1998 and has done wonders in increasing our Tote sales. This was one of our better signings and it was a free transfer at that!

And now that I am down a bit from cloud nine, a warm welcome to our friends from Pembrokeshire. Both clubs have always got on well with each other, despite our rivalry. Let us hope this continues! Enjoy today’s game and see you next Wednesday!

Back to Secretary's Notes

AS I BID YOU ALL A GOOD EVENING, as well as offering a warm welcome to our friends from the South Wales Coast, I’m sure that I need not remind you that we are now at D-day minus 4! But , of course, Saturday’s match at Newtown need not overshadow the importance of tonight’s League encounter with the Lido. For the tally of 13 points from a possible 18 in our last six games has indeed given us a more than realistic chance of qualifying for next season’s Premier Cup. There is no doubt, however, that three points in the bag tonight are expected to ensure this ambition remains realistic.

Some belated excitement has indeed encompassed us as the season draws to a close. The success of the Welsh Rugby team in its last three games has generated tremendous interest in rugby circles. No doubt the adage that success breeds success has been the case there. If we can but achieve either a Welsh Cup win or a top eight LoW placing, it could really kick start a new era in the fortunes of our Club.

And talking about rugby, as you are aware, the traditions of the game are very strong in the town of Carmarthen, just as strong, I suppose, as those in say Llanelli and Pontypridd. There is no doubt that the two clubs in our Ancient Borough have helped to perpetuate these traditions this season with a magnificent Welsh National League campaign. The Quins and the Athletic have both been firmly ensconced at the top of the Division 3 (West) Table, well clear of their nearest third placed rivals. The battle for the top spot with subsequent promotion to Division 2 has captured our imagination and it looks now after an intense struggle that the Quins may take the title. Our relationship with the two rugby clubs has always been excellent and only recently the Athletic Club helped us out at the last minute by letting us use their dressing rooms free of charge for a Mond Cup match at Penllwyn Park. So congratulations to both clubs on a successful season.

Now I’m advertising for BT, despite the fact that one or two of my hardworking colleagues within the Club are employed by that reputable company. I want to refer to the ‘Friends and Family’ facility that they have, whereby a selected number of telephone numbers which we use frequently are given some sort of discount. Well, on my list of friend and family numbers is the Offices of the FAW in Cardiff. As you can imagine I’ve been phoning the FAW Offices frequently over far more years than I can remember, but the other day, for the first time ever, I was greeted by the receptionist with the words ‘Bore Da, Swyddfeydd Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru’. In all the years of phoning the FAW it was indeed the first bilingual greeting I had ever heard in the ‘Corridors of Power’. How refreshing it was and well done the FAW. All the best to the newly-appointed Welsh speaking receptionist Louise Edwards.

It is nice to see former Merthyr manager Colin Addison doing so well at Scarborough despite last Saturday’s defeat. When he embarked on the job, the team were in deep relegation trouble and now seem to be climbing out of it. As a matter of interest I attended the Welsh Sports Personality of the Year broadcast some time ago in Cardiff where I sat next to Colin Addison whom I had never met before. A charming person, he spoke enthusiastically about his spell at Merthyr and how he so narrowly missed promotion last season. He spoke highly of our David Barnhouse who was with Merthyr last year and highlighted his tremendous attitude and his dedication to training. He also rated highly our manager whom he knows quite well.

Enjoy tonight’s game!

SO HERE WE ARE AGAIN in the last month of another season and despite the loss of two points at the Lido last Monday we can still retain our ambition of attaining a top seven (or eight if the Welsh Cup winners are in the top seven) place in the LoW table. We gained three points at Rhyl last Saturday, but only just, and the last two games against these teams in the lower reaches of the LoW table have proved to be just as hard as the games we have had against teams in the top half. This proves to me that the League has improved substantially.

The standard of play in our match against Barry last week emphasises my point. Our lads put up a fighting display right to the end at Jenner Park despite the 6-2 thrashing. It has to be said that the performance by the Barry side was a joy to behold and was as good as any I have seen in some Nationwide League games this season. The fact that English League clubs are trawling the LoW for players and the impact that players such as our own Mark Delaney, Marc Lloyd Williams and Eifion Williams have made immediately on their elevation to the Nationwide League underlines this view. I don’t think that the Barry side is able to motivate itself every week to consistently perform well but I can tell you that for our game they were up for it! Winning the match would bring them the Championship - the champagne was on ice together with League and FAW officials at the ready to present the trophy! Barry have indeed displayed the improving standards in the LoW with victories in the Premier Cup against Swansea, Wrexham and Merthyr, even if the Swans, in particular, did not field their full League side in the Competition. Let us hope, therefore, that with these improving standards the LoW that a major sponsor can be persuaded to throw their lot in with our League.

And now I’m going to let you into some secrets of managerial pre-match team talks. As Secretary it is one of my duties to hand the completed team sheet of names together with corresponding shirt numbers to the match referee 30 minutes prior to kick-off. I usually speak to the manager about his selected side about 10 minutes earlier. At Rhyl last Saturday I knocked on the dressing room door a little earlier than usual and, in fact, just about the time Tomi was about to give his pre-match team talk. Rather than sending me scuttling away, he invited me into the dressing room to hear the talk. It’s the first time I’ve overheard a ‘Tomi Morgan delivery’ and I can tell you it was quite uplifting. At the end of his ‘spiel’ I felt like donning the kit myself and having a right go at Rhyl!

You will know, of course, that the Rhyl match followed immediately from the Barry debacle and Tomi explained how important it was to bring success to the Club. He spoke of the Club’s ambitions and what they owed to its many supporters and industrious Committee and how loyalty was important. He ran over the faults evident in the previous game but I can tell you that there was no hint of confrontation or bullying in the talk. He lead the players forward by persuasion. The confidence the players have gained in the manager since his appointment is evident.

Hope we’ll see you at Latham Park next Saturday and let’s hope that by 4.45pm it will indeed by Latham’s Park!!