I know that YOTAC sort of adopted Ashton Athletic as their second club and Bernard has Colwyn Bay FC close to his heart but reading The Rothmans (SkySports) Yearbook on a sunny weekend (& yes I should get a life) it struck me that a club 66 miles away, a one & half hours drive if the traffic flows ok could come under our wing/scrutiny.
Llansantffraid first joined the Montgomeryshire Amateur League in 1959/60 and enjoyed considerable success, winning all the honours available in little more than a decade.
For the record, the Montgomeryshire League championship was secured on five occasions (1969, 1970, 1971, 1983 and 1987) and the Montgomeryshire Cup competition won six times between 1963 and 1976.
In addition, Llansantffraid were Village Cup winners seven times up to the 1990s and, when the senior team progressed, so the reserves won the cup in 1991.
The 1989/90 season, however, had seen the club on the brink of closure, but positive action set Llansantffraid on their climb through the Welsh pyramid system, beginning with a move up into the Mid-Wales League.
Llansantffraid are better known as TNS, see where I’m coming from ?
In 2003, the club merged with Oswestry Town, who were on the verge of going out of existence due to financial difficulties.
The merger was part of a long term plan to develop a new stadium in Oswestry, because Treflan, Llansantffraid was incapable of being developed to meet the ever-stricter criteria required to play in the Welsh Premier and in European competition.
The dream was realised in 2007 when TNS played their first game at Park Hall Stadium, totally unrecognisable from the ground which Oswestry had used in their later years.
Redeveloped at a cost of more than £3 million, the ground features a major leisure development known as The Venue and a state-of-the art artificial playing surface in a stadium with planning permission for 3,000 seats.
Their website like a lot of lower league clubs is well worth a visit and the history of the club is well documented ( as you can see from my lazy copy & pasting !)
TNS qualified for the next stage of the Europa league by beating Cliftonville
1-0 away after a 1-1 home draw in the first leg. their reward is a tie against Danish side FC Midtjylland.
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