Normally at this time in the football season, titles, promotion and relegation are consistent topics of conversation across Wales. This year, it’s different, if and if so, when the 2019/20 season will be concluded.
An upbeat Wayne Jones, the Haverfordwest County manager, said: ‘The season has five games still to be played and a lot is up in the air over that.
“As a squad, we are currently maintaining our fitness during the enforced break, with the conclusion of the season now in the hands of others.
“It’s secondary in the whole perspective of what is happening currently worldwide, but at some stage, a decision has to be made, and as a Club our goal for this season was promotion back to the Cymru Premier; that may happen and we can do no more at this stage but to sit back and wait’.
While Jones metaphorically sits back and waits, giving time to reflect on the 2003/04 season which saw Haverfordwest County secure a top three finish in the Welsh Premier League, the highest the Pembrokeshire club – formed in 1897 – has ever achieved.
In the twelfth year of the National League, Rhyl took top spot by a point from TNS. The Bluebirds, managed by former Wales U21 defender Deryn Brace, thus qualified for the UEFA Cup, their inaugural campaign in Europe.
There are comparisons between the Brace era from 2003–2006 and to Jones’ own mantra, which sees Haverfordwest a point off leaders Swansea University in the inaugural Cymru South season, most notably they were defenders on the left side.
Brace was born in the County town, hailing from Tenby, before turning professional in 1993 with Norwich City. He would go on to spend six years with Wrexham, playing in over 100 league games, acquiring European experience in Cup Winners Cup alongside 10 under-21 caps for Wales.
Brace was released by Wrexham at the end of the 2000 season and arrived at the Bridge Meadow a year later after a season in the then League of Wales, firstly at Llanelli before transferring to Carmarthen Town, whom he left during the following season for the Bluebirds.
The following close season he was appointed player-manager of Haverfordwest, at the age of just 27, in doing so becoming the youngest manger in the League and it was his professionalism, ambition and drive which brought the European achievement on the pitch.
Fast forward fifteen years, and it’s that same psychology which Jones has brought to the dressing room alongside a no-nonsense, no hiding regime where the players’ own self-discipline allows the team to flourish.
Brace had the foresight to assemble a playing squad which mixed the local youth products showing promise with some seasoned campaigners, making shrewd signings to typify his ambition, one of whom was Jones, who arrived from his home town club of Carmarthen having made 136 appearances.
He had played for the Old Gold in the 2001 Inter Toto Cup, where they held Swedish giants AIK 0-0 in the first leg (at Park Avenue, Aberystwyth) before falling 3-0 in the return leg a week later. Alongside Jones on the team sheet for both games was midfielder Dean Rossiter and a non-playing substitute, Tim Hicks, both of whom hail from south Pembrokeshire and put pen to paper to sign for Brace.
Jones recalled the time when the Bluebirds were flying high and how the anticipation of European football had elevated the Clubs profile, with current veteran club secretary Barry Vaughan instrumental in the engagement with UEFA bringing the fixtures to fruition.
Embed from Getty ImagesGround criteria prevented the Bridge Meadow hosting the qualifying round game, it was instead played a hundred miles away in the capital city, at Ninian Park, then home of Cardiff City. ‘They were exemplary in their professionalism’ said Jones, ‘doing everything to make the game memorable for us as players and the supporters’,
With over 600 spectators making the voyage east from Pembrokeshire, the game ended in a 1-0 reverse thanks to a late effort from star striker Allan Borgvardt, a testament to Brace’s preparations, tactically and physically, that the game ended with just a solitary goal the difference. Borgvardt netted 29 times for the visitors in 43 games over his two years at the club.
Jones was in the starting line up alongside Rossiter and Hicks and another local player, former Narberth winger Dylan Blain, as Haverfordwest-based Lee Hudgell, Lee Walters, Haydn Ralph, Peter Blain and Nico Algeri made the substitutes bench and recalled “the excitement from within the camp from the time we received a phone call from Deryn informing us of our opponents, to the safe return from Iceland with our heads held high”
Local born teenager Hudgell, a second-half substitute in the first leg, made the starting XI in the game in Iceland and striker Hicks opened the scoring inside twenty minutes to level the tie 1-1 on aggregate.
It lasted less than two minutes before the hosts scored via an own goal, before going on to secure a 4-1 aggregate victory with a brace of second-half goals to end the Bluebirds’ European trail.
The domestic campaign that season didn’t match the previous one, with Haverfordwest finishing fourth, three points behind Bangor City in the quest for European places as TNS took the title back from Rhyl.
In the 2005/06 campaign, Brace relinquished the reigns as player-manager at the start of October as work commitments stood in his way of helping the team overcome a winless start to the campaign, the Tenby postman signed for Carmarthen Town as a player in mid-November and it was they who secured the European spot, with Haverfordwest finishing eighth.
A mid-table position was something they became accustomed to over the next four years, surviving the league restructure by virtue only of other clubs failing to achieve the required domestic licence in 2010.
The Bluebirds have wavered in the last decade, relegated in 2011 and again after just one season back in the top flight in 2016, providing a blueprint for a focused commitment to the youth academy.
This now provides an avenue for local talent to once again don the team’s colours with Academy Director Steve Batty overseeing the last four seasons, and the club are making good use of the youngsters in their quest for promotion.
“Upwards of thirty academy players have made senior team competitive fixtures, our target is to see these progress further,” said Batty.
“We’ve identified a strength and condition facet of our training, the goal of having a quarter of the age group squads perpetually reaching the Development side, which should bode well for the senior ranks.”
The required domestic licence has once again been granted, the off field acumen of chairman David Hughes, Vaughan and vice chairman Rob Davies, alongside new football secretary Julie Legrice, ensuring the process is ticked off as it has been in the four years since they were relegated.
It was in 2018 that Jones, who had previously been assistant manager at Aberystwyth Town, rejoined the coaching set-up under then manager Sean Cresser, taking the hot seat in early September with Tim Hicks remaining in his position as assistant player-manager
This is his second spell as manager following a three-year stint before leaving for the Black and Greens following relegation from the top flight.
He has guided the side this season to within touching distance of the top echelon of Welsh football and understands the importance of the club structure.
Batty further outlined where the Cymru Premier is more than just status, it brings financial incentives for the Academy to the tune of £100,000, allowing a permanent appointment of a Head of Youth Football to sit below the Academy Director.
The reality is that football becomes more than a game now for Haverfordwest, and the business acumen of the current Board of Directors is as prevalent off the pitch as the performances are on it.
Long term, Jones has outlined his vision to see European football at the Bridge Meadow, a ground that has hosted numerous international fixtures in recent years and would meet the current licence threshold.
“The off-field structure is in place for that to happen,” he said, “and it is a compliment to the work of Dave (Hughes), Barry (Vaughan) and Rob (Davies) alongside other club Directors which allows me to concentrate on the playing side.
“I value the input of Steve (Batty), Development Manager Ceri Phillips and my first team backroom staff of Tim (Hicks), veteran Mickey Ellis and coaches Mark Murison and James Devenold.
Haverfordwest County are sitting back and waiting, knowing a decision will be forthcoming on the season finale.
“I feel for Swansea University who have had their domestic licence application denied,” said Jones humbly.
“We all knew the success criteria before a ball was kicked and both teams have been in the mix all season as others have faded as the season ebbed beyond Christmas.
“We want promotion, undoubtedly with the Cymru South title beside our name,” said the NHS frontline worker, knowing the words of Liverpool manager Bill Shankly don’t ring true in these current times. Football is not more important than life or death.
(Featured Image: Haverfordwest County FC)
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