Oxford94 Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Full Name: Bala Town Football Club Nickname: The Lakesiders or Lakers Founded: 1880’s Ground: Maes Tegid Capacity 4000 (364 seated) Season Ticket Holders: 12 Estimated Value: £150k Media Prediction: 12th (bottom of the league) A History Bala's early history is not well documented but first memories are of a team in the early 1880s playing games on the Lake foreshore. After Bala formed 2 teams, Bala North End and Bala South End who competed until 1897 when a team called Bala Thursdays was formed and played on Castle Park (the present cricket field). The Bala Press Team was established then in the 1900s and became one of the best amateur sides in North Wales winning many trophies including the Dolgellau Cup and Cambrian Coast League (no dates are available). The local Bragdy Cup was first played for by local teams in the early 1930s and this competition is still alive and flourishing today. The first available League status record is of Bala playing in the Welsh National League North Division 2 East in 1921/22 Season – no further league records are to hand. Bala were still playing at Castle Park where one of the most epic games in the Club's history was played in 1946 against Shrewsbury Town of the Midland Football League in the 4th round of the Welsh Senior Cup. Bala held their illustrious opponents to a 1–1 draw. In the early 50's Bala then moved to the adjacent Maes Tegid where they have maintained since and played in the Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) from 1950–54. They rejoined the Cambrian Coast League in 1954 and were League Runners-up in 1957/58. They had a treble winning season in 1958/59 winning League, Cup and Mid Wales Cup. They were again runners up in 1960/61 before being Champions again in 1962/63. The Club then re-entered the Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) in 1963/64 and have been ever present in the League since then. Bala were Division 2 Champions in 1967/68 and were promoted to Division 1 for the 1968/69 season. They remained in the top division for 20 years until relegated in 1987/88 season. By now Division 1 had been re-named the Premier Division therefore Bala were again in Division 1 after relegation. They won the Division 1 Championship in 1989/90 but after promotion to the Premier League were relegated back after 1990/91 and further dropped to Division 2 in 1992/93 when the Reserves Team folded due to lack of support. They were promoted to Division 1 for 1995/96 Season and won the Division 1 Championship in 1997/98 to be promoted to the Premier Division where they remained until Premier Division Champions in 2003/04, and promoted to the Cymru Alliance League for 2004/05 Season. Bala won the NEWFA Challenge Cup in 2004 with an extra time victory over Buckley Town at Cefn Druids. In their first season in the Cymru Alliance 2004/05 the club finished in a very creditable 4th place, reached the Quarter Final of the Welsh Senior Cup, were losing finalists against Buckley Town in the NEWFA Challenge Cup Final held at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, and won the Cymru Alliance League Cup. The Youth Team also reached the Semi-Final of the Welsh Youth Cup. A momentous year for the Maes Tegid club under the Managerial guidance of Colin Caton. The club finished in 7th position in the Cymru Alliance 2005/6 and lost on penalties in the Final of the League Cup. The Reserves however had a momentous double winning season as Champions of Div 2 WNL Wrexham area and also winning the League Cup. Floodlights will be installed for the 2006/7 season and further spectator stand extensions are also being carried out. The Management team of Colin Caton and Steve Crompton have now been replaced by new manager Oxford94 and the club has high hopes of further success in the year to come. Starting Squad GK Leon Bimpson DF Brett Jefferies DF Danny Jellicoe DF Steve Fisher DF Mark Harris DF Shaun Kelly DF Mark Powell DF John Irving MF Paul Ennis MF Robert Evans MF Owain Roberts MF Mark Jones MF Osian Jones MF Gethin Lloyd MF Danny Williams FW Ross Jefferies FW Steve Fisher FW Josh Macauley FW Chris Mason Not including Youth players which will be mentioned if and when necessary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenwhitearmy Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Good luck mate, You'll enjoy managing in Wales! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Thanks greenwhitearmy, i hope too! Quick Update: No Transfers in or out yet and not many plans too bring many in due to lack of finance. Unless brought in on frees Pre Season: Just the two friendlies, resulting in 2 losses, 1-2 to Welling and also 1-3 To Armagh. Not really too concerned though as many youth players were used across these fixtures. Will update monthly through the season with a small summary of each match Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Principality Welsh Prem: Bala Town 2-1 Newtown AFC Osian Jones scored a great header in the 8th minute to put us ahead we were then pegged back in the 50 minute, we then scored through our young winger Paul Ennis in the 86th minute with a tap in from a few yards, scored with a bit of fortune in the end. An unexpected great start to the season and we are way on our way to achieving this seasons objective of survival! Attendance: 20 Neil Carroll brought in on a free transfer, 21 year old central midfielder - looks promising Principality Welsh Prem: Bala Town 0-2 Port Talbot Town We deservedly lost this one and were never really in the game due to the gulf in class between the two sides, we were lucky to lose by only 2 in the end really considering they had over 20 shots compared to our measley 5 with none on target. Never really looked like scoring, oh well, on to the next game. Attendance: 15 Principality Welsh Prem: Airbus UK 2-0 Bala Town We deservedly lost this one and were never really in the game due to the gulf in class between the two sides, we were lucky to lose by only 2 in the end really considering they had over 24 shots compared to our measley 6 with only 1 on target. Never really looked like scoring, oh well, on to the next game. Exactly the same as the last game, identical. Attendance: 88 An ok start to the season, we should be ok come the end. Current Position: 10th Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSYoungEsq Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Another Welsh game! Good luck! Bala are a challenge; they often are one of the first relegated clubs when AI managed. ETA: Currently, this is my 1000th post. A very good thread to put it in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Thanks DSYoungEsq, id hope to prevent them from getting relegated! Principality Welsh Prem: Llanelli AFC 4 -0 Bala Town Third game in a row without a goal worryingly. Another demolition with 2 penalties really adding to the scoreline to make it a lot worse than it actually was. Attendance: 222 Principality Welsh Prem: Prestatyn 1 -1 Bala Town Chris Mason popped up in the 10th minute to give us an early lead in this one. The second half was dominated by Prestatyn and they deserved their equalizer in the 51st minute of the game. Good point away from home, any points are with this team! Attendance: 103 Principality Welsh Prem: Bala Town 0-1 Camarthen When you are drawing 0-0 at home and the opposition receive a red card in the 79th minute, you at least expect to pick up a point. But instead in the 86th minute, poor marking led to Carmarthen taking all 3 points. Attendance: 40 Current League Position: 11th Manager Comment: This season will be very much a battle for 11th place as it seems, But hopefully if we could bring a few in in January we could do better. Winger Paul Ennis is also on fine form at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Principality Welsh Prem: Haverfordwest 3 -0 Bala Town Wasn’t really expecting to get anything and so getting beat 3-0 wasn’t at all surprising, could have been a lot more really. Attendance: 225 Principality Welsh Prem: Bala Town 0-0 TNS A bore draw, but couldn’t be happier against arguably the best team in the division. Clean sheet mainly down to the incredibly defensive formation we played! Not far off of Craig Leivein’s famous 4-6-0 formation put out in a Scotland game. Attendance: 24 Principality Welsh Prem: Neath 3 -1 Bala Town Lost this one down to Neath’s key man Lee Trundle, formerly of Swansea City getting 2 goals which in the end was the difference between the two sides. Chris Mason managed to get us a goal on 50 minutes but was quickly cancelled out by an O.G by winger Paul Ennis. Attendance: 60 Welsh League Cup: Bala Town 1-2 Carmarthen Osain Jones popped up in the 53rd minute to equalize for us sending the majority of the 40 crowd wild. But unfortunately in the 83rd minute a mistake at the back caused us to be knocked out of the cup. I’m not worried though because this cup wasn’t a priority. Attendance: 40 Principality Welsh Prem: Aberystwyth 2 -2 Bala Town So back to the hard graft of the league and the struggle. It seemed to be back to usual when after only 3 minutes, we went behind. We then got back on terms with a 56th minute Shaun Kelly goal and then even more amazingly went ahead in the 61st minute through Brett Jefferies. The excitement only lasted a few minutes when Aberystwyth got a 64th minute equalizer but we were quite happy to come away with a point on reflection. Attendance: 281 Current League Position: 11th Manager Comment: Can’t see where the next win is going to come from and we haven’t won on the road yet this season, despite this we are still being propped up by Newtown at the bottom of the league who are unfortunately beginning to pick up a few points. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebirds4life Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Hey mate By the way I speak Welsh your title dosen't make sense, tell me what it's meant to say in English and I'll translate then you can tell a mod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Hey mateBy the way I speak Welsh your title dosen't make sense, tell me what it's meant to say in English and I'll translate then you can tell a mod Yeah, that may be down to google translate really :L it was something like 'a wilful man must have his way' to be honest i just wanted a welsh sounding title. But if it actually made sense it would be an improvement so id be happy if you could give me the actual translation .... who would i contact in terms of changing the thread name by the way? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSYoungEsq Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 The good news is that, if you can hang onto 11th or so, things get a bit easier once the League is divided into the Relegation group and you only have to play the last 10 games home-and-home against the other teams in 7th to 12th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Yeah, that may be down to google translate really :L it was something like 'a wilful man must have his way' to be honest i just wanted a welsh sounding title. But if it actually made sense it would be an improvement so id be happy if you could give me the actual translation .... who would i contact in terms of changing the thread name by the way? For changing the your thread name just ask in the Mod's request thread which is located here Good luck in the Welsh Prem I used to watch alot of it when Rhyl were in the Welsh Prem so will be following this closely! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 I will consider changing the name of the thread soon and btw i didnt know about the league dividing in to two so thanks for that. November Update Most important game of the month! League Table Manager Comment: Vital, vital result against Newtown and was made even better by the lateness of the final goal and also the fact that we only had 3 shots on target and they all went in! We seem on course for safety and our strikers are actually starting to score a few which always helps! Currently only being propped up by Newtown and long may it continue! * edit to readers: better or worse layout than previous updates? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 December 2010 Match of the Month (the only win) Match Comment: Unbelievable result considering that we went down to 10 men! League Table Manager Comment: We have now reach the rather dizzy heights of 10th in the league but its an improvement and with us looking to bring a couple of players in (probably on frees although i have a mighty budget of 1.5k) in the january transfer window. Who knows how far we can go this season now. Some stats: Top league Goalscorer: Chris Mason -5 Highest Average Rating: Osian Jones - 6.83 Current Average Attendance: 24 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Nice to see your improving, hopefully you can climb higher and knock airbus down a spot to help your survival bid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Thanks BWG but i think it may be a bit premature to say that im improving. see below January 2011 New Signings Alan King cost £0 Robert McCormick cost £1k Results League Table Manager Comment: Well, we got a draw and we're still in the cup so it could be worse, we could be bottom and out of the cup i guess. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 New Signings! Signed on 1st of Feb and just thought i would add him in as he is twice as good as our previous keeper! Signed on the 2nd of Feb, also much better than our current right midfielder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 February & March League Table Manager Comment: we are still surviving. Dont know what it is about Airbus but we always seem to get results against them at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSYoungEsq Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 You are home. That's 4 games left, with a 6 pt. cushion. Absent something spectacular out of Newton, whom you play at home, you should do fine. Good to see Prestatyn are staying up, too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I've seen more people at a funeral then the number that attend your home games! What was your lowest attendance? 20? Fingers crossed you can stay up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Thanks DSYoungEsq we should stay up! ......... I know AK22! we have a core support of about 10! Vital end of season results: Vital Game no 1 (how it panned out) Vital game no 2 So important that both these games were won because at the end of the previous 2 games, we were bottom of the league and staring relegation in the face. This is why these two wins were absolutely vital especially the result against Newtown which if lost could have swung the final result the other way aswell. Also AK22 you may notice that we had our lowest attendance at just 14 against Newtown bu they all came flooding back for the final game of the season. On another note, the lateness of the goals were simply incredible. Survived by an almighty 6 points in the end! although it seemed that it was going to be a lot closer at one stage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrbfcrule Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Congratz on staying up Your attendances are pretty funny Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Congrats on survival good luck for the new season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Thanks BWG and hrbfcrule, heres the latest news. Ohh great another 600 empty seats. :confused: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Transfers + Pre Season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 First Half of the Season Current Best Team according to the Ass Man Results League Table A much more promising start than the previous season. Although our aim officially is to avoid relegation again i would put our aim as finish in the top 6. We have had a few really promising wins against top sides such as TNS and our squad is much much stronger than last season. *sorry for the low quality - pictures were rushed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Nice to see your having a better season, with a couple of signings you can probably crack top 6 quite easy as there is not much difference between the mid table teams. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSYoungEsq Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Work really hard to retain 6th place. If you get 6th at the 22 game split, you have the ability to do anything you want for results after that, and you always finish 6th at worst, even if 7th and 8th place teams gain more points. Then, you get the home field advantage in the playoff play-in game with the 7th place team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Well done on staying up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Well done on staying up. Looking promising for this season. Those 600 extra seats are just what you needed! Planning for the future! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Thank for all the comments. Last games before the split! League Table! Nearly went all 6 games unbeaten, we didnt but we secured our place in the champions group Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Final Games of the Season Final League Table Not a great way to end the season but a great improvement on last season. im assuming there are games to contest for european places coming up so i shall wait for those and do game by game updates when it is drawn and they have been played Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Oh great we have drawn Neath away in the semi final. Thats just what we need Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 This was just unbelievable. Our first win over Neath in all 9 of the games that we had played against them since i took over the role as manager (possible helped though by the fact they had 2 players sent off....) It then got even better..... Unbelievably a win on penalties, this was just way beyond my expectations this season. And to top it all off Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 That's a strange name. Are you a robot? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 That's a strange name. Are you a robot? yes of course, nothing to do with my forum name at all Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Season 3 Pre Season Some really high quality signings brought in here, possibly lured in by the prospect of european football especially some of the young welsh strikers that i have brought in. Craig Nelthorpe is a name which is familiar to me as i have seen him play for oxford a few times a few years back. A vicious winger with a bad temper. (perhaps demonstrated by his aggression rating of 20!) A rather amazing pre season and european adventure took place. We were handed a tough draw in Latvia against a team i'd never heard of with mysteriously high rated 'grey' players. We lost 4-2 and all seemed over but i was quietly optimistic that coming to Maes Tegid would not be as easy as the home leg for them. I was proved right when we stunned them in a 4-0 incisive victory. Up next was Celik (who?) who over the 2 legs beat us comfortably, although on reflection we would have got absolutely murdered by AS Nancy Lorraine if we were to get through to the 3rd qualifiying round. In the end it was a short adventure but a thoroughly enjoyable one which raised over 100k and saw the clubs record attendances smashed in the process. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballedgend Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 what are your attendances now you must be dominating wales now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 what are your attendances now you must be dominating wales now Amazingly our attendances are still the lowest and around 67 on average. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Start To the Season We made an absolutely amazing start to the domestic season going the first 8 games unbeaten and reeally battering a few teams in the process such as beating Bangor City 4-1with our new strikeforce of David Goldsmith and Leon Newell absolutely tearing them up. Although there was a dodgy patch in the middle where we lost quite unexpectably to a few teams (apart from Neath who have gone back to being our bogey team!) Despite this little run of bad results we remained top of the league after winning the last few to stay on track. If we can keep this sort of form up throughout the season, who knows? Champions of Wales and a Champions league Adventure? Poor old poor old Barry, what have they let themselves in for by getting promoted? I wonder whether they will actually win a game this season, or even record a point?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Run up to the League Split Was unbeaten in this small period of 6 games, bit dissapointed with the 0-0 away draw with Prestatyn but oh well, shouldnt complain. We are still on course to achieve our first ever title win and the games will only get tougher after the split as we will be playing all of the teams around us at the top which will really test our title credentials. Now a mighty 12 points clear at the top! surely we can hold on to this now. My thoughts are with Barry who are still yet to win a game this season. But at least theyve picked up 2 points they are now just 5 dropped points away from the dreaded relegation! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Hawker Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Out of curiosity , who did Barry draw against? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Out of curiosity , who did Barry draw against? Airbus and Afan Lido mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Having a great season so far. Should be a shoe-in for the title surely. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 End to the Season A real mixed bag of results in this seasons Champions Group. There was a crazy start to the run in with a 6-3 defeat to Aberstywyth. Shipping these 6 goals really made me question our defensive capabilities and i proceeded to switch it around a bit to make us a bit tighter at the back. This payed off in the next fixture at home to TNS as we went on to keep a clean sheet and win the game confortably 2-0. This was followed by a couple of 1-1 draws. In the next 6 games, we were inconsistent winning 3 and losing 3 although this didnt make any difference to the clubs title credentials. We've done it! Champions of Wales! a great season in which the title was won quite comfortably in the end by 9 points. Although the money for actually finishing top of the Welsh League is only a measly few thousand. The prospect of playing in the Champions League Qualifiers is great and there is a lot of money being banded about in that competition. To do this in our 3rd season is just great and it is by far Bala Towns highest ever league positioning. Roll on next year and hopefully another league title as we loook to enhance the reputation of the Welsh league and also more importantly ourselves in our challenge to one day make the Champions League Group Stages. Also a word for the mighty Barry, who managed to record a 1-0 victory over Prestatyn to end a barren run which stretched over a 25 game period. Another great note, Won manager of the year for the second year running. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Champions! Well done! Better get prepared for the inevitable bashings you're going to get in the Champs League! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrbfcrule Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Congratz on winning the league Also congratz to Barry who managed to win a game \o/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Congrats on the title win, hope you enjoy the experience of the champions league next season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Thanks for all the comments. Pre-Season Quite a few new faces brought in for the coming season and a few un-needed players gone out. My favourite player brought in has to be 18 year old central midfielder, Ryan Fearon who happens to share my exact birth date. The majority of the players brought in are youngsters that were released by bigger English clubs that i feel still have a lot of potential to be really good players. Up first was the clubs first ever appearance in the ECC and the draw was nice to us as in the first round we played U.E. Santa Colomba of Andorra. We happened to beat them comfortably over the two legs and the attendance was over 900 inside Maes Tegid. Up next was Matlock, our reserves were thrown out and we easily won 5-1. Unfortunately the next team we drew was Teplice of Czech Republic a very hard game which we struggled in and lost convincingly. Although we were already out, i was proud of our first attempt at the Champions League and we had recieved big money for playing through attendances, TV revenue and Competition money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxford94 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Results so far Not as good of a start to the season as the last, in my opinion due to the current lack of experience in our squad, as the core of our team is still in their teens. Nevertheless we are still stop of the league albeit by goal difference. Table So Far Also rather oddly TNS are only a point away from the relegation zone and have actually occupied that spot for a large percentage of the time this season. This season my main contender for the title seems to be Aberystywth and also possibly Haverfordwest. Once again our aim is to be champions and make the single ECC place. On another note, we have also reached the Loosemores Cup Final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSYoungEsq Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Plugging away nicely, I see. I found that, with Prestatyn, the League can be a difficult proposition until you get into the swing of dealing with European fixtures crowding the calendar early. You don't get the same running start you do by tackling a series of really nice friendlies. Eventually, you'll simply be too good for it to matter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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