Hitchin Town Football Club
Founded 1865, Reformed 1928
New opponents 2: Merthyr Tydfil
Saturday, June 12 2004
If Hitchin fans are frustrated at the current plight of their club, just consider the sort of summer one of their opponents next season, Merthyr Tydfil, have been experiencing.
Merthyr, who were hell-bent on making the Conference last season, are facing a financial crisis for the 2004-05 season. The Welsh club's chief Wyn Holloway, who claims to have injected around £ 1m into the club since he took over, will not continue to fund the club.
Holloway revealed recently that the club is "skint" and that "I am putting around £ 150,000 to £ 200,000 in per year and I'm not getting anything back, people accuse me of taking money out of the club, but there is none to take, if there was, the club would not be in this situation."
There was more angst for Merthyr when it was announced that their manager, Andy Beattie, will take a back seat after a year of ill-health. But Holloway believes that both Beattie and his John Relish will stay at the club, despite financial difficulties. Merthyr may well lose their top scorer Cortez Belle, however, who has been eyed by Conference clubs. Merthyr will hope to land a hefty fee for their 18 year-old star striker.
Hitchin have met Merthyr before, but Pennydarren Park holds no happy memories for the Canaries. In January 1978, Hitchin lost 4-1 at Merthyr in the FA Trophy, while in 1999-00, they went down 2-0 in Wales in the FA Cup.
