Dial M for Merthyr

One of the many reasons we started this fanzine way back in 1989 was the indisputable fact that buying a Merthyr match programme had over the years been a pointless exercise, a purchase more based on tradition than actual value for money. The production of a match programme seemed to be a chore that the football club endured to meet league rules rather than an avenue for engagement with it’s customer base; it’s fans. The programmes produced in the seventies were notorious for their minimalist content – the match info wasn’t even listed on the cover and with a maximum of eight pages of script available to read it didn’t take long to read the “16 font” words welcoming the away team, confirming the next home Welsh League game and listing a squad of players from Don Payne down but we still bought it which is apparent by the boxes of “Sideburn Bob” covered programmes stored in attics across the borough. By the eighties the programme was slightly better but still contained no opinion p...

1. Ray Pratt’s goal v Chester City 2. Billy Buzz falling over the fence when we scored at home v Bangor in ‘87 3. Clive Ayres’s bandy legs 4. Rosettes being the only merch available  5. Fireworks & porn at Bernard Price’s shop 6. My dad always parking in the same spot behind the Jubilee Club 7. The random and tiny crush barriers on the grass bank 8. Sitting on the concrete bases of the disused floodlights 9. “Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep” on the tannoy 10. Learning pop lyrics from the Record Mirror with Twiggy on away trips 11. Someone putting the clubhouse window through at Molesey (v. Corinthian Casuals) 12. Ruby up a tree at the Theatre End 13. Nicking the Merthyr Tydfil sign off the Oldbury United “next fixture” board 14. The exit behind Strikers still being open 15. Brushy’s “I hate fucking Gloucester City” t-shirt at Horton Road 16. Being chased at Cheltenham by home fan brandishing a motorbike helmet 17. Answering the phone ...