Longevity at the helm of a football club is a rare thing indeed in modern day football. The likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are the unicorns of management in a results-based business.
The saying goes that you either leave a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
In the eyes of Bala Town, Colin Caton could never be the villain for the service he has provided to the Lakesiders, and after 18 seasons in charge, the 49-year-old has no plans to step down just yet.
Another European campaign secured – their sixth in 12 top-flight seasons – seems a long way from where it all began in Caton’s Bala Town journey.
And it is a road that even he admits seems a little hard to believe even to this day.
“We still have a drink and talk about it now, but never in a million years did we ever think that we were going to achieve this,” Caton said.
“It wasn’t an attractive offer at the time, when I joined. When Nigel [Aykroyd] asked me to do it I tried to recommend 15 other people, he must have tried about 10 of them and he got fed up.
“He just asked me at that point because I’d just finished at Colwyn Bay, would I help him out and consider just taking training on a weekly basis and see how it went.
“That’s how it was for the first few years, I said I would take the training until they found somebody and here I am 18 years on.
“I had lost a bit of love for football really at Colwyn Bay, I had 12 years there and they were absolutely fantastic.
“The last few years I was there, it was difficult as the financial problems were there and it was quite tough times for the committee who I was really loyal to.
“I was going to take a year out and maybe join Ruthin, my local club, but Nigel Aykroyd had so much ambition for things, but we never ever dreamt that we’d have got to this stage.”
Building the club
Joining the Lakesiders in 2003, Caton’s impact doesn’t just stretch to results on the pitch.
Maes Tegid has undergone major structural improvements under his management, and the former Colwyn Bay defender’s friendship with chairman Aykroyd has pushed the club to unforeseen heights.
Whilst both have played their part in Bala’s development, Caton paid tribute to the voluntary help at the club.
The 49-year-old praised those that made sure the ground at Maes Tegid met all the necessary criteria throughout the Lakesiders rapid ascension to the Cymru Premier.
Caton added: “I’ve helped physically develop the ground as well, we haven’t just developed on the field,”
“From the first time I went there I sort of bonded a friendship with Nigel. The first thing he’d asked me was would I take Colwyn Bay there when I was manager with them for a pre-season friendly.
“I called up there and said we don’t mind coming as long as the pitch is quite good, and I went up there in the summer and the pitch was like a straw field.
“I said if you don’t sort the pitch out in the next few weeks, we won’t be able to come.
“We went there and it wasn’t very good but there were so many people willing to work there, there were so many voluntary helpers that wanted to drive the club on.
“It just got a hold of me really when I started taking the training. A group of volunteers and driven people within the town have achieved so much by progressing off the field as well.”
“The team grew so quickly that it was difficult for them to keep up with us, but they did, and they achieved everything fantastically well and there was lots of voluntary help.”
It took a significant amount of work to build upon the foundations of Maes Tegid, and the voluntary help at Bala achieved just that.
“Digging floodlight stanchions, putting paths around the ground, installing seats, going to Coventry City and taking the seats out of their ground and Shrewsbury’s old ground and putting them in Maes Tegid.
“Everybody thinks it’s a big cash injection from Nigel or the Aykroyd’s but it’s not, there’s so many people that work so hard there voluntarily to do all these jobs.
“It would have cost us a fortune to get all those jobs done without the voluntary help, so the club and myself have been fortunate that there’s been such a workmanlike committee there.”
European heartbreak
A second-placed league finish in 2014-15 had earned Bala a European spot for the following year, and a potential match-up with Turkish giants Trabzonspor awaited.
If they could get past Luxembourg side FC Differdange 03, that is.
Despite a 3-1 loss in Luxembourg with a freak heatwave and a red card to contend with, Bala Town’s fightback at the Belle Vue stadium appeared to have put them through.
Conall Murtaugh – now a first-team fitness coach with newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool – and Ian Sheridan had given the Lakesiders a 2-0 lead heading into stoppage time that would have sent them through on aggregate.
And with time drawing to a close, it would end in heartbreak for Caton’s side.
Omar Er Rafik’s shot rippled the back of the net to prevent Bala from progressing, and Caton has vivid memories of the entire experience.
“It was unbelievable really,” he continued.
“We played out in Luxembourg and I think the temperature was 42 degrees, when we went out there we couldn’t breathe.
“We had no air conditioning in the hotel which not many hotels did, it was just a freak crazy heatwave that was there.
“I remember that they had to bring us cold water towels which we’d requested, and we had a drinks break like the Premier League are currently doing.
“They brought us boiling hot towels to wipe ourselves down, which didn’t go down too well really.
“In the home leg we were fantastic, we did really well but it was just cruel.
“He mis-hit the shot and it had gone in, but it’s been a hard-luck story a few times in Europe, hopefully the draw can be kind to us with one-leg and hopefully we can progress and get through.”
Cup redemption
One of Caton’s best Lakesiders moments would undoubtedly be a famous Welsh Cup victory in the 2016-17 season.
Finally beating The New Saints for the first time after more than 30 attempts, Bala achieved cup success with a 2-1 victory at Bangor City’s Nantporth Stadium.
And Caton puts their victory down to losing that fear factor they had from the Cymru Premier giants the week before the final.
“We played them the week before in the league and I think we lost,” Caton said.
“We decided that we were going to go for it, not sit back and not be cautious, and just go for it.
“If we lose by seven or eight then we just do, but we lost 6-4 and we had played a young lad in goal – Ryan Goldston – who plays for Ruthin now and we really created chances.
“In the Cup final we went the same way and we just said let’s go for it. Everyone was so positive in the week building up to it, the lads wanted to go for it.
“We’d gained so much confidence by playing them in the previous week in terms of how many chances we’d created.
“We created more in that league game than we had in eight or nine previous games against them combined, so the fear factor had gone.
“We went in there and didn’t show them a lot of respect and thought there was only one team that was going to win it as the cup final went on. It was a great moment really.
“It didn’t sink in for weeks after, I was tired after the game, we all went for a night out just soaking it up really, but it didn’t sink in until weeks later.”
Lakesiders legacy
After 18 years involvement with the club, Caton has no desire to leave the legacy he has built any time soon.
Joy and heartbreak, success and defeat; Bala Town’s seemingly ever-present manager has experienced all of the ups-and-downs football has to offer.
With his family growing with him at the club, Caton is firmly focused on the task in hand with no signs of slowing down.
“I’ll continue until I’m wanted, and I’ll continue until I’ve still got my drive really,” he insisted.
“I’ve still got a massive drive for football. I’m from a football family and I’ve got my son who’s at Shrewsbury.
“He was on the bench a few times for the first team before Covid-19 arrived so that’ll be a difficult time when he starts breaking into first team football.
“That could maybe be the time when I pack things in, but he doesn’t want me to because he’s grown up behind the goal, he’s 17 now so he’s been there right from the start, standing behind the goal.
“From being in a pram behind the goal to standing there cheering the lads on, he gets a massive buzz for it, so he’d be distraught if I finished because he watches so many games with them being on a Friday night.
“We haven’t had many bad seasons at Bala so if the team decided [I should leave] as the results went against us or didn’t go for us then I’d be the first to walk away but hopefully we can still progress.
“While I’ve got my hunger, I don’t want to finish and I don’t want to pack it in.”
(Featured Image: Lewis Mitchell)
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