Dial M for Merthyr

There is never a dull moment when  you’re  a fan of Merthyr Town FC. No sooner are you responding to the club’s social media messages and buying tickets for Salisbury away then  you’re  trying to work out how you fill the void of no football at  Penydarren  Park in your life.  The Board’s decision to seek a suspension of football activity may be well intentioned and from yesterday’s fan meetings at the ground it has plenty of sympathy within our support however  once again the delivery of the message has destroyed any hope of the fans embracing the requirement for a season of football abstinence.  The lack of consultation with fans on such a major decision has once again annoyed the fanbase. The foundation of our club is that we are fan-owned and that all major decisions should be based on a referendum of those owners.  The matter is compounded by the fact that the Board seemed incapable of providing any representative to be on site at  the ground yesterday to meet fans who were lookin

Its  just another regular Sunday in the Valleys . A bit of Jonny Owen & Friends on  TalkSPORT  to start the day and then a wander down to the Club to try to balance a mountain of  a  Sunday dinner on a china plate.  Then a  quick catch up with the lads to find out if  you’ve  made a dick of yourself the night before. The realisation that  another  Monday is looming  casts a long shadow over  your  day but this is no ordinary Sabbath day and tomorrow promises much more than  just another daily grind to fund  the  weekend. Tomorrow is  of course  a unique day in the calendar of every  Merthyrite . Tomorrow someone in that there London will include Merthyr Town FC in the oldest national Cup competition in the world.  Its  time for our annual, probably all too brief, flirtation with the magic of the FA Cup. There is a certain amount of gallows humour around the Merthyr support when it comes to our expectations for a Cup run every season. We   haven’t  exactly  set the competition aligh

Reasons why Merthyr Town FC  should commence their pre-seaso n  preparations:- •  Southern League and The FA have confirmed a start date, although this is earlier than the majority of competitions in Wales this decision was outside of the club’s control and if the start date had been 2021 then the club would have had to abide by that conclusion too.  Merthyr Town FC is in the same position as  many Welsh sports clubs that play across the border. The start date has been confirmed so we need to be ready to represent our town. •  The club has a general policy of not placing its players under contract and in the current climate of uncertainty this should be classed as a decent contingency plan to ensure its future viability if another general lockdown is imposed across Wales.  The self-imposed status of Merthyr Town as an amateur club is a strategy in risk-mitigation and should  not  be taken as a reflection of a lack of resources.  •  Whereas the club has no contract players it does curre

The YMCA is apparently up for sale again for office space, it would indeed be a unique al fresco environment but after seeing the crazy pitch from Merthyr Village Ltd during the Holloway era we should never be surprised by the gullibility of people in this town. The “lone gunmen” currently running our council have recently raised the interesting issue of graffiti on our derelict neighbour and their definition of acceptable street art versus a political scrawl – we were fascinated to discover that an aligned group of independents supports the protection of the red flag tag that welcomes fans to the bottom of the Pontmorlais Steps. We’re buying lots of lottery tickets at the moment and Hulby & Lloyd Fear are going on Pointless as we look to raise money to buy the YMCA building. Why? Well thanks for asking, we’re looking back into our local history to resurrect a sport that once attracted thousands to big challenge matches around the Valleys. The YMCA façade to remain in plac