ALTHOUGH
Aberystwyth Town FC was formed in 1884, the club
probably existed in the 1870s in an earlier incarnation
- the re-establishment of a "town" club
is recorded in 1876. Their early days were marked
by friendly matches and it was not until 1896 that
the club first joined a league - the Welsh League.
After only one season they reverted to playing friendly
matches but were firmly on the map in 1900, convincingly
beating fancied Druids 3-0 in the Welsh Cup final
and becoming the first team from mid-Wales to take
the trophy. But this Welsh Cup victory almost proved
to be their downfall as they hit a massive financial
crisis and a mass exodus of players.
Aber's league career has a nomadic flavour, as they
have been members of various leagues since they
entered the first competition, the Welsh League,
in 1896.
That foray lasted only one season and they returned
to playing friendly fixtures but did enter the English
FA Cup on a few occasions. With interest in the
club rekindled, they joined the "Combination"
but again for only one term, probably because of
the expense of travelling.
Aber were members of the Montgomeryshire & District
League from 1904, winning several championships,
and with the advent of the Welsh National League
in 1921 joined the Central Section. The club was
very successful in the 1920s - achieving six title
wins - and took the Mid-Wales League title in 1933
and 1950. Aber won the Welsh Amateur Cup in 1931
and 1933 and were finalists in 1935 and 1972.
The club began a long stay in the Welsh League (South)
in 1951, although they continued to also field a
team in the Mid-Wales League, and for a time in
the Cambrian Coast League. They eventually returned
to mid-Wales competition in 1963 but did not win
the league championship until 1984, after finishing
as runners-up on six occasions. They retained the
title the following season, both under team boss
Meirion Appleton.
Aber were, by then, firmly established as one of
the premier clubs in mid-Wales and in 1987 they
returned to the Welsh League (South). They were
three times runners-up before their inclusion as
founder members of the League of Wales. Aber achieved
their best LoW position - 3rd - in their first season
and the club's administrative and social set up
are now well established.
After
struggling for a few seasons in the League, and
flirting with relegation in 1996/7, it took until
February for the Black & Greens to gain a home
win. Aberystwyth at last found some success in 1998/9
when they qualified to represent Wales in the UEFA
InterToto cup competition. They did this by virtue
of finishing fourth in the league on 57 points behind
Barry on 76, Inter Cable-Tel on 63 and Cwmbran who
took third place on goal difference.
Manager, Meirion Appleton made way for former Wolves,
Derby County and Coventry City midfielder Barry
Powell.
This took place part-way through the season as a
result of Aber crashing 5-0 at home to Caersws in
a league game. Powell took over the reins of the
club and led the Black & Greens into European
competition for the first time. It was a memorable
event with Aberystwyth narrowly losing 3-4 over
two legs against Floriana of Malta.
The success of European qualification brought many
changes to Park Avenue. A new BBC studio and TV
gantry, followed by the new "Dias" stand
which brought the number of seats in the two stands
up to nearly 600. The "Dias" stand being
named after club legend David "Dias" Williams
who holds the club scoring record of 476 goals in
only 433 games between 1966 and 1983.
The pressures of maintaining the standards achieved
in 1999, and the ongoing upgrading of the stadium
left the club financially stretched in the 2000/2001
season. Consequently they were unable to repeat
the feat of attaining a European berth, just missing
out by three points, although the club gained entry
to the FAW Premier cup competition for the third
year running. They managed to progress to the quarter-finals
twice. Barry Powell paid the price for his failure
to qualify for Europe, and left the club by mutual
consent.
Powell was replaced at the beginning of the 2001/2
season by Frank Gregan. Frank had a very impressive
background in English non-league football and was
unanimously voted into the job as new manager prior
to the start of the season. He was responsible for
bringing in several players with extensive experience
in the English pyramid, but it took too long for
him to produce any kind of consistency on the field
of play. When Gregan was linked with the Dr Martens
League Western division club, Weston-super-Mare
- and the team suffered an ignominious home exit
from the Welsh Cup at the hands of CC Sports league
Aberaman Athletic in October 2001 - the writing
was on the wall for Mr Gregan. This was combined
with a poor away record and an exit from the lucrative
latter stages of the FAW Premier cup at the hands
of Caersws.
The present player/manager Gary Finley took over
immediately after Gregan departed for Weston. There
was an instant improvement in form and with minimal
additions to the squad despite most of Gregan's
signings departing, a top eight finish looked possible.
The club just missed out on the FAW Premier cup
ending up in ninth place in the league on 51 points
which was seven points adrift of the UEFA InterToto
cup spot claimed by Caersws. They elected to play
their home tie in the competition at Park Avenue,
and like Carmarthen Town did the year before, Park
Avenue witnessed the third undefeated Euro performance
in four seasons, as Caersws drew 1-1.
Finley maintains a pragmatic approach to the game
and constructed a blend of youthful exuberance with
some experienced performers that enabled the club
to equal its best-ever finish of fourth in 2003/4
and again qualify for Europe, via the Uefa InterToto
Cup. |
