Dial M for Merthyr

The Anglo-Italian competition had been played in different formats between 1970 and 1996 between clubs from England and Italy. It was founded by Gigi Peronace , the Italian super-agent who had sorted the transfer of John Charles from Leeds United to Juventus in 1957.The first final in 1970 was abandoned early due to violence and   Swindon Town declared the winners. The Cup limped on until 1973 when it was dropped through lack of interest. The much-maligned tournament returned as a semi-professional tournament from 1976 before it was abolished again in 1986 but in that final year the usual format was interrupted as a Welsh club was invited to participate (via the Southern League) – Merthyr Tydfil AFC. Our club played a masterstroke before even leaving Wales as the Board acting upon a suggestion by club secretary Ken Tucker invited John Charles to accompany the team on the trip to Italy. Charlo, as Terry affectionately called him through the interview, accepted on the condition ...

It is no exaggeration to say that without the support from Supporters Direct (SD) eight years ago we would not have a football club playing in the English pyramid structure. The organisation had started under Tony Blair’s football task force in 1999 with the prime motive of encouraging fans to gain a stake in their clubs and to make fan-ownership a realistic target for fans too. The Supporters Trust model was born at Northampton Town in 1992 and provided a framework for fans to work within a not-for-profit business model to ensure good governance and transparency in club boardrooms. It was Supporters Direct who contacted us back in 2004 to invite Merthyr Tydfil fans to form a supporters’ trust. Little did we know that this organisation would resurrect the town’s football club in 2010 and become the first fan-owned club in Wales. The late Jacqui Forster was our first SD caseworker and she travelled to Penydarren Park on a dark winter’s night in our first year to encourage us t...

With growing financial problems, dwindling crowds and an alarming lack of interest, is it time for one of the remaining members of the original "irate eight" to cut their losses, admit they were wrong and return "home" with their tail between their legs? At approximately 9.10 pm on February 16th 2000, Andy Morrell slotted home his seventh and Wrexham's eighth goal of the evening to round off a miserable and totally unjustifiably embarrassing night for Merthyr Tydfil Football Club and their dwindling band of supporters. I say evening but could easily have said season. I could have taken a broader view and said the last five years or so. The stark truth is that there is a strong possibility that our team could be playing Western Division football next year. From what I've seen this season we are certainly not too good to go down. There should be no excuses for what happened at the Racecourse Ground. The result was just a culmination of the mis-management and...

It seems that the ever curious football fan has returned to following our national team home and away, you know the one I’m on about, he (and it’s always a he) needs to know where you’re from in Wales and of course more importantly who you support? We’ve covered this issue before in the fanzine. A very long evening in Vienna was endured by about twenty of our fellow Martyrs as our loyalty to our black & white heroes was called into question. You aren’t Cardiff fans? Then you must be Swansea seemed to be the logic of that Austrian adventure. We have a giant Wales flag that appears every now and then at Penydarren Park, it’s too big for most grounds in our league so it very rarely leaves the Pearl too. It’s banner headline is a play on the Socialist Workers’ Party slogan but for us it’s “Neither Cardiff Nor Swansea But International Merthyrism” and it tells a tale for all clubs in Wales in that we have our identity and most certainly culture that sadly a lot of football lea...

For many of us Tuesday, 10 th October 2017 will live long in our memories, but for all the wrong reasons! But as the events on the night started to unfold I could only cast my mind back to Dr. Kuber-Ross’s 5 step model of coping with loss - titled ‘Dealing with the Grim Reaper’ an article published in Issue 53. To be four nil up at half time and to lose five-four you have to ask yourself how on earth did that happen. How did Slough Town achieve the unthinkable? How did they manage to overturn a four-goal deficit and win the match in second half stoppage time? It is a result which left many lost for words, not least the Martyrs supporters. Joint Rebels manager Neil Baker exclaimed “I don't think you'll ever see a game of football like it in your life” . Were we heading in Mikey D’s words ‘on the journey to our inevitable mediocrity’? Unlikely, as we were ‘burning like a supernova’ in the first half! The Martyrs were in front after five minutes through Ian Traylor with ...