Dial M for Merthyr

OddsNEvens Non League Chat. Fanzine Special ft Dial M for Merthyr - LISTEN HERE. Follow our host on @oddsunevens

No matter what they do in there, it always turns to shit. So the question is, will the Punjabi Junction still be trading in 12 months. Firstly, I’ve not been there and it’s still early days from the business. So it may be really nice and the food could be Michelin star, but nothing lasts in that location for more than a few months. They do the place up, the grand opening, then six months later, the grand closing. R&Ms, The Rooms, Hamiltons, etc have occupied the fine old building. Ahh the list goes on. The only successful business to ever flourish in that building was the Vietnamese guys that got busted growing the largest haul of marijuana in South Wales history. It was no coincidence that we had many a floodlight failure when they were growing the weed there. The smell as you passed there after the match was pretty special too. This got me thinking, maybe the building isn’t just in a crappy spot. No real footfall and no place for customers to park. Maybe the actual building...

We hit a puddle in Strensham services at 50 miles an hour. At that point the water tumbled down every window the minibus. Everyone gasped and grabbed their seat, confident that we were about to crash and meet our maker. Everyone except the driver, Seagrent Bufoonery himself, Nigel H – His squeal of excitement as he nearly killed all 15 of us pierced the air. We’d only been on the bus about 5 hours and still had a good 90 minutes left to get home. Blackpool is a bloody long way and Hulby is a mad driver. We’d set off at 6am the previous morning. I waited at the end of my street and the players bus passed me, excited faces in every window. The Noise bus then passed me and the occupants gave me a variety of the Vicks and Nescafe signals – my life was in tatters. Pingu’s daft face was the next to greet me, he was 20 minutes late, but we had all day. I got on the bus and Hulby passed me a can. Morrison’s finest export at 6.30am was unique. If you have an iron deficiency in your life for...

1.      Walk out music – we’re all still in the bar 2.      Half time presentations – we’re back in the bar 3.      Entry ticket – or should we be keeping them to guarantee that FA Cup 3 rd Round ticket? 4.      The memorial garden – remember your loved ones and inhale the exhaust fumes 5.     Stewards – really?

As the semi-darkness gradually turned into daylight, this would be the last chance to rest those legs that would certainly be really weary by dusk based on the route chosen by MikeD via Google maps for the Club’s annual sponsored walk. There would be a slight de-tour for Wayne, who kindly drove our group of supporters to the start point, as we climbed Heolgerrig Hill to collect his Lordship Mark Evans on the way to the start point. Leaving Tal-Y-Bont village we crossed the Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal before starting a 3 kilometre climb involving 400 metres of ascent to the east of Tal-Y-Bont Reservoir, initially joining the Beacons Way. The vista stretching below us was just another spectacular example of the wonderful countryside that we are extremely fortunate to live so close to. The drought conditions and lack of any precipitation for the previous few months had started to have an affect on the level of water in the reservoir, but it still look majestic in the Gl...

The Welsh Premier League (WPL) article in the last issue lit a very slow fuse but eventually the idea that Merthyr Town fans could debate the future of their club exploded on social media. A debate on where the Martyrs should play seemed too much for many Merthyr fans and a minority of Welsh pyramid enthusiasts never really got to grips with the fact that the FAW has never set out the criteria for any “exile” club to enter the current domestic game. Nothing of note has changed since the last fanzine was ignored on the terraces at Penydarren Park. At the AGM in February (?) there will be a motion presented to the members referring to the benefits of both Welsh and English systems and the sustainability of Merthyr Town as a competitive club in the future. We laid out many of the financial advantages of joining the WPL. We mentioned that MTFC has never gone into exile and won its appeal in 1989 and so should be allowed direct access to the WPL albeit with the required domestic l...