We're not leaving..... by Chairman Mao
We’re not leaving.
It’s been a constant thread on social media from within the Welsh domestic football community as to why Merthyr Town are wasting our time in what is effectively Division 7 of the English pyramid.
Firstly, none of them seem to understand that we love pottering around the various Southern League grounds of England. It’s what we’ve done for over 100 years so why would we change? They say travel broadens the mind and visits to all points east will always bring more joy, memories and tall tales than repeated calls to university campuses and deserted grounds for us.
Secondly and more salient to this article is that the FAW has never actually reached out to the Martyrs since our successful appeal to the initial invite to join the League of Wales in 1992. There is always social media chatter that we should start at the bottom of the pyramid or in Cymru South (Tier 2) but there was never clarity from the governing body.
There’s going to be a re-structure of the Cymru Premier League in 2027 and it seems that the FAW decided that they needed to settle the status of Merthyr Town as part of that project.
The so-called Prosiect Cymru to enable the Welsh clubs in the EFL to enter the domestic League Cup and therefore have a route to European football was closed off by the FA. Merthyr Town were not included in those plans.
Merthyr Town are now unique in Welsh football. We are the only fan-owned community enterprise with a constitution to govern our actions, one of its fundamental rules is that the elected Board must consult with its owners, i.e. the members, on every major decision that affects the club.
The FAW made a serious offer to the Merthyr Town board which was presented to the owners by the board at a specially convened EGM at our Penydarren Park ground.
Approximately 80 owners attended the EGM either in person or via video conference link. The debate was very emotive with many fans speaking from the heart about their relationship with the club and their pride in our unique selling point as a non-league team operating in England.
The media carried a click-bait story that we had been offered £6m, however the details of this proposal were dependent on many factors so although it was a decent offer it fell short of a cash windfall for the Martyrs.
To be honest, the finances were never really mentioned by anyone attending the EGM. There’s not a lot of faith in big money offers on the terraces of Merthyr Town, we have too much experience of financial models based on what could happen rather than what is happening.
There were a few important factors that were raised before, during and after the owners’ meeting that probably sum up the reasons we said no.
- 1. Friday night football – The strategy proposed by the FAW is that all games take place on Friday evenings. This wouldn’t work in a town like Merthyr Tydfil. Firstly, there is no public transport after dark here so many fans would find it difficult to get to the games and probably impossible to get home afterwards. Next, there is a very big darts league in the town which operates on a Friday evening. This may seem a very parochial issue but asking a lot of fans to choose their leisure preferences would surely affect the gate. Finally, there was an expectation that our current large away support (we took over 500 fans to Totton recently) would boost the crowds in the league but how many would travel on a Friday evening to the North?
- 2. Europe – This is still the main talking point on social media. Why do we persist in our league when we could be playing in Europe every season? As previously mentioned, we enjoy playing in the English system. Also, it’s not guaranteed that we would qualify for any UEFA competitions anyway. The club’s constitution advises that the club must stay financially in the black, the club motto since the club reformed is “Progress Through Stability” after all, so we wouldn’t be able to spend like the current spending models through the top tiers of Welsh football. We have gone through liquidation and just managed to survive, and we won’t do the same again.
- 3. Beer – you can drink on the terraces at Penydarren Park. It’s part of the fan culture here. It’s central to the unique selling point of watching the Martyrs, have a beer, stand with your mates, eat the cob & chips, have another beer or two and enjoy yourself. It’s been a real antidote for many football fans who have fallen out of love with the EFL product at either Cardiff or Swansea. In the Cymru Premier League you can’t drink on the terraces, again why would we want that?
- 4. History – Our history in the English system was brought up many times during the EGM. We’re proud of our decade in the EFL through the Twenties especially with the weight of a global economic depression weighing heavily across the Valleys at the time. The previous club Merthyr Tydfil was formed directly after World War II with an ambition to regain that place in the EFL and many of our servicemen still abroad were sending back a shilling each to help fund the new club which had so much success in the late Forties into the early Fifties but failed to get re-elected. How could we betray those soldiers or sailors who sent their cash back to chase a dream?
- 5. Finally, the FAW offer was genuine, but it was ill-timed as the Martyrs are currently having our best season for nearly thirty years. At the time of writing, we’ve gone 30 league games unbeaten and we’re currently top of the league with just 7 games remaining. We’ve always attracted a hard core of 600 or so fans for every home game but that has doubled over the past few seasons. So, the FAW was seen by many fans as an unwanted distraction to our current promotion push.
The owners subsequently voted by secret ballot to overwhelmingly reject the FAW offer. The challenge now is to ensure that we don’t regret this one-off proposal as the FAW won’t return soon. Being fan-owned means there is a glass ceiling to our ambitions but at least we could go as far as we want within our humble means.
Mao
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