Embed from Getty Images

Exclusive: Cymru Premier Clubs In Cash Crisis And Just Weeks From Collapse

Posted on

Exclusive By Paul Jones

The JD Cymru Premier League reached round six this weekend, but the organisers will be told by clubs at a meeting today that they won’t make Christmas if they can’t get crowds back into their grounds.

The league received elite status to allow them to play during the COVID-19 clampdown, but with two matches per week the largely semi-pro tournament is starting to feel the financial squeeze.

Most sides are haemorrhaging money due to the lack gate receipts and secondary spend at matches.

With costs of around £3,000 per game, playing two matches a week is becoming financially crippling and the FAW organisers will be told has harsh realities at today’s gathering.

The FAW are hoping a financial bail-out package of £1m from FIFA will help, but that is unlikely to be enough to save the day with so many clubs at risk.

The top four teams, who are buoyed by money from playing in Europe, are able to survive and the difference between the ‘haves and have nots’ was exemplified by the 10-0 thrashing handed out by The New Saints to Flint Town United.

There were five goals from Greg Draper, two from Jon Routledge and others from Other goals came from birthday boy Ryan Harrington, Louis Robles and Kwame Boateng as TNS maintained their unbeaten run. They are back in action on Tuesday night against Newtown.

 

Reigning champions Connah’s Quay Nomads scored five on the road as they won comfortably at Cefn Druids, with Callum Morris grabbing a hat-trick and Michale Wilde getting two to keep their side on top of the table.

“We were promised fans after three weeks, but that hasn’t happened. If the FAW can’t find some financial support for us we won’t get to game 22 this season,” said Newtown’s financial director, Barry Gardner.

“We’ve had a huge drop in match day income and our players have taken a pay cut for home games. But we can only ask them to do that for so long.

“We’ve got five games in 10 days and that means I have to find £15,000 to pay the players. We are 150 years old in three years time and we want to make sure we survive until then.

“Playing two games a week is crippling us at the moment and I don’t understand why we can’t space the matches out more.

“The clubs who have the benefit of European money will always be OK, but what we don’t want to have is the integrity of the tournament compromised by clubs having to field youth teams later in the season because they can’t afford anything else.

 

“Our average gate at Newtown is 240, but we have a capacity of 2,000. The ground is COVID compliant, but we still aren’t allowed to let anyone in.

Barry Town United had to battle back against the odds to win at Aberystwyth and delighted manager Gavin Chesterfield by leaving with a 2-1 triumph. Steff Davies gave the home side a 50th minute lead and then Barry were reduced to 10 men on the hour mark when Clayton Green was sent off.

Seven minutes later they levelled through Kayne McLaggon before Jordan Cotterill scored in the 70th minute. In the other games, Penybont moved into fifth place with a 2-1 home win over Newtown thanks for goals from Mael Davies and Sam Snaith, while and Haverfordwest County bagged an impressive first victory with a 2-1 triumph at Bala Town.

The Pembrokeshire side headed north to meet the recent Europa League competitors and struck a blow for the minnows in the league with goals from Jack Williams and a winner in the 94th minute from hero of the hour Jack Wilson.

In the late kick off, Caernarfon Town took the lead at Cardiff Met in the 64th minute through a Sion Bradley penalty. That made it three defeats in their opening six games for the students, who dropped down to one off the bottom of the table.

 

Darren Thomas and Cai Jones added further goals within five minutes of each other to complete a miserable evening for the home side.

 

JD Cymru Premier League

Saturday Fixtures

Aberystwyth 1 – 2 Barry Town United

Bala Town 1 – 2 Haverfordwest County

Cardiff Met 0 – 3 Caernarfon Town

Cefn Druids 0 – 5 Connah’s Quay Nomads

Penybont 2 – 1 Newtown

TNS 10 -0 Flint Town

 

New Zealand international Greg Draper became The New Saints’ all-time league record goal scorer as he hammered home five in the 10-0 drubbing of Flint Town United in the JD Cymru Premier League.

Draper’s five goal haul took him past Michael Wilde’s previous record as he took his TNS tally up to 156 since joining the club in 2011. The Cymru Premier Golden Boot winner in 2018 and 2019 revealed he had had Wilde’s landmark in his sight for some time.

“I set the target of breaking the record 12 months ago and I wanted it done by January when the league split. I didn’t happen and then we were hit with COVID,” said Draper.

“It has been dragging on, especially with me not getting so many minutes at the start of this season. It has definitely been playing on my mind.

“I just had a feeling it was going to happen and it is nice to finally get there. Now I can start setting my sights on reaching 200.

“There are too many team mates over the past decade to thank for helping me reach this landmark. I just hope I can keep going now.

 

“It has been a good start for us and we are scoring lots of goals and have kept a few clean sheets. We’ve got lots of games coming up so that gives us the chance to keep the momentum going into a clash with Connah’s Quay Nomads on 13 October.”

Draper, who played for New Zealand at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and then won one cap for the All Whites in a World Cup qualifier against Fiji in the same year, opened his account for the season with an 18th minute penalty and got a second two minutes from the break to help give TNS a 3-0 interval lead.

Manager Scott Ruscoe wasn’t happy with his side’s performance in the opening 45 minutes and gave his side a half-time rollocking.

The response was a seven goal salvo in the second half, with Draper scoring again in the 52nd, 66th and 85th minutes.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *