Fair question and I don't really have a good answer. The league and Wales in general just interest me. I don't have any real connection to the place, but just about everything I've learned has been fascinating to some degree or another. I'm sure some of the following are factors: 1. The news coverage for the league is in English. Small town Italian football interests me also, but overcoming the language barrier is difficult. 2. There is a certain challenge to following the league. I'm bombarded with Arsenal information, but if I want to know something about a Welsh team, I've got to go find it. 3. Small town football fascinates most American football (soccer) fans. While there are some exceptions, most of us don't have any equivalent to it. We certainly don't have any small town teams that also have access to international competitions. 4. As the top league in Wales, the people involved with it seem very dedicated to making it the best it can be. 5. It is entirely possible that I'll be able to visit there some day. 6. Everybody I've had contact with an interest in or related to the league has been very pleasant. 7. Most of the clubs have long histories. While the League of Wales has only been around in its present form since 1992, a lot of the clubs have been around for a 100 years. Mostly, I just enjoy the league. The answer to why Rhyl is probably a little easier: 1. While they've grown on me considerably, I'm technically a poser fan that has been swept up in the excitement of their UEFA Cup involvement (I think I mentioned that somewhere earlier). As I mentioned earlier, if it offends any true Rhyl fans, I'll take them off my favorite teams list. 2. They have a fan website from which it is very easy to learn information from local fans who are attending the games. Yes, they are competing in Europe, but I'm also aware that the price of a pie has increased from 1.50 pounds to 1.80 pounds. No information on if they are any good. 3. The team was very responsive to my request to order a jersey. They don't have a club shop website, but the person who maintains the official site forwarded my request to the Company Secretary and he responded promptly. 4. Interesting club history. 5. Rhyl looks like a pleasant town. Heck, it could be a dive, but looks like a very nice place. Anyway, no deeper explanations that I can think of.
In an article about Nick Tucker's sacking, there is a mention that the fund they are using to go full-professional came from an asset management company called the Jesco Group. This brings to mind a couple questions: 1. Is this asset management company working on behalf of the aforementioned CZ Jones? I'm guessing not, but it is possible. From the club's website from June: "....and so it has happened - the long awaited take-over of Llanelli AFC. The Jesco Group, an international asset management company has taken a majority shareholding in the club, whilst Robert and Anthony Jones retain the balance of the remaining equity" 2. What kind of investment return can be earned on an investment in a WPL club? I don't really have an answer to this. For TNS, it must be an advertising vehicle which is evaluated like all other advertising expenses. For the other clubs, I'm guessing they are run on tight budgets with all surpluses going into ground improvements. With this in mind, I'm guessing that Jesco purchased their interest for a specific party interested in preserving and improving the club (as opposed to it being part of a portfolio for a pool of investors).
Forgot to post the result from TNS's friendly on Saturday: http://www.saints-alive.co.uk/tpl/matchdetails.php?id=1018
Here are the current odds. Note how Llanelli has moved up since they went full-professional: TNS 1.72 Rhyl 3.25 Llanelli 8.00 Bangor City 13.00 Haverfordwest 26.00 Aberystwyth 26.00 Caersws 26.00 Carmarthen 34.00 Cwmbran 34.00 Welshpool Town 81.00 Porthmadog 81.00 Newtown 101.00 Connah's Quay 101.00 Port Talbot 201.00 Caernarfon 201.00 Airbus UK 251.00 Cardiff Grange 251.00 NEWI Cefn Druids 501.00
Nice read, I wish you well with you support of welsh football, I have taken to TNS from your reports....love the Green & White hoops.
Well it would certainly save you the trouble of purchasing a 2nd shirt Actually, I think they do differ slightly around the shoulder. I was looking at the TNS corporate website. I can say with a fair degree of certainty that I'm not entirely sure what they do: http://www.tns.co.uk/ I think this is their mission statement: "Total Network Solutions is the leading provider of Converged Communications, Professional and Managed Services to the Enterprise, Public Sector and Service Provider markets delivering Innovative Lifecycle solutions resolving Business Issues through the use of recognised quality processes." My fault. That clears it up.
Ha! Well it's plain that you've never actually been there! Rhyl's gone downhill a lot in the last 30-40 years, nowadays it has a terrible reputation for being full of drunken druggies living in out-of-season holiday apartments funded by Social Security. It's not a coincidence that most of North Wales' police can be found there on Saturday nights (with the occasional policeman being thrown through shop windows). The rest of Denbighshire weren't terribly impressed with being lumbered with a much higher Council Tax when the county was formed because the old Rhyl council horribly overspent on some white-elephant tourist attraction on the promenade (A former Denbighshire council tax payer writes...)
Thanks for the information! I'd give you positive rep for it, but evidently I've given some to you recently. So it truly has some bad areas? Is it sort of a run down beach town where it used to be fashionable to vacation but isn't anymore? I noticed the amusement areas you mention in some of the pictures. Sort of looked like a Coney Island 20 years too late. So people are spending lovely holidays in Rhyl anymore? I'm truly curious to hear more about it. How about Belle Vue? Is it located on the outskirts of town? From the pictures I've seen, it doesn't appear to be surrounded by much, but there is mention of a couple pubs nearby (the Milbank?). Have you been there and if so, what is it like? If you had to chose a team to go see in the Welsh Premier League, which one would you go see? (based on the town, the grounds, etc.) Thanks, any insight is appreciated.
Thanks for the recommendation. Very attractive ground: http://www.pyramidpassion.co.uk/html/aberystwyth_town.html Here's a Aberystwyth website that seems to be updated with some regularity: http://www.atfc.org.uk/
Despite my long and fabled commitment to Rhyl FC (13 days), I'm switching my allegiance over to Aberystwyth Town for a variety of reasons. I'm still pulling for Rhyl in Europe (or any WPL team that claws their way there) and still getting the Rhyl shirt, but Aberystwyth seems like a better long-term choice. I followed up on Arwel's comments and he truly wasn't kidding. While there seemed to be some positive aspects to the town, it didn't seem like the kind of place you'd want to visit with the wife and kids on vacation. Anyway, before I get too attached, I'm switching. Also, I'm only posting this because it seems to be a very slow news day in the WPL (so far). Carry on .
Rhyl's ground is pretty good. Although here are my picks - Caersws http://www.allsportsinternational.co.uk/caersws.html http://stadiums.football.co.uk/Wales/The-Recreation-Ground.htm http://www.carmarthentownafc.net/caersws3.jpg And for a tie-in, the father of the modern American game is a Caersws local... http://www.soccerhall.org/builders/phil_woosnam.htm Newtown http://stadiums.football.co.uk/Wales/Latham-Park.htm It's got some history too... http://a-day-in-the-life.powys.org.uk/eng/cult/eu_newfoot.php I quite like Bangor too http://www.fussballtempel.net/uefa/WAL/Farrar_Road.jpg As someone mentioned, Aber's a sweet town and the skirt is good thanks to the students.
Woosnam really had a distinguished career. Very impressive. He must have been an easy choice for the Hall of Fame. There really don't seem to be any unattractive grounds in the WPL. Caersws, Bangor and Newtown all look nice. Of course, when you throw in attractive women and 50+ pubs (read that somewhere), Aber still takes the day
This is true, it really is worth a tour. In fact, I'm heading back there this afternoon and will report back next week with any findings.
Good news and bad news for Rhyl. They've signed Lee Hunt for another 12 months. It was kind of known that he wasn't going to go to Accrington Stanley, but having it in writing is a better things. The bad news is that the injury to Tim Edwards looks like it might require surgery. In Aberystwyth news (sort of), their loaned player Mark Pritchard scored a goal for the Wales U-21's vs Malta.
Anybody else having trouble with www.welsh-premier.com today? I've tried it from a couple different locations and it doesn't seem to be working. Hopefully, it'll be back up before the Challenge Cup games this weekend. I was really hoping they'd do a preview of the games.
Malcolm Allen is going to coach (and play for) Caernarfon Town. Nice to have a guy with international and EPL experience, even if he is on the downside of his career. Aber pulled out of the U-21 league. Judging from the comments, it looks like it was more related to costs and the lack of personnel to work the games than anything else. They do have a nice academy program, so it is probably just a matter of where they want to allocate their resources.: http://www.atfcacademy.co.uk/
Here are the upcoming Challenge Cup games. Sat 20 Aug 2005 Caersws FC v Cardiff Grange Quins 14:30 Sat 20 Aug 2005 Connah's Quay Nomads v Newtown AFC 14:30 Sat 20 Aug 2005 Cwmbran Town v Haverfordwest County 14:30 Sat 20 Aug 2005 Llanelli AFC v Aberystwyth Town 14:30 Sat 20 Aug 2005 Port Talbot Town v Carmarthen Town 14:30 Sat 20 Aug 2005 Porthmadog FC v Airbus UK 14:30 Mon 22 Aug 2005 Welshpool Town v Total Network Solutions 19:30 Preview: http://www.saints-alive.co.uk/tpl/preview.php?id=1019 Some Rhyl news. I guess I'm out of the running for the free ticket to the game in Norway, but hopefully one of those 10 XL shirts will be earmarked for me: http://www.rhylfc.co.uk/news/aug05/news19805.shtml Good picture of Rhyl fans (click on picture at bottom): http://www.uefa.com/footballEurope/Club=53076/competition=14/index.html
Evidently Mark Pritchard won't be coming to Aberystwyth on a one month loan deal. He is looking for a "higher profile" loan deal. Whatever