FOOTBALL
HOW THEY GOT THERE MERTHYR Tydfil had not won the Welsh Cup since 1951, when, during a glorious period, they lifted the silverware twice in two seasons.
So, to be in touching distance of another trophy was something that excited the whole town, especially as wins over Cardiff City, Caernarfon (after a replay), Barry Town and Bangor (on penalties) had taken them to the last two.
In the 100th Welsh Cup final, Jones’ men faced a Newport County side that had just been relegated to the bottom tier of league football after finishing bottom of Division Three.
That said, there was little between the sides in the showpiece game at Ninian Park. Former England striker Bob Latchford and his frontline partner Dai Webley were on target for the Martyrs, but two goals from Andy Thackaray meant the two clubs returned to Ninian four days later for a replay.
It’s seems strange these days for a final stalemate not to be finalised in a shoot-out, but, as it turned out, a penalty did prove decisive in the second game.
Just six minutes in, Webley was fouled in the box and Chris Baird stepped up to drill the spot-kick home. And that was that... manager Jones and his Merthyr side were in Europe for the first time.
I was just about to take over the sports editor reins at the Merthyr Express; before I could, I had an assignment in Norway with a delegation from Prince Charles Hospital.
In the days before Twitter, Facebook, mobile telephones and email, I followed the two games by making calls from various Oslo phone boxes.
Hearing about Chris Holvey lifting the trophy sent spirits soaring among the families I had travelled with and we couldn’t wait to get back to join in the celebrations. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? AGAIN, in the far-off days of 1987, things were done a little differently in European football. There were three competitions, for a start, and no such things as group stages or seeded teams.
So, Merthyr went straight into the hat for the European Cup Winners’ Cup and prepared for the open draw in Geneva.
Before that, however, there was the question of where Merthyr’s home game would be played. In some quarters, there was talk that any match could be moved to Cardiff’s Ninian Park.
But Merthyr chairman John Reddy was in no mood to switch, launching a campaign to raise £150,000 to ensure the Penydarren Park capacity was raised to 10,000.
Donations flooded in, with new standing and seating areas, a segregated area and new access to ground among the plans put in operation. Ian Carbis: The abiding memory is how the town pulled together. There was no way they were going to let their club’s biggest night be transferred somewhere else. Reddy was in the vanguard, while the council were soon on board, but it was the amount of local fundraising that went on that caught the imagination and the amount raised exceeded the target. THE DRAW ON July 9, 1987, Merthyr discovered their fate. With sides such as Ajax, Marseille, Hamburg and Real Sociedad in the competition, there was every chance they could get a big fish, and they did in Italian side Atalanta.
Despite being relegated from Serie A, Atalanta had reached the Coppa Italia final where they lost out to a Diego Maradona-inspired Napoli.
With Napoli also winning the league title for the first time, it was Atalanta who earned the ECWC spot.
They had Swedish star Glenn Stromberg, captain Carmine Gentile and midfielder Cesare Prandelli (later to manage Italy, Roma and Fiorentina) among their ranks as they looked for an instant return from Serie B. Ian Carbis: Merthyr were among the last four left in the hat along with Scottish Cup winners St Mirren, Norwegian side Tromso and Atalanta. Nobody really wanted to go to Scotland, while a trip a lot further north to Norway didn’t appeal, either. As it was, those two were drawn together and Merthyr came out first of the last two. A perfect draw. THE ITALIAN JOB THE long Italian connection with the Welsh valleys also made it a perfect draw for Merthyr. No stone was left unturned, with Reddy enlisting the help of the local Viazzani family to help translate in his dealings with the Bergamobased side.
Former England striker Trevor Francis, who had just left Atalanta for Rangers, was contacted for some inside information, while the town of Merthyr held a Fiesta Italiana.
There were spaghetti-eating contests, ice cream-making competitions, window dressing events and fashion shows swopping Strikers Club for the best looks at Milan’s Via Della Spiga.
The work continued at the Martyrs’ ground before the news Reddy and all the Merthyr fans had waited to hear was announced – Penydarren Park passed its inspection and it was all systems go. Ian Carbis: The conference call with Francis was something else....“Hi