The New Saints – Welsh league’s European pathfinders

The New Saints are no strangers to making football history and on Thursday they become the first Welsh domestic club to compete in the main draw of a European club competition.

First up for the 16-time Welsh champions in the UEFA Conference League is a daunting but glamorous trip to Serie A side Fiorentina – a stark contrast to Sunday’s away match at Briton Ferry in the Cymru Premier League.

For Mike Harris, the ebullient owner of The New Saints – an amalgam of the original Wales-based club Llansantffraid and English town Oswestry which is close to the Welsh border – it is dreamland.

There have been high profile opponents before, Manchester City – TNS were the first team to play in what is now the Etihad Stadium in 2003 – and Liverpool in the UEFA Cup and Champions League qualifying rounds respectively.

But for a club that in 2016 broke the great Ajax side’s 1971 record of successive victories with 27 — Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal set a new mark this year — it is another step up the ladder.

“It sure is exciting,” Harris told AFP on a Zoom call on Friday.

“For a Welsh domestic team to still be playing in Europe up to Christmas it has not been done before.

“It is worth noting that such is the gulf in finances an England player’s wages could probably run the whole Welsh league for a season.”

Harris, who merged the two clubs when he paid off Oswestry’s debts in 2003, says their achievement has been a perfect response to jibes made about the domestic league.

“It is an honour and we are proud to put the domestic Welsh league on the map, Gary Lineker referred to it as a farmers’ league,” he said.

“At the end of the day the more promotion our league gets whether it is good, bad or ugly is a positive thing.

“We have been literally ignored by everyone.

“The Faroe Island league has more of a chance to appear on the BBC results service than the Welsh!”

Harris, whose self deprecatory sense of humour is never far away saying with a chuckle his golf handicap is higher than his age (61), remarks it is a goal he has been seeking for nearly three decades.

“Very much this is a dream fulfilled for me,” he said.

“I have been plugging away at this and banging the drum for 27 years.

“I set myself a goal of five years to try and do it then five went to 10 and being a persistent old bugger then the next five years!”

‘Peel the onion’

Telecommunications specialist Harris, who paid off Oswestry’s debts and built a new ground on the back of selling his company to BT, says the goal for the new look league phase are modest.

In their other games they host Greek giants Panathinaikos, Sweden’s Djurgarden and Kazakhstan’s Astana — at English League One (third tier) side Shrewsbury’s ground — and are away in Ireland at Shamrock Rovers and Slovenia to play Celje.

“I would like to think we would get some points over the six games,” said Harris.

“I don’t think anyone can get delusional that any of the games will be easy when you see the calibre of teams.

“Our first ambition is to try and ensure the game is competitive without being disgraced.”

The New Saints, the name was picked by a supporter and says Harris encapsulates both communities, should be able to make “a few hundred thousand” pounds from the campaign.

Harris says the costs of running the club are around £2.5 million ($3.3 million) — a million on wages and 1.5 million for administration and ground upkeep costs.

“We should be able to develop our new training ground,” he said.

“So again our aim is to try and improve the facilities we have got so as hopefully to make the next generations even better,” he said.

He is justifiably proud that in the Conference League squad there are seven players who came through the club’s academy which is linked to local education.

“The players are developed to be full time footballers, things like that have always been silent successes,” he said.

“Unless you peel the onion you do not get to see it.

“We have provided a career for many boys and girls in the football industry and many may never have had a chance but for us being there to offer the opportunity.”