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Post by stu on Aug 26, 2011 17:45:19 GMT
Wow, well done to them. A dream draw considering they drew Spurs. This will well and truly put them on the map. Couldn't see any Scottish sides  |
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Post by saints19 on Aug 27, 2011 2:51:50 GMT
Lucky bastards. Spurs home and away plus Rubin Kazan, who are a top Russian side.
There is a real chance of a top WPL club emulating that. Shamrock Rovers got through by winning their CL Second Qualifying Round tie, then losing in the Third Qualifying Round and dropping into the Europa League play-offs. The same route is eminently possible for a WPL club.
TNS were fairly close to doing it last year. If they hadn't conceded those late goals in Sofia
(0-0 until 80 minutes), they'd have drawn the tie on aggregate albeit lost on away goals. It takes a kind draw - there are some very big clubs in the play-offs - but it can be done.
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Post by flynnfan on Oct 4, 2011 16:39:08 GMT
Following todays ruling pubs will now be able to show EPL games at 3pm saturdays. More people in Wales will be able to watch Man Utd, Liverpool, Everton, chelsea etc down the pub. This could affect WPL attendances (which, lets face it, are low enough as it is)
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Post by ontheroadagain on Oct 4, 2011 17:11:28 GMT
Having got up to date on this issue it seems that the important argument against is automatic relegation and promotion.
Other issues have to be substantiated by facts.
The Clubs, their fans, and the FAW have to investigate this issue very thoroughly.
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Post by newaddingtonwelsh on Oct 4, 2011 21:43:12 GMT
Following todays ruling pubs will now be able to show EPL games at 3pm saturdays. More people in Wales will be able to watch Man Utd, Liverpool, Everton, chelsea etc down the pub. This could affect WPL attendances (which, lets face it, are low enough as it is)
Isn't this the case now especially if you can still get the irish republic tv stations, I remember u could get the channel from the Holyhead area not sure now though?
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Post by ontheroadagain on Oct 4, 2011 21:46:57 GMT
Before my2p2 was taken down you could watch any EPL game when it was being played. And it was free.
Also the occasional Championship game and LoW
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Post by llannerch on Jan 9, 2012 11:36:18 GMT
dicmortimer.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/welsh-premier-league-201112/He's a good read about a whole host of matters but I was reminded of this recent piece with the thread about Welsh clubs/English European nominations and a post from leescratchpele that 'Swansea in the Premier League is good for Wales' - I don't believe this has actually been critiqued. It's a received wisdom thatjut gets repeated This article makes an effort at the very least
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Post by stu on Jan 9, 2012 18:26:21 GMT
Thanks for the link, it's a very good post and I agree with it whole heartedly.
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Post by flynnfan on Jan 9, 2012 21:49:00 GMT
Very good response jackanapes, and I tend to agree with you. If all Welsh clubs had been forced to play in the Welsh system 20 years ago, I fear we'd have the Irish situation: Domestic matches played in front of 2 men and their dogs, whilst thousands upon thousands travel to foreign countries to support 'their' teams. (and yes, I know many in Wales travel to watched ManUre, Liverpool etc already but it could be a lot worse)
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Post by llannerch on Jan 9, 2012 22:13:44 GMT
Very good response jackanapes, and I tend to agree with you. If all Welsh clubs had been forced to play in the Welsh system 20 years ago, I fear we'd have the Irish situation: Domestic matches played in front of 2 men and their dogs, whilst thousands upon thousands travel to foreign countries to support 'their' teams. (and yes, I know many in Wales travel to watched ManUre, Liverpool etc already but it could be a lot worse) And three World Cups and two European Championships in 22 years |
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Post by newaddingtonwelsh on Jan 9, 2012 22:32:30 GMT
"Deakin has been secretary since the league started - a role as thankless as toilet cleaner at Nandos and as popular as president of the Gary Glitter Fan Club."
Funny
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Post by flynnfan on Jan 9, 2012 22:32:31 GMT
And three World Cups and two European Championships in 22 years
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Yes, that's the possible pay off llannerch. Also, countries like Slovenia have a poor domestic league but their national team qualifies regularly. I said on the whole I agree with jackanapes response, but I'm not totally adverse to the idea of every Welsh team competeing in a Welsh domestic league in future. It would be great to see Wrexham in Europe again. And Swansea and Cardiff would be capable of making the champions league group stages (if Apeol Nicosia can reach the last 16 why not Swansea City?). But back in 1992, the stadiums, facilities, crowds etc were all so poor at every Welsh club, I fear forcing Cardiff to play the likes of Airbus would have been disasterous for club football in Wales. We certainly wouldn't have shiny new football stadiums in Cardiff and Swansea like we've got now. Going forward, if stadia, pitches, crowds etc can improve across the WPL, and a team like Bangor City can make the Europa league group stage, it may start to look a more attractive propistion for the 'exiles' in future.
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Post by Tim P on Jan 9, 2012 23:03:37 GMT
It just seems to simple to me.
Summer league that incorporates small 'alternative' Cardiff and Swansea clubs.
I think you could easily get 1,500 people at Bangor to watch Cardiff Athletic on a summer's afternoon.
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Post by saints19 on Jan 10, 2012 0:01:01 GMT
The idea that Cardiff or Swansea are strangling the development of the league is idiotic. There are no english league clubs in North Wales but the clubs there suffer the same problems of attendance etc. But casual/potential fans of Bangor City, Caernarfon Town, Rhyl and others will happily watch a Welsh team in the Premiership on TV instead of going to their local game. I reckon Swansea's promotion could well have been a factor in lower WPL crowds this year. It's irrelevant that these clubs are North Wales clubs and Swansea are a South Wales club, the fans will identify with their Welshness just as if Cardiff were in the Premiership. Arguing against that is like saying there shouldn't be any Man United or Liverpool fan North Wales because they are not North Wales based, but we all know there are thousands of them in that area. For God's sake, Everton have a fanbase in that area from the days of Neville Southall. Even very tenuous links to Wales will get you casual fans. It is obvious to me that WPL crowds suffer from successful Welsh Football League clubs. Whether that is a good or bad thing for Welsh football overall is debateable, I would say it has probably been beneficial for the senior men's team, but if all our teams were playing in the Welsh setup, we would certainly have a much stronger league; probably comparable to the Irish one and enjoying relatively good European runs. Overall it's a mixed blessing for Welsh football. |
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Post by newaddingtonwelsh on Jan 10, 2012 0:34:30 GMT
Liverpool has very strong links with North Wales & always has its not only because of big Nev playing for Everton "Liverpool's name is thought to have come from 'Lle'r pwll' - that is 'the place of the pool'."Almost a quarter of the city’s population towards the end of the 19th century, around 80,000, were Welshmen drawn across the border by the promise of work.
Around the city, in places such as Anfield, Walton, Vauxhall and Scotland Road, are rows of Victorian terraced properties with Welsh places names like Denbigh Road, Snowdon Lane and Barmouth Way."
"Liverpool and its satellite towns like Bootle and Crosby had a large Welsh speaking population at the beginning of the twentieth century. It had a larger Welsh speaking presence than Cardiff or Swansea, Wrexham or Newport. "www.freewebs.com/lancs/merseysidelancashire.htm" Five questionnaire respondents were the third generation of their family to live in Liverpool. The 45 year old internal auditor, whose grandparents left Wales more than a century ago, considers herself to be Welsh, is equally happy speaking either Welsh or English and considers chapel to be of the utmost importance in the social, business and cultural life of the Welsh in Liverpool. The 86 year old whose parents were born in Liverpool prefers speaking Welsh to English and considers herself Welsh"www.liverpool-welsh.co.uk/DISSERTATION.pdf |
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Post by stu on Jan 10, 2012 11:12:37 GMT
The ability for teams to play in the english pyramid and gain access to greater finances is one of the few benefits Wales gets from the union. I tell you what is garbage, this. ^^^ Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Cyprus, Austria, Antigua, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, China, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. These are all independent countries and they all have at least one team playing in another countries league. If Scotland were to go independent then there is no way they would kick the inglish out of their league. In fact Berwick Rangers are probably more Scottish than a lot of Scottish teams. |
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Post by alarch on Jan 10, 2012 11:39:29 GMT
The most fundamental flaw in the argument for forcing those Welsh teams currently playing in the English pyramid to play in the WPL is that it would be an attempt to limit ambition. If the likes of Man U and Real Madrid had the chance they would already be playing in an European League. They see national boundaries as an impediment to their ambitions as much as Swansea and Cardiff. The best level of competition available to these Welsh sides just happens to be the EPL and Football League - so it makes absolute sense for them to be a part of it. The fact that the league is ostensibly English is irrelevant. It could just as easily incorporate teams from France or the Netherlands. The only concern for the Welsh clubs is to play at the highest level of competition available to them - and rightly so. To force them to play in the WPL takes a point of principle to a ludicrous extreme - that is reminiscent of Hoxha's Albanian isolationist regime.
If there is one valid criticism of the likes of Swansea and Cardiff - it's that they haven't done enough to spread the net in developing local talent. Swansea in particular have been disinclined to look beyond the Swansea Bay area. Which may explain why Ceredigion has never (to my knowledge) produced an international player of not, and also explains why the likes of Tom Bradshaw is picked up from Aberystwyth by Shrewsbury rather than the Swans. There are signs that things are improving (Gwion Edwards from Lampeter is a regular in the Swans reserves - and getting positive reports).
Personally, I would like to see Swansea and Cardiff in particular working much more closely with the WPL clubs on their "turf". This is the way forward - not putting some artificial restraint on the ambitions of our top clubs.
There is also room to criticise the lack of ambition of WPL clubs. Aberystwyth in particular is well placed geographically to be a national centre of sorts. If Wrexham can get Glyndwr Uni to buy the Racecourse is it beyond the bounds of possibility for Aberystwyth to work with the Uni and the council to develop a new stadium - perhaps on the University Blaendolau fields? This would be the ideal venue for the Welsh cup final (unlike the ludicrous situation of playing at Llanelli on the south Wales coast), and age-group internationals.
Whatever the future for Welsh football we want it to be shaped by the ambitious not by those wishing to put up artificial barriers limiting the potential of clubs.
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Post by llannerch on Jan 10, 2012 13:44:43 GMT
Dutch teasm used to play in the lower reaches of the Bundesliga until they set up their own league of entirely amateur sides. Within 40 years they were competing in the finals of world cups and have been the greatest exporter of playing and coaching talent on the planet ever since
Maybe they were limiting their ambition by doing this. Maybe they were untapping it.
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Post by newaddingtonwelsh on Jan 10, 2012 18:28:24 GMT
"There is also room to criticise the lack of ambition of WPL clubs. Aberystwyth in particular is well placed geographically to be a national centre of sorts. If Wrexham can get Glyndwr Uni to buy the Racecourse is it beyond the bounds of possibility for Aberystwyth to work with the Uni and the council to develop a new stadium - perhaps on the University Blaendolau fields? This would be the ideal venue for the Welsh cup final (unlike the ludicrous situation of playing at Llanelli on the south Wales coast), and age-group internationals." The reason could be that Aberystwyth University could be in alliance with Bangor in the future www.aberguild.co.uk/en/blogs/president/484-bangorystwyth-just-a-leighton-pipe-dreamwww.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12536395 |
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Post by flynnfan on Jan 10, 2012 19:32:15 GMT
"There is also room to criticise the lack of ambition of WPL clubs. Aberystwyth in particular is well placed geographically to be a national centre of sorts. If Wrexham can get Glyndwr Uni to buy the Racecourse is it beyond the bounds of possibility for Aberystwyth to work with the Uni and the council to develop a new stadium - perhaps on the University Blaendolau fields? This would be the ideal venue for the Welsh cup final (unlike the ludicrous situation of playing at Llanelli on the south Wales coast), and age-group internationals."
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100% agree.
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Post by flynnfan on Jan 20, 2012 12:47:05 GMT
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Post by newaddingtonwelsh on Jan 20, 2012 13:00:51 GMT
Don't some WPL clubs have 'arrangements' with English clubs including Prem clubs?
Don't think so llanerch
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Post by bale-droed on Jan 20, 2012 15:18:33 GMT
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Post by stu on Jan 20, 2012 20:24:28 GMT
The main problem I see with a reserve team in the Welsh league would be in bringing players in and out of both teams. At the moment a player can play for the reserve team, then the full team and back to the reserve team as often as they like.
If the club had it's reserve team in another countries league then what would happen? Would they have to wait for the transfer window? Would they need Fifa clearance.
That for me is the main hurdle. I think the WPL clubs would acccept if they were guaranteed a bigger gate. But then summer footie would give them a bigger gate too and they ain't rushing for that.
The euro slots would have to remain with the WPL clubs no matter what the exile reserves did and what would happen if the exile reserves ran away with the league. It would become a massive joke.
One idea I suggested in the other thread was introducing a draft system like they do in the states.
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Post by flynnfan on May 16, 2012 17:21:45 GMT
Bored already...
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2012 17:49:14 GMT
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Post by flynnfan on May 16, 2012 17:52:33 GMT
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Post by stu on May 24, 2012 18:19:28 GMT
A few of our politicos are meeting about the Welsh league, had a quick twitter chat with Bethan Jenkins AM and I knocked this graph up to compare the Welsh league and the Irish leagues coefficient ranking in Europe over the past 15 years. /photo/1/largeInitially I thought it was to do with our petition but there's another investigation into the league. So that makes two now. |
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Post by flynnfan on May 25, 2012 0:14:55 GMT
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Post by stu on May 25, 2012 5:34:33 GMT
Apparently Llanelli fans are mainly FOR a move to a summer league and they want more 3G pitches. Although if they did switch to a summer league they wouldn't need 3G pitches.
It's also worth noting that Swansea reserves play in Parc Y Scarlets so Llanelli are also competing for support against them too. Without trying to be direspectful the quality in a premier league reserve match is probably higher than most WPL games.
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