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
Jordan Forster 