REPORTING on Caernarfon Town’s outstanding treble-winning season of 2012/13 was a real pleasure.
I was more than confident, therefore, that a 262-page book reliving that unforgettable campaign would be well worth a read.
And I was right. Oval Ways and Treble Days – Behind The Scenes at Caernarfon Town Football Club by Paul Evans is a cracking publication.
Launched earlier this month, the book is selling fast and there seems little doubt that stocks will soon be sold out.
Having been impressed by the standard of author Paul’s website reports on Caernarfon matches over the past couple of seasons, I was sure this book would be a winner.
I admit I do not read many books, but if I ever do they are invariably about football or boxing.
Oval Ways and Treble Days had me engrossed from the start.
The author tells us a little about himself, his football background and how his interest in Caernarfon Town developed.
Many of his early experiences were similar to mine – a father who was not overly keen on the beautiful game, so there was a reliance on other elders to get me involved.
The book does not go straight into the ins-and-outs of Town’s revival season.
To fully appreciate what happened in those remarkable nine months, the reader has to know first what difficulties were overcome before the sleeping giant awoke.
The joys of the Canaries’ 1986/87 FA Cup run under John King which Paul touches upon were distant memories in 2010 when Caernarfon Town was perilously close to folding when it was suspended from all competitions for non-payment of fines by the Football Association of Wales.
It took a dedicated band of supporters, spearheaded by lifelong Canary Arfon Jones, to form a new committee and pick the club up by its bootstraps.
Paul was not part of the initial steering group due to his recovery from a kidney transplant, but within a month he had joined the freshly-formed committee.
The author reflects on a difficult time for the club, where success did not happen overnight, and it look a lot of community-focused dedication to turn fortunes around.
The club had been in the Welsh Premier League as recently as 2008/09, but one relegation was followed by another and Town found themselves in the third-tier Welsh Alliance in 2010/11.
Steady progress was made over the next two seasons, but the club truly got back on the rails with the 2012 appointment of former Llangefni Town boss Lee Dixon.
A squad overhaul and a fresh approach meant the Cofis entered 2012/13 on the front-foot.
The Town were buzzing again and the lifting of the Cookson Cup was followed by the club landing the FAW Trophy at Newtown before capturing the Welsh Alliance League title and promotion to the Huws Gray Alliance.
Paul gives a match-by-match account of the season, tells some of the stories behind the action, provides us with a few funny anecdotes and shares in-depth views from players, supporters, officials and management.
Manager Dixon reveals how he initially did not want the Caernarfon job as he was happy taking a break from playing and management and spending time with his family.
However, when he met the committee and realised the club’s ambition to return to the top flight, he was hooked.
Paul obviously put many hours of work into the book, not just through research but via endless gathering of so many viewpoints to make this a true ‘club publication’.
With the Canaries now a major force in the Huws Gray Alliance and the future looking bright through the development of the club’s academy and Caernarfon Town in the Community, it appears there will be plenty of scope for another book such as this in years to come.
In the meantime, Paul Evans can reflect on a job well done through a publication which will interest not just Caernarfon Town fans, but North Wales football supporters as a whole.
The book is available at the club shop on match days, or directly through the Facebook page Oval Ways and Twitter @Oval Ways.
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