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F.A.Cup
All the King's men.......!
All the King’s
men ......!
For the second time in four days Barnsley take on all the King’s men in
a tasty F.A. Cup dish fit for royalty.
It is the sort of tie which captures the imagination of all soccer lovers; the ‘David
v Goliath’ confrontation which provides the competition with all the magic and uncertainty which gives it such a magnetic
appeal.
And leading the part-timers from glory- seeking Caernarfon of the Multi-part League is the man who is currently
king of all he surveys in the North Wales town manager John King.
The former Tranmere Rovers and Northwich Victoria boss
has performed a minor miracle at The Oval since he was invited to take charge just over a year ago.
Then they were bottom
of the Multi-part League, and had only once reached the first round proper of the F.A Cup, way back in 1929, but now he has
led them to the greatest achieve ment inthe club’s 100-year-history.
He says: “When I joined Caernarfon they
were used to being on the wrong end of 6-0 scorelines. They had just been promoted from the Lancashire Combination and were
struggling to adapt to the step up in class.
“The first game I saw them play was against Chorley when they were hammered
9-1, so, as you can imagine, I had to think long and hard about taking up the challenge. Now I’m glad I did.”
Last
Season Caernarfon finished in a respectable eighth position; this time round they are fifth, with games in hand because of
their cup run.
King had a clear-out on his arrival, and brought in new players he knew from Northwich Victoria and Tranmere
Rovers.
“Apart from three players I rebuilt the whole side and it has paid dividends It has been a remarkable achievement
by all concerned to get where we are today and all credit to the players for working so hard.
“Our strike force of
Ray Woods, Steve Craven and Austin Salmon is as good as anything in non-league football, and this, coupled with the experience
of the likes of Ken Jones — a non- league legend — and Phil Wilson, means that we are no push-overs even when
taking on teams from the Second Division like Barnsley.
“Barnsley could quite easily trounce us in the replay, of
course, but we could still just as likely cause another upset.”
King himself made his playing debut as an 18- year-old
against a Preston side that included Torn Finney and Tommy Docherty, and his testimonial game at Tranmere was honoured by
Bill Shankly sending his strongest Liverpool team.
Shankly even recommended King for the Sheffield Wednesday managership,
butwas told; “It’s not for me. I’ve only been manager at Prenton Park for six months. I haven’t enough
experience.”
So instead he led Tranmere to promotion to the Third Division and insists that only lack of finances
stopped them going into the Second.
His next stop was Northwich Victoria, where he took the non-leaguers to Wembley in
succes sive seasons, and it was then on to Rochdale as second in command to Vic Halom before taking up the Caernarfon challenge.
History is made at York
Caernarfon Town F.C. was established in 1885 and became a member of the then Welsh National League. Prior to this season
their most memorable achievement outside Welsh League circles was a remarkable run in the English F.A. Cup in 1928-29 when
they reached the second round of the competition. They were knocked out by Bournemouth at their home ground at The Oval”,
watched by a crowd of more than 6,000.
In 1977/8 and 78/79 the club won the Welsh League Championship as well as five other
cup competitions including the National Welsh Intermediate Cup.
Caernarfon then became the first Welsh club in more than
50 years to play in an English League, namely the ‘Lancashire Competition”. In the first season they won the League
Challenge Cup, and then they won the League Championship the following season.
The Club then became one of the founder
members of the North Western
Counties League, and during 1982/83 won promotion to the first division.
They were Welsh
Cup semi-finalists in 1958 and again in 1983, losing to Wrexham on both occasions.
In 1983 the club was re-formed and is
now run as a Limited Company with a ten-strong band of directors.
Already £45,000 has been spent on improving “The
Oval”, including several metres of fencing, new medical room, offices, canteen, board room and new floodlights.
In
1984/85 Caernarfon were runners- up in Division One of the North West Counties and were promoted to the North Premier League
in June 1985.
The Oval has a capacity of 8,000 with 250 seats and covered accommodation for 1,500, although a crowd limit
of 3,000 was set for Saturday’s game against Barnsley.
They play in Green and Yellow and are nicknamed “The
Canaries”.
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