Dial M for Merthyr

Fred Keenor - The man who never gave up James Leighton The Fred Keenor statue campaign is quite rightly high on the agenda at Cardiff City at the moment, the fundraising for an iconic landmark to celebrate one of the city’s favourite sons has started - the latest boost a release of a CD of the song “I’ll be there” by The Stand which no doubt you will all have bought via one avenue or another. An opportune moment then to release a biography on Keenor but can James Leighton do the story justice? The majority of Cardiff City fans will know the story of the Cup Finals of 1925 and of course 1927, coupled with the loss of the League Title on goal average but what about the man who led the Bluebirds though those amazing times? Will the publication Fred Keenor - the Man Who Never Gave up” provide the content to provide an insight into the man who lifted the FA Cup on 23rd April 1927 at Wembley Stadium? It’s a difficult task in itself as the story of that era has been debated over the decades b...

Dial M For Merthyr is sad to announce that the infamous MERTHYR TYDFIL GODS COUNTRY flag was lost prior to the Montenegro v Wales in Podgorica on 3rd September. A substantial reward of no particular value is offered for information leading to the recovery of the Merthyr Town FC heirloom. Please help reunite this artefact with its guardian Mr. Moppy. All information will be treated in confidence and forgotten very quickly. We thank you for your co-operation in bringing our flag back to it's spiritual home.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A'CHANGING or HOW CAN A POOR MAN STAND SUCH TIMES AND LIVE? The ramblings of former journalist, former civil servant and playboy PHIL HOWELLS, who wishes to remain anonymous. ANOTHER Day In Paradise or Dead And Gone? The former a hit for Phil Collins (did anybody like him?) and the latter an entrant in the US Billboard charts before its official release by someone called TI (I never heard of it or him either). Well, those ditties could sum up Merthyr Tydfil Football Club over the 20 years since Dial M For Merthyr first came into the world, brash and informative, full of forthright opinions and criticisms but never libellous ( I hope). Martyrs fans were always looking to a glorious future although the vision seemed more than just rose-tinted but this year the club could have been Dead and Gone! As it is, we face a long battle to achieve security but there is a definite pulse there. We hope that progress can be made just as Dial M matured over the years and becam...

1989 Dial M for Merthyr Curtain Hair. Flared C17 Jeans Polo by Ralph Lauren after shave (even though we didn't shave ;-) Away in the car (an escort) Being skinny Wales away in Germany (pack your head bag mun!) Swansea in the cup The Weegies down for a game of football The Stone Roses Egg fried rice from Jen Chang, bottom of town Brecon Road wars Armani t-shirt Beanie hats The film Platoon Word of mouth Drinking in the Belle and onto Koolers Spain with the lads ZX Spectrum A tattered copy of Catcher in the Rye Dance music all night long YSL brown chord jacket Being young Adidad Gazelle trainies... 2009 Dial M for Merthyr Greying hair Diesel jeans Mortgages Kasabian Penguin polo tops Waltzing with Bashir The internet Getting chunky Drinking in the Anchor France with the wife Wine bars in Soho A red label Levi coat Mac Book Galette with Langoustine Veloute from the Ivy Glasvegas A pristine copy of The White Tiger Adidas Gazelles...It's good to know some things will never chang...

The FAW Amateur XI that beat Oxford University 3-2 at Penydarren Park on 5th February 1949.

The Welsh Schoolboys team that played at Penydarren Park against England on 19th April 1913 unfortunately we lost 4-0 in the match.

The Big Freeze of 2010? So another day with snow, another day off for the kids, and continued coverage on both radio and television as to the effects of the current arctic conditions for South Wales. It’s certainly affecting the Martyrs, we haven’t played a match since 12 th December and we’re unlikely to do so until 23rd January for the visit of Chippenham , but how has snow and ice affected the club in previous years? I spent a few hours researching the “big freeze” of 1963 and how we coped in days of yore with frozen pitches? I’m sure older readers will have some memories to share too. It seems the cold weather hit the UK and South Wales in particular on the evenings of 28 th -30 th December and the Lilywhites were only just able to complete their 1962 fixtures with a 4-1 defeat at Rugby on the final day of December. A match played on two inches of snow, cleared lines and sanded goalmouths. A match remembered for the great performance by goalkeeper John Clarke who prevented a rou...

It was August 1989 and two Merthyr supporters are carrying a box around Old Road, Briton Ferry during a pre-season friendly in the sunshine (can you remember when we had a pre-season and it was sunny?), the majority of the crowd that day bought a copy of the new fanzine Dial M For Merthyr, probably most of them thought it was the programme (in the early days we were always asked "Is this the programme?", we'd say yes, sell one and then hope they didn't realise until we were safe in Strikers drinking the profits!) but it was the start of the Dial M For Merthyr fanzine. The late 80s had spawned a new generation of publications dedicated to raising the profile of the ordinary supporter on the terraces, the early pioneers being When Saturday Comes, The City Gent (Bradford City), The Pie (Notts County), Orientear (Leyton Orient) and Watch the Bluebirds Fly (Cardiff City), it was a post-Hillsborough landscape with the fight against ID cards being led by the fledgling Fo...