Everything about Merthyr Tydfil F C totally explained
Wyn Holloway |
manager = Garry Shephard |
league =
Southern League Premier Division |
season =
2006-07 |
position =
Southern League Premier Division, 12th |
pattern_la1=_blackshoulders|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=_blackshoulders|
leftarm1=ffffff|body1=ffffff|rightarm1=ffffff|shorts1=000000|socks1=ffffff|
pattern_la2=_yellowshoulders|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=_yellowshoulders|
leftarm2=ff0000|body2=ff0000|rightarm2=ff0000|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ff0000|
}}
Merthyr Tydfil F.C. is a
Welsh football team from
Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorgan. The team currently play in the
Southern League. They play their home matches at Penydarren Park, and play in black and white.
They are unrelated to the town's previous football club,
Merthyr Town, who played in
The Football League during the 1920s, but folded in 1934.
History
In the 1945/6 season, Merthyr Tydfil were runners-up in the
Welsh League, and joined the Southern League. The club were immensely successful in their first few seasons, winning the championship in 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1954. In the 1947/8 championship winning season, at home, Merthyr only dropped one point against
Colchester United and only lost four games all season. However, despite their success, the club failed to be elected to the Football League. The 1950/1 season ended with Merthyr winning the Southern League, the Welsh Cup, the Southern League Cup and the Welsh Challenge Cup.
After bouncing between the various Southern League divisions during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the club finally won their sixth championship in 1989, making them joint Southern League title record-holders together with
Southampton. This time, winning the championship meant promotion to the
Football Conference, the fifth level of English football. The club did quite well, finishing 9th in their first two seasons, and then 4th. However, the club went into decline, and were relegated back to the Southern League in 1995, and have remained there since. They should have been relegated a season earlier, but were reprieved when
Northern Premier League champions
Marine failed to meet the stadium criteria for the league.
Being a Welsh club playing in an English League, Merthyr Tydfil were able to play in both the
FA Cup, and the
Welsh Cup until the
Welsh FA stopped the Welsh clubs in the English pyramid from entering.
The club's best FA Cup performance has been to reach the 2nd round, which they managed in 1946/7 (losing 3-1 to
Reading), 1954/5 (losing 7-1 to
Bradford City), 1973/4 (losing 3-0 to
Hendon), 1979/80 (losing 3-1 in a replay with
Chesham United) and 1990/1 (losing 5-1 to
Woking). The only time the club managed to actually beat a Football League club in the FA Cup was in the first round of the 1946/7 cup, when they beat
Bristol Rovers 3-1.
The club were considerably more successful in the Welsh Cup, which they've won on three occasions; 1949 (beating
Swansea City 2-0), 1951 (beating
Cardiff City 3-2 in a replay) and 1987 (beating
Newport County 1-0 in a replay). In addition, the club finished as runners-up in 1947 and 1952.
After winning the final in 1987, the club were allowed to enter the European
Cup Winners' Cup. In the first round, they were drawn against the
Italian club
Atalanta. The club managed a sensational win in the first leg at home, beating the Italians 2-1. However, the return leg was lost 2-0, and the club were out.
Currently, the club's biggest rivals are
Gloucester City. The two clubs have played over 120 times in their history, making it the most played Anglo-Welsh derby in football.
2007/2008 Season
Season 2007/2008 brought about many challenges, with the club battling to retain their British Gas Business Southern Football League Premier Division status, and a bitter feud between the Board of Directors and Supporters Trust.
In the FA Cup, The Martyr's progressed to the First Round Proper, where they met former Football League Cup winners Oxford United. A crowd of over 1,000 turned up as Merthyr lost narrowly 2-1 at Penydarren Park.
Towards the end of the season, Merthyr Tydfil FC took a significant step in launching their first official club website (http://www.merthyrfootball.co.uk) with which to market the club, communicate with fans and bring in some much-needed revenue.
The Martyrs finished 2007/2008 in 13th place after flirting with relegation in the latter part of the Southern Football League Premier Division campaign. On the final day of the season league leaders Kings Lynn travelled to Penydarren Park and their 2-0 victory, watched by Merthyr's highest home league crowd of the season (912), confirmed the Norfolk side's promotion as champions.
Current squad
Club records
Record Attendance: 21,000 vs. Reading, FA Cup 2nd Round 1949
Best league pyramid position: 4th in Football Conference, 1991/92
Most goals scored in a League Season: 187 in the Welsh League, 1945/46
Least goals conceded in a League Season: 32 in the Southern League Western Division, 2002/03
Notable former players/managers
John Charles CBE (player-manager during the 1970s, formerly with Leeds United and Juventus and a member of the Welsh national team)
Bob Latchford (player, previously with Birmingham City, Everton and was also capped by the England national team)
Tommy Hutchison (player in the early 90's, previously with Burnley, Swansea City and many other teams)
Colin Addison (manager from 1996-8, previously managed Notts County, West Brom, Derby County, Newport County, Celta Vigo and Atlético Madrid amongst others)
Nathan Jones (player during the mid-nineties, now playing with Yeovil Town)
Tom Ramasut (player during the 1998-1999 season)
Leroy Rosenior (manager, previously managed Gloucester City)
John Relish (assistant manager in 2002, became manager in 2003 and left the club at the end of the 2004/2005 season)
Tim Harris (manager during 2005-2006, previously managed Forest Green Rovers, Cinderford Town and Newport County)Further Information
Get more info on 'Merthyr Tydfil F C'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://merthyr_tydfil_f_c.totallyexplained.com">Merthyr Tydfil F.C. Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
