The new Haverfordwest County Football Club Chairman, Rob Edwards, a lifelong Leyton Orient fan gave a candid and transparent reflection when he spoke over the weekend to Jonathan Twigg, for Y Clwb Pel Droed.
He quickly allayed any Welsh connection to his surname, hailing from the East End of London where the family association to their local Club is long-standing. ‘My first game was a 1-0 win for the O’s against Chester in the 1990/91 season’ explained Edwards and ‘I’ve been a season ticket holder for twenty-eight years’.
A businessman based in the UK’s capital city, has interests in sport that go beyond football, where he is part owner of a horse racing club and syndicate, but it is football which triggers the emotions most for him.
“My dad took me to the Chester game, following a family tradition when my granddad took him’ and that loyalty remains to a Club which is firmly ensconced in the local community.”
That is where he sees a similarity to the Bluebirds, who await this week the direction from the Football Association of Wales as to whether they will be playing in the top echelon next season.
Football is stepping tentatively back into the unknown and the impact will be felt across grass roots football, whatever form that takes if, but hopefully when, that happens. ‘
“If maybe that Cymru Premier football follows its English counterparts and must be played behind closed doors’ a prospect Edwards acknowledges will impact on Haverfordwest but not one which daunts him, and his business plan is flexible to adapt to that scenario.
“I have been interested in becoming involved with a non-league football Club for a while, with interest expressed with Clubs in the South of England’ said Edwards.
The opportunity afforded by Haverfordwest quickly became a reality’. Once introductions had been brokered the synergy that existed between both parties grew, former Chairman David Hughes, a Director since 2006 the nominated Club link.
‘Haverfordwest County as a Club are in a good place; financially stable with committed personnel in place to support the football on the Bridge Meadow’, with manager Wayne Jones receiving the full support of his new Chairman’.
Edwards issued a statement through the Club on Friday (May 29) which was well received, and he was lucid in allaying any fears around his arrival and the reasons for it.
“‘I want to take the Club forward. I have a blank canvas, but I can reassure everyone that the Club and its assets are secure, and I honoured that when putting pen to paper, and it is within my blueprint to see a fans representative on the Board of Directors in due course’.
There was an amicable change of direction last week, when the current Board of Directors resigned their positions allowing Edwards to pick up the chalice, although Hughes and Vice Chairman Rob Davies remain in an advisory capacity during the transition.
“New appointments will be forthcoming soon as I don’t have all the skills or experience necessary to steer the ship’ explained Edwards, who is respectful of the Welsh Government guidance in place and is keeping his distance at present from Haverfordwest.
Once there is a return to a more normal society it is his intention to spend time at the Club headquarters and fully audit what requirements are needed before the initial scratchings on his blank canvas are made.
Haverfordwest is as far west as he could travel from London, his awareness of the Club initially only through the results channelled through the national media.
Very quickly the history associated to the Club struck an empathy with him, triggered by those initial conversations with Hughes and many others involved with the only Club in Pembrokeshire playing in the Welsh football national league set up.
“To be involved with a Club in the higher levels of its countries national league pyramid was exciting, as is the prospect of European football,” said the O’s fan.
for Edwards, who has his own aims and objectives for the next five years to develop ‘project Bluebirds’.
Leyton Orient, with whom Edwards is a Director on the Trust, maybe a watermark, the community relationship important to see the club grow and develop its full potential.
“This club is embedded in the local community, but we need it to be seven days a week and to provide a pathway for local players to progress’ he explained. ‘
Recent club initiatives need to be rekindled which will strengthen the positive community links’, a cornerstone for Edwards as he takes the tentative steps to nudge awake a sleeping giant, with a commitment to having a fans representative on the Directors Board in due course.
There is an intention to support Jones and his squad on the pitch, any tinkering left to the manager and his backroom staff, whose qualifications and education were acknowledged by the new chairman, who is half the age of the previous incumbent and at the forefront of business life in the UK.
The Bridge Meadow is one of the best stadiums outside the Premier League but like everything, needs to continually develop and that is a second priority he has highlighted as he looks to work with key partners associated to the Club.
“If the opportunity arises for European football then I want that to happen in Haverfordwest and not in a town or City elsewhere in Wales. The name and history of the Club is special, and the Bridge Meadow needs to become a fortress.
Visiting teams can come and enjoy the facilities and pitch we provide, but they will have to battle hard to take anything away from us’ emphasised Edwards, although he was keen to highlight just what a successful football club could do for the local area in these surreal times.
There has been no ‘Eureka’ moment in this process, Edwards subtly likening his new role to perhaps ‘the mothership calling him home’ despite him not being aware of any Welsh ancestry. That would bode well for Academy Director Steve Batty and his understudy Ceri Phillips, who have developed a structure to dovetail seamlessly into the Club foundations. The current under nineteen squad, young in terms of age have opportunities to play in the first team and that is a passionate indictment expressed by Edwards. The opportunities for the Town of Haverfordwest and Pembrokeshire are firmly at the forefront of the Club and is an area of growth which Edwards would like to establish quickly.
In six weeks, the London based businessman has fallen in love with Haverfordwest, despite not having set foot within its hinterland.
“I will be present on a regular basis despite the distance involved and I firmly believe in the power of sport to improve life chances.”
That mantra could be music to the ears of the football fraternity in West Wales allowing Edwards the warmest of welcomes below the Preseli hillsides, his march one which could gather momentum in the next six weeks and beyond.
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