All our match day programmes are now online and free to download. In case you missed the one from yesterday, below is Ian Williams’ column, as our Chief Operating Officer shared his thoughts.
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There’s nothing better than being able to welcome back our loyal supporters to matches at Park Hall stadium as we start our domestic journey to recapture the Cymru Premier title.
Our European adventure finally came to an end in a dramatic penalty shootout exit in the Czech Republic a week last Thursday and I echo everyone else’s comments about how proud we are of achieving results far beyond everyone’s expectations. Our Head Coach Anthony Limbrick and his assistant Chris Seargeant have nurtured a group of players that have a special bond and the performances in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Europa Conference League proved that with outstanding displays throughout the campaign, which will no doubt stand us in good stead for seasons to come.
Our focus now returns to the domestic scene and we certainly got out of the blocks well on the opening weekend at Newtown with a solid professional performance resulting in a 4-1 victory.
Today’s match will be a competitive one against Caernarfon Town who have recruited well in the summer, including the signing of our former player and assistant manager Steve Evans – welcome back Evo!
It’s also been a busy period for our Women and Girls teams as we embark on an exciting new era at the club by participating this season in the newly established Genero Adran League, the National Women’s League in Wales. The past few months have been a busy period for our newly appointed Head of Women and Girls and Women’s Head Coach Andy Williams and his assistant Greg Draper, recruiting new players into the group as well as bolstering their back room team. Everyone at the club wishes them well for the start of the campaign which kicks off with a home match against Pontypridd Town on Sunday 5th September – come along and show your support
Our scholarship and academy programmes also continue to prosper and I was pleased to see so many of our young players that have progressed through our football pathway performing so well at Penrhyncoch. Although we lost the game, there were some impressive individual performances on the day which bodes well for the clubs future. Simon Smith along with former player Simon Spender, whose now coaching full time at the club and GK coach Conner Roberts are doing a great job developing players through that transition phase before they get to train and play with the first team.
Our younger academy age groups have started their coaching programme for the new season and have already experienced matches against some top quality Premier League clubs. Chris Seargeant, Jason Brindley, Kieran Lee-Birch, Ash Russell and our team of coaches are looking forward to the new season as we welcome back players to each of the ten age groups and all new players joining us for the first time.
Our Foundation under the stewardship of Gill Jones has undoubtedly had one of the busiest summers delivering holiday activities to hundreds of local youngsters across Oswestry and the local villages. Feedback has been extremely positive and a huge thanks must go to all of the staff who’ve dedicated their whole summer to ensure that local children have been kept active. Hopefully many of them and their families will become long term supporters of the club.
As I started my column it’s great to have our loyal supporters back at Park Hall, we have some exciting new developments happening at the stadium which includes the expansion of the seating areas as well as creating areas to enhance the supporter experience on match days.
To ensure we are meeting the needs of all of our supporters we plan to create a supporter group to share thoughts and ideas on how we can continue to improve our provision on match days as part of our wider fan engagement programme.
I hope you all enjoy today’s match
Keep supporting everything that we do.
Ian
