After suffering playoff heartbreak, questions will be asked of Bala Town after failing to qualify for Europe.
For the first time in five years, Bala Town won’t be representing the Welsh Premier League in Europe.
Despite strong recruitment of players this season, this Bala Town team have underperformed in regards to their domestic performance this season. The only positives of the season being the individual performances of Henry Jones and Steven Tames.
The writing was on the wall at the start of the season when they suffered a humiliating defeat to Sammarinese minnows Tre Fiori in the UEFA Europa League preliminary rounds.
So what next for the Lakesiders?
A change in direction?
This was Bala’s lowest finish in the League for five years. The Lakesiders have stagnated since their Welsh Cup win.
Colin Caton has been at the club for a long time and has taken them on a remarkable journey. In 2004 they won the Premier Division of the Welsh National League, before qualifying for the Europa League nine years later. They also won the Wesh Cup for the first time in their history in 2017. It has to be reminded that Bala holds a population of just 2000 people, so the job that Colin Caton has done is remarkable.
But have Bala and Colin Caton taken each other far as they can?
The blame isn’t necessarily at the feet of the manager for this season’s failure but a change in management could be an option to consider as they aim to get back in Europe at the earliest chance.
Another take though could be that this season’s failure could reinvigorate the squad and management staff to come back even stronger next season.
Their key players?
Bala will face a huge challenge in keeping their best players after this seasons failure. Henry Jones who had the second most assists in the League this season, joined the club having been chased for a long time by manager Colin Caton.
Another star summer signing was Steven Tames. The 27-year-old was the third top goal scorer in the Welsh Premier League this Eason and proved to be a big miss in the final.
There was no attacking threat from either side from open play. Tames potency going forward would have benefitted them.
Both Jones and Tames will not be short of interest this summer, both in the Welsh Premier League and from the English non league scene.
And that’s just the attack. Despite conceding 63 goals this season, Andrew Burns and Sean Smith have also been impressive at the back this season. The two show a good balance of attack and defence, putting in a number of assertive performances.
Bala captain Chris Venables is one of the MVP’s in the league too. Important discussions will need to be held with a number of players who could see their future away from the Gwynedd.
It will be a test of Bala’s resolve to keep persuade their key players to stay at Maes Tegid.
The European money
Not getting that minimum of a £192,000 windfall for Bala will mean possible changes.
Getting that European money means the world to clubs as it can be reinvested into the club. There was a time that Bala were challenging for the Welsh Premier League title with The New Saints, but those plans will now be on hold as they assess a charge to get back into Europe.
For Cardiff Metropolitan, they will be able to invest the money into their already impressive facilities for a Student based team.
Underperforming below others
It could be argued that their squad was somewhat better than those who finished above them.
Caernarfon were newcomers to the division but secured the highest placed finish of the playoff contenders. It wasn’t to be for the Canaries as they fell to eventual winners Met, but they didn’t overhaul their squad majorly to achieve their personal success.
Newtown are another side who had to deal with a number of key players leaving over the last few years and haven’t replaced them with the same quality they had from previous years. The Robins though still finished in the top six and had a tremendous run at their Latham Park home this season.
(Featured Image: Matthew Lofthouse)
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