Tag: The New Saints

Questions about Cymru Premier future after UEFA exits and COVID outbreaks

The involvement of Cymru Premier clubs in UEFA competition is over for another season after all three remaining clubs were eliminated from the Europa League, despite some valiant efforts on the pitch this week.

Bala Town were by no means disgraced on Thursday in a 2-0 defeat away to Standard Liege. It might even have been a different story had Chris Venables converted his penalty at 0-1. Connah’s Quay Nomads suffered defeat against Dinamo Tblisi to a 97th minute penalty at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground. They matched the Georgian champions all the way, despite losing several players to COVID-19 on the eve of the game, and it was a cruel finale to lose on a penalty deep in stoppage time. TNS bowed out on Wednesday, the second Cymru Premier victim in the Faroe Islands this summer. TNS were 90 seconds from victory when they conceded a 121st minute equaliser to B36 Torshavn and were also one kick away from winning the shoot-out. Unfortunately, unsuccessful penalties by Dean Ebbe and Danny Redmond saw the Shropshire side lose 5-4 in the tie-breaker.

These results and those of clubs in other nations like Estonia and Montenegro mean that Wales will drop into the bottom five of UEFA’s national co-efficient rankings and will lose a UEFA club spot from the start of the 2022/23 campaign.

To put this in context, this hasn’t come about because of results this week but is the outcome of the past 4-5 years of European football in which Wales’ results haven’t been as good as other nations around them. The perceived failure of Welsh clubs to improve results in UEFA competition typically invokes periods of soul searching among Cymru Premier followers every summer and this will be no different.

The same questions will be asked about the future of the national league in Wales and these should come in to sharper focus now that a loss of a European spot (and with it UEFA prize money) is a reality. There is often a focus on how the Cymru Premier should be set up for the benefit of clubs in Europe but maybe now we need a period of reflection on whether we should even really measure the league by European performances, which are generally ignored by football followers in Wales anyway.

The current 12-team Cymru Premier with it’s mid-season split is almost universally loathed by those who play in and watch the league. Part of it’s rationale is to create sustainable clubs in the top flight, to increase competitiveness and help clubs prepare better for European competition. While internally there are arguments the Cymru Premier has become more competitive, that hasn’t translated into European performance where clubs from nations like the Faroe Islands, Montenegro, Gibraltar, Malta and Estonia are generally doing better.

These nations don’t suffer Wales’ unique problem of having its biggest clubs playing in another country’s league system and while we can debate the rights and wrongs of “the Anglos” playing outside Wales, the harsh reality is most of these clubs are probably never going to play in Welsh football. The opportunity has been lost in the mists of the past and we just have to get on with the status quo.

So if the 12-team format, with its mid-season split, isn’t really delivering on the European front, is not capturing the imagination of spectators (attendance have largely stagnated over the past ten years according to reported figures), and therefore adding no commercial value to the product, what exactly is it for? Lots of people say “the league is improving” but always there is the burden to prove by what measure. It is very difficult to offer anything less vague than “the standard is better”, which is unhelpfully tautological.

Those invested in the game have to start asking what the purpose and long-term goal of the Cymru Premier should be and the arguments for the uninspiring 12-team format with it’s groundhog day split need to be re-visited and their validity re-tested. There won’t be a simple solution but there will be no progress if Welsh football continues to simply try to knock the wall down by banging its head against the bricks the way it currently does.

Before the long term future is considered though, there are important and serious questions about the short term future of the Cymru Premier. There have apparently been concerns raised within clubs about the viability of the season while spectators remain locked out because some clubs simply will not be able to afford to complete the campaign. Then you throw in the rising infection rate of COVID-19 and fears of a second wave and some scepticism about Cymru Premier clubs capability of managing the situation safely.

In the past week Cefn Druids had both of their opening Cymru Premier fixtures postponed due to an alleged breach of the FAW’s Safer Return to Football Protocols, then on Wednesday the revelation that three Connah’s Quay Nomads players tested positive for COVID-19 and others were displaying symptoms. After last night’s defeat, Nomads manager Andy Morrison said in an interview the club had “turned a blind eye” to players who complained of feeling ill on the day of the game.

I expect all of this will be scrutinised over the coming days, at least putting into doubt Connah’s Quay Cymru Premier fixture this weekend. There will surely be conversations among decision makers about whether competitive football can be conducted safely in Wales in any form while the threat from the pandemic lingers.

It’s FAWlty Towers again as FAW blunders 2019/20 season curtailment.

After weeks of waiting, Welsh football clubs finally learnt the fate of the 2019/20 season today when the FAW Council ‘met’ to ratify the decision taken by the FAW Game Board on Monday. That decision was to curtail the league season and award final league positions based on points per game average (PPG). It meant Connah’s Quay Nomads were crowned champions of Wales for the first time, ending The New Saints’ eight year stranglehold on the title, and notionally earn Wales’ solitary UEFA Champions League spot. The three Europa League spots were awarded on final PPG Cymru Premier standings to The New Saints, Bala Town and Barry Town United (the latter in lieu of the FAW being unable to complete the Welsh Cup ahead of UEFA’s deadline – although, confusingly, two dates are given in the public statement).

Congratulations to Connah’s Quay Nomads, the other league winners confirmed by the FAW and the Cymru Premier clubs nominated for European football.

So far not so surprising; although we may have not heard the last word yet from TNS owner Mike Harris on the destination of the Cymru Premier trophy. However – and unfortunately – the bigger story centred on how the FAW’s decision came into the public domain.

Given the FAW tendency for issuing statements on important matters regarding the domestic pyramid at 5pm, it was a bit surprising when BBC Wales Sport broke the news around 3pm that the campaign had been curtailed and league champions were decided using PPG. It was surprising because there had been no public statement by the FAW and no issue of a press statement (which usually comes embargoed an hour or so before official release). It soon became apparent that even the clubs were unaware, with reports on social media that Connah’s Quay Nomads manager Andy Morrison found out his team were champions via the BBC Wales Sport report.

Cue the bedlam. Here was another FAWlty Towers moment from the national association.

As reporters on Welsh football scrambled it became obvious there had been a leak. My understanding is it was definitely not the FAW’s intention for the news to be revealed like this. The level of detail in the press release (which hit inboxes an hour after the BBC leak and appeared online a further 30 minutes later) – with printed tables for every league in Wales between 1-4 and cited explanations of the decision – clearly indicated this wasn’t supposed to come out via a provocative slip of the tongue.

To credit the member clubs, they have maintained their dignity online with most of the histrionics reserved by a few members of the Welsh football media over the privilege of information. The issue of the leak is no doubt a serious one for the FAW, but the real scandal is that member clubs, who have waited over two months for a decision, learnt their fate in this way. For the clubs that will be crowned league champions it must have been a confusing and underwhelming moment, while for clubs like Cardiff Met and Caernarfon Town (whose Welsh Cup semi-final was effectively a Europa League play-off match) they were left to experience their disappointment in a manner akin to being dumped by text message. Clubs hoping to gain promotion or avoid relegation remain in the dark.

You would hope there would be a probe inside the FAW to determine the source of the leak. BBC Wales Sport would not have published their leak on hearsay so their information, I suspect, came from a prominent source at Neptune Court. That is one problem, but the bigger issue here is why was it ever considered acceptable to inform member clubs at the same time as the general press statement? Surely the respectful thing would be to have informed clubs what was coming following the decision by the FAW Game Board; even if merely provisionally before the token consent of the FAW Council was granted a day later.

The FAW and Welsh football come out of this looking totally shambolic and disrespectful towards its members. Ultimately, it’s probably one or two individuals that have pulled the rug from under the FAW and made the entire organisation look farcical but it’s another blow for the image of Welsh football and its credibility. I’ll avoid doing what others have done and throw the entire organisation under the bus because I know there are people at the FAW that care deeply about the domestic game and work very hard every day to try and improve it. They too have been let down here by that/those person(s) that served their own agenda and showed total contempt for the domestic system, its clubs, players and volunteers.

There are still matters awaiting resolution too. The FAW have said no decision has been made yet on promotions and relegations. I suspect this could be a waiting game with (and I’m writing hypothetically here) the potential for promotion/relegation play-off games ahead of next season (whenever that takes place). The FAW have said they hope to complete the Welsh Cup before the start of next season (which will no doubt perturb anyone involved with Cardiff Met or Caernarfon Town even further), so hypothetical promotion/relegation play-offs could be in the same thought-process.

Given how poor today was handled though, the FAW would do well to restore some trust among member clubs affected by the promotion/relegation conundrum by keeping them in the loop about any future plans. That, at least, may alleviate concerns on both sides.

The next step in this convoluted mess is the announcement of Tier 3 Ground Certifications, which are expected next month.

The full statement by the FAW can be read here: https://www.faw.cymru/en/news/faw-board-decide-curtail-national-leagues-season/?back=/en/news/&pos=1

Ruscoe concedes more than just the points advantage in Nomads loss.

Connah’s Quay Nomads’ 1-0 win over The New Saints at the Deeside Stadium on Friday night confirmed we ACTUALLY have a phase two Cymru Premier title race. Craig Curran’s goal amidst swirling winds of Storm Ellen was enough to send Andy Morrison’s challengers four points clear at the top with seven rounds left to play.

The game itself wasn’t a great advert for the Cymru Premier as a spectacle, although it is easy and lazy to direct accusations of “poor quality” at a semi-professional league based on one game played in conditions that would have affected games at several “higher” levels. Judgements should always be relative and what is more important to take from this game is that we have a genuinely competitive title race going into the latter stages. I would argue a league’s competitiveness and strength in depth is as important as what is perceived as “quality”.

The Cymru Premier has now provided plenty of talking points for the coming months and for the right reasons this time. Along with the title race, we have an intriguing three-horse fight to avoid possible relegation between Penybont, Carmarthen Town and Airbus Broughton. A battle between Cardiff Met and Cefn Druids for the final Europa League play-off spot. Not to mention the ongoing scuffle between Barry Town and Bala Town for 3rd place; which potentially guarantees European football next season depending on the final destination of the Welsh Cup. There are few dead rubbers at the moment, so the focus should be on matters on the pitch instead of the usual “gaffes” the wider media often jump on for clickbait.

Ironically, the best entertainment came after the turgid 90 minutes between Nomads and TNS when the latter’s manager Scott Ruscoe spoke to the media. Clearly rattled, Ruscoe launched his very own ‘Kevin Keegan moment’ when he was highly dismissive of Connah’s Quay’s title credentials and, less surprisingly, the direct style of Andy Morrison’s outfit.

Speaking to Sgorio‘s Nicky John, Ruscoe said the match was “probably one of the worst games we’ve been involved in. Poor conditions, poor quality throughout.”

Nothing controversial there I’m sure most viewers would agree. Ruscoe admitted conditions played their part in his side’s struggles and acknowledged it was something “both sides had to deal with” before launching a thinly-veiled attack on the Connah’s Quay approach to the game.

“They play like that every game,” Ruscoe told Sgorio, “they play like that in the wind, in the rain and if it’s nice, they like that on a good pitch or if it’s a bad pitch, it doesn’t really matter.”

Adding in an interveiw with The New Saints’ in-house media: “we like to get the ball down and the conditions are not conducive to pretty football. The wind was as bad as you’re going to get and it was very difficult for us to get any momentum in the game.”

This kind of snobbery isn’t new in football or exclusive to Ruscoe, but it smacks of the bitterness and the tension that is clearly being felt in the ranks at Park Hall. It’s ridiculous to criticise the style of a team that has just beaten you in a crucial title “six-pointer” and taken a four point lead at the top.

The best was to come when Ruscoe told both Sgorio and TNS TV that “We’ll beat Connah’s Quay at home so we’ll be hoping for someone else to get a draw.”

When asked if Connah’s Quay were pushing TNS as hard as anyone has, Ruscoe dismissed the notion “we’ve been pushed harder [and by better teams] than what these are.” Ruscoe denounced the prospect of Connah’s Quay navigating their way to the title.

“They are not going to win seven games in a row. No doubt, no chance at all,” he told TNS TV, stating “I think we’ll be alright.”

Although, Connah’s Quay only need to win six games from here to secure their first ever Welsh league title.

The comments are telling of the pressure Ruscoe is under as he now faces the real possibility of being the manager that oversaw the end of TNS’s monopoly of the Cymru Premier / Welsh Premier League title. Having led Nomads by four points at the end of phase one, Ruscoe’s side have now taken a single point from their first three matches in the ‘Championship Conference’ phase while Andy Morrison’s side have been unerring. The title isn’t in their hands anymore and it has been a long time since TNS were in this situation.

I doubt Andy Morrison will be losing any sleep over Ruscoe disrespecting his side; the interviews probably provoked a smile if anything. Nothing is won yet and the smart money would still back The New Saints to secure a 9th consecutive Welsh league title. However, Ruscoe’s public display of vulnerability confirms the threat from Deeside is being felt acutely in Oswestry but it also the kind of interview that shows the Cymru Premier matters more than than it’s low-profile.

It’s also added even more fuel to the fire of what is becoming a sparkling title race and we need more of it.