MERTHYR ON THE RISE AGAIN AFTER DARKEST DAY
It is a football club that has not been a stranger to facing its struggles, rising from the ashes and reinventing itself in recent years.
But a crisis hit Merthyr Town FC last season that even its most loyal fans feared would be insurmountable.
News broke that the fan-owned club with a proud history was faced with major financial problems last November, which - when they came to light - meant 80% of the squad had to leave after there was no choice but to drastically cut the playing budget to the tune of 70%.
Just days later, a side of development players and office staff travelled to Chesham United – and lost 13-1. A few of the club’s players had asked to travel, but manager Gavin Williams insisted it wasn’t fair to ask them to play for free.
The scoreline would prove to be a dire wake-up call as to how serious the situation was.
Fans were left asking what on earth was actually going on at their proud football club, while a tremendous period of uncertainty and hard work lay ahead.
The weeks and months that followed saw the Martyrs’ supporters, the town of Merthyr Tydfil and the much wider football community come together to save the club. A JustGiving page was set up with a £25,000 target in a bid to pay off the club’s HMRC bill, a new interim board was brought in, and budgets across the board were cut to try and stay afloat.
As chance would have it, Merthyr Town’s first game of the season took them back to Chesham Utd on Saturday. But this time, they went with a very different outlook, squad and came away with a very different score.
Richard Bennett has been supporting the Martyrs since he was a teenager, and now coordinates the transport for travelling fans at away games.
“We were at this ground last year and lost 13-1, had office staff playing football for us. It was very difficult. It was the absolute lowest point that you could get, I think,” he said.
“When you’ve got to have office staff to fulfil a fixture, you know things are going bad. It was a very emotional day, all sorts going through your head, ‘what’s going to happen?,’ ‘what’s the future?’
“That was probably the lowest point that I’ve ever experienced at the football club and we’re not going back there.
“It was made up of a complete youth team, and [office staff] Dom and Elliott who put their names forward to play on the Friday because they were staff. But to put those kids through what we did that day was out of order.
“We were asking 16, 17-year-olds to come here and play against men, established Southern League players. But they did it, and they did it all season.
“We scored, one of our kids Jacob Flower, and we just went absolutely mental. It was as if we’d won the FA Cup, it was crazy. That was a good pointer that day.”
The club owes a huge debt of gratitude to the players that travelled that day last season, and their contribution has been immortalised in the form of fan merchandise. Richard dons a T-shirt at the match showing Subbuteo-esque figures, with “Merthyr Town Heroes” emblazoned on it along with each players’ name.
“People like that shouldn’t have to do what they did, but they did to get us through. That should encapsulate what we are as a club.”
Now a director at the club, responsible for supporters, Richard says the same can’t be asked from supporters again.
“It was very humbling, to see the amount of people that came forward and raise something ridiculous like £30-40,000 in about three weeks. But we can never get to that stage again because people will just get fed up of it.
“I think it was a unique situation, I think the game here last year highlighted that, how bad the situation got to. I think that helped that particular drive. To all intents and purposes, it got us through that very difficult stage. It galvanised us as a club, as supporters, as individuals.
“We’d rather be further along the line right now, but things have improved. The community rallied the last time, they rallied the time before that, they’ll rally the next time. But we need to make sure there’s not a next time.”
Regular fixtures at most home and away games are father and son Wayne and Jack Hodgkins, from the Brecon Road area of Merthyr.
Delivery driver Wayne has been supporting the Martyrs for 43 years, and drove a supporters’ minibus to Chesham at the weekend.
“I’ve been groundsman, steward of the club, director of the football club. I am currently helping out running the bars at the moment.
“It did look bleak at the time. Obviously they’re still in a bit of debt, but not half as much as what they were last season.
“As far as I know, Merthyr has always been a footballing town and they didn’t want to see something die in the town.”
Wayne’s 19-year-old son Jack, a Cardiff Met student, who is studying sports coaching, has seen a lot happen at the club for his years.
“It’s my 15th season watching Merthyr. My first away trip was when I was four years old.
“In the short time that I have been watching Merthyr, well a long time for a short amount of years, I’ve seen the club go bust already, start again as Merthyr Town and after years as Merthyr Town we’ve almost gone back to the same situation.”
Merthyr Town was born following the financial demise of the old Merthyr Tydfil club, which folded in 2010.
““Being a 19-year-old and seeing Merthyr Tydfil go bust and re-rise as Merthyr Town, I certainly wouldn’t want to see Merthyr Town go bust in my lifetime. The fact that we almost had that last season was quite a scary thought. Through the help of fans, fans of other clubs, and just the local community – thankfully we’re here again this season.”
Thankfully, the 90 minutes that followed the 3pm kick-off were a world away from the last meeting between these teams, with Merthyr coming away with a deserved 3-0 win, accompanied by a travelling party in fine (and loud) voice and marvellous spirit.
And this time, neither Merthyr Town’s manager or coach had to go on as substitutes.
The celebratory scenes at the end of the match saw thank yous in the way of applause to the away support, and a group huddle in the centre of the pitch which fans would surely love their boss Gavin Williams to be wearing a microphone for as he delivers the post-match team talk.
It’s a team talk that followed the manager actually watching the game from the stands due to the small matter of a touchline suspension, after airing his disappointment over a goal that was not awarded in last season’s final game.
Ex-Yeovil, Bristol City, Ipswich and West Ham midfielder Williams signed for his hometown club in December 2013, before a spell as assistant manager and an eventual appointment as manager in 2016.
Amid the turmoil over the past 10 months, 38-year-old Williams has been a constant.
On the Chesham result, he said: “It was a bit of ‘let’s put that right.’
“The boys who were here last year, it was just the fact that we didn’t have enough players. The players here were still quality players.
“I think when everyone’s here we can go on and have a very good season. This league is a tough league, you need as many players as possible, you need a big squad with injuries and so many games, they come around thick and fast.
“We can be up there challenging this season without any shadow of a doubt, there’s no reason why we can’t.”
And what better way to repay offfield support from fans with good results on the pitch?
With the new season kicked off to a comfortable start, the Martyrs’ first home game is tonight against Swindon Supermarine FC. While firstteam football will unsurprisingly be the number one priority for supporters, the club is there for the whole community to use.
From Academy football, junior disability football, girls’ and women’s football to walking football for over 55s, the club boasts a recently renovated ultra-modern clubhouse with facilities including hospitality areas, two function rooms and the capacity to host conferences, weddings, parties, and a regular Sunday lunch offering.
The next chapter in this proud, tough club’s history will need the support of the entire community, not just football fans, to sustain it.
As for the board side of things, chairman David Webb perfectly sums it up: “You’ve got a wage, you don’t go and spend more than it.
“Do it [on] the wage you can afford, don’t go off to Mauritius when you can only afford Spain.”
The board member from Ebbw Vale said: “We’ve got it back to controllable things. I think we’ve got a bright future.
“Merthyr in a crisis is great, they’re brilliant people. Once there’s a crisis they will respond, and they have responded in a magnificent way really. It’s almost immortal, it’ll carry on.
“We’ve got a great manager, a great team and a fabulous attitude. We’ve got the ability to stop it happening again, it won’t happen again.
“We have to live within our means. As long as we’re stable this year, my aim is that we’re going to be a strong side anyway, and we’ll just push on.
“If circumstances and a bit of luck comes in our way we’re going to keep on pushing forward.”
Merthyr Town’s first home game of the season in the Evo-Stik League South Premier Division South is tonight, against newly-promoted Swindon Supermarine (7.45pm).
■ For the full story of Katie Sands’ day with the Merthyr Town supporters at Chesham, just log on to www.walesonline.co.uk/football