just a heads up anyone looking for a football fix cardiff met are playing cefyn druids in the europa play off final which is being shown live on S4C at 12.30 . apparently the game is worth 220,000 euros to the winner
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just a heads up anyone looking for a football fix cardiff met are playing cefyn druids in the europa play off final which is being shown live on S4C at 12.30 . apparently the game is worth 220,000 euros to the winner
Huge game. £200k is a massive amount of money for a student side!Quote:
Originally Posted by MOZZER2
Exciting as European football could be the springboard to the Cardiff student side moving to another level- if all the best students in the uk and even Europe look seriously at Cardiff.
I’ve felt for a long time 90% of the top youth players would be far better off playing competitive football like the WPL week in week out than messing round at academy clubs in the U23s.
WPL is a good standard. Likes of Macaulay southam and Curtis Watkins play for Barry and they were both highly thought of at city- so anyone who stands out will be professional standard at least.
Not sure what links city have with Cardiff met/Barry town but I reckon there are opportunities available. I doubt it’s possible but if say the U23s could play in the WPL every week I think that would be better for them than whoever they play against now.
Edit I wonder why there is such a disinterest in wales do the national league? We all wear our “independent football nation” hats and t shirts but there does seem to be a blind spot when it comes to our own national league.
Surely money like that will make Merthyr and Colwyn Bay turn their heads and realise it is better for them to play in the WPL rather than chase the impossible dream in the English system, especially with the money troubles at Merthyr
cardiff met are 1 nil down half time but not out of it . had a great chance to score before half time too
the problem with the WPL father is too many sides in it from north wales . i,ve always said they should have a sourthern and northern section and the winners from both to slug it out to be crowned champions of Wales
Oh nice to see a couple of welsh futsal internationals in the druids side too :hehe:
It’s a motion at the merthyr AGM actually. Will be opposition to it for sure but Could certainly happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by GrangetownLurker
Opppsotion to that is its not a national league then though is it? UEFA may not even sanction it? However 2 leagues of 6 north 6 south then merging top and bottom 3 from both after christmas (when the league splits anyway) is an interesting idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by MOZZER2
Couldn’t happen though as you get the turkeys voting for Christmas scenario.....
I've long thought that there should be a representative "B" side for Cardiff in the Welsh pyramid to replace our Under 23s. Not the official "Cardiff City" but something like Cardiff FC linked to City so the youth players can ply competitive football
Vanorama North, Vanorama South. Both at same level, it's entirely allowed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Father Dougal
As we've seen at Academy levels, playing FAW sides ends up in a lopsided victory to us.Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
There's no way FAW would sanction our u23 side playing in WPL. It would be embarassing for our kids to beat "Welsh" sides handily. We'd also have the issue of playing in two different national leagues, which would be a no-no.
A Cardiff based side linked with Cardiff City, it would generate more awareness and interest in a league full of village sides. Play only Welsh youth players and therefore improving the division & Welsh youth sidesQuote:
Originally Posted by ccfc_is_my_life
Well, we couldn't loan tonnes of players to a Cardiff based side, therefore they'd not be under contract to us. Teams could then easily poach them.Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
It's a nice enough idea but there are far too many logistical problems to prevent it ever being reasonable.
Any quality youths we have need to be loaned out to Championship, League one, league Two at a pinch. Any lower indicates they aren't long term solutions for us.
Kind of model I was thinking was feeder club ish.Quote:
Originally Posted by ccfc_is_my_life
Not playing as ccfc but some kind of way of working with Cardiff met and/or Barry. Accept what you say but I’m thinking more 17/18 year olds id rather see playing in WPL with men than with kids. If a league 2 club would take them then great but in reality that’s not happening.
And the WPL really isn’t stereotypical non league football. It’s more futsal/tiki taka style with teams trying to play creatively.
Didn't Hammam investigate the possibility of purchasing Cwmbran when they were in the Welsh first tier, and to effectively loan out 'internationally' between Cardiff and Cwmbran?Quote:
Originally Posted by ccfc_is_my_life
If memory serves I think this actually went to UEFA for review and with them closing the door on the matter and due to the required loan out/ and return mechanism over a season.
I agree about men vs kids - that's why the old reserve league was better in that regard than the DVP setups.Quote:
Originally Posted by Father Dougal
The problem we have is that we've been unable to loan our youngsters out to league clubs. That indicates even lower division clubs can either get better than what we have to offer or our youngsters aren't as good as believed.
Met had more of the play in the second half but Druids knew what to do and simply funnelled back to form a barrier. Met then passed themselves to death by going sideways and back without ever really trying to get decent balls into the box. Druids simply sat back and let them get on with it until a pass went astray.Quote:
Originally Posted by Father Dougal
I think that helps prove my point? More likely to see lots of sideways passes between small midfielders in that league than long balls to big strikers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyncoed Slumdog
Barry Town fans were class last week against Met in what was unfortunately it was a one sided game. Generally good football and some beautiful grounds, although some pitches need a bit of work.
The WPL is improving in quality on a yearly basis, there is some decent money about and there is tidy TV coverage on S4C of the league. The nearest games for Merthyr currently are 2 hours away in Swindon and Frome, next season in the WPL there are 4 teams within an hour of Merthyr (Carmarthen, Llanelli, Barry and Cardiff Met). Hopefully common sense trumps expensive dreams. Sooner rather than later I think Merthyr will be playing in the Welsh system as they don't have the critical mass to play in the English pyramid like Cewnty, Jacks, Wrexham and ourselves.Quote:
Originally Posted by Father Dougal
Slightly OT, why do Colwyn Bay choose to play in the English system considering they have rivals (Conwy, Rhyl and Prestatyn) right on their doorstep?
History I guess? It’s where they see themselves. I believe they’ve looked down their noses at the WPL clubs so can’t see colwyn bay ever making that move. Merthyr could happen though.Quote:
Originally Posted by GrangetownLurker
Furthermore if you win your domestic league and get knocked out of the CL early on you now enter the Europa league. As a consequence my guess is TNS will have at least 8 games in Europe this summer ending in a knockout to a very decent side. It’s wasted on them as they have no fans (really they don’t) but a side like Merthyr would have tremendous fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by Father Dougal
I did not know this, that surely has to be a game changer having a guaranteed 8 games in the Europa League group stage if I understand that correctly?
Sorry it’s a guaranteed 4 games. 2 in champions league then 2 in europa when knocked out.Quote:
Originally Posted by GrangetownLurker
However, first opponents (in both) likely to be from a league similar if not worse than WPL, such as Latvia or Iceland, so very decent chance of at least 8 games. However most of those will be v very unattractive opposition. Unfortunately all the welsh clubs normally get knocked out before August v sides nobody has ever heard of.
Playing the games in pre season effectively probably doesn’t help so they always talk about summer football but never comes to anything.
TNS' tie in the 1st round of the Champions League is massive for them. If they can win that one, which is less likely than it is likely, they'll have a change of a big name in the 2nd round - they can draw one of 10 teams if they get there - the list of 10 teams includes Celtic, APOEL, Dinamo Zagreb.
They would no doubt lose in the 2nd round, taking them to the 3rd qualifying stage of the Europa. This is where it gets interesting for TNS as they would probably be drawn against a team of similar standard. Win that one and they're one tie away from the Groups!
Financially, TNS are going to do very well either way. Even if they fail to win a tie, they should be looking at £0.5m. You can then add £0.25m for each tie they do win.
Hopefully Merthyr will take note (although they'd have to improve quite a bit to compete with TNS).
The last time TNS failed to progress past the CL first round is 2007, so I'd say its likely they'll progress to the second qualifying round, the days of getting absolutely hammered by no-hopers seems to be in the past. I'd say the new ruling gives TNS at least 6 European games a yearQuote:
Originally Posted by Ger27
Things are different this year - they won't have the luxury of being able to play a team from San Marino, Gibraltar or Andorra as they'll go out in the preliminary group.Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
They'll almost certainly play one from the following countries: Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovakia, ROI, Georgia, Estonia, Montenegro, Lithuania, Armenia, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Faroes, Malta.
They're not going to be favourites against the first half of that list.
Who’s saying Merthyr would be admitted to the league ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Father Dougal
WPL teams might tell them to start in Welsh LeagueDiv 3 like Barry and Llanelli had to
Also in terms of having a team in the league, it sounds above idea, but we would face a similar problem.
Also from what I’ve seen the pitches are mostly crap.
Warnock wouldn’t like that.
Maybe better to play selected friendlies at the decent grounds
most pitches are now half decent in the WPL lawnmower
hey father Dougal noticed 2 barry players in the welsh futsal squad announced today ahead of there friendly with Andorra . my lad made it in too
https://twitter.com/WXMFutsal/status/998962518365233152