Nathan Davies signs

Good news that Nathan has joined us. He only 30 so we should be seeing some good performances out of him. Always rated him at the Cewnty. Best of luck to him.

who is nathan davies and what position does he play.

He's a midfielder who played for Newport for 10 years. He left them in 2010 and nearly joined us then. A very good acquisition.

Excellent signing! I remember when he first got in the Newport team, some of their fans were convinced he had a career higher in the leagues and would one day play for Wales. The Argus once ran an article noting interest from Chelsea I think too.

thank you both,sounds a good signing.

This must be the earliest that the club has ever announced a potential new signing!

The way that the Trust and Team Management are running our club is frightening!!

I'm reasonably sure that Nathan played against us as a teenager in the Boxing Day game at Penydarren Park in 2000(?) when we comprehensively lost 5-2.

He made 26 appearances for Cirencester last season and will add a huge amount of knowledge and experience to the centre of mid-field.

Seems a very good signing - an experienced defensive midfield player.

He made 23 league and 3 cup appearances for Cirencester last season and just 10 the season before. The following extract from the website of the Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard dated 6 Octoberr last year gives the reason why he made so few appearances:-

'NATHAN DAVIES, the forgotten man of Cirencester Town, is set to make his first appearance for the club almost a year to the day since he last pulled on a red and black shirt.

'Davies is included in the matchday squad for the visit of Bedford Town, having last played in the 1-0 defeat at Weymouth on the corresponding Saturday 12 months ago.

'The return of the experienced midfielder to the side after ankle surgery is a massive boost to Town boss Brian Hughes, whose side sit precariously in the drop zone of the Southern Premier League after recording just one win in 12 games this season.

'Davies, 29, warmed up for his Cirencester comeback when making a brief appearance for a Newport County XI at the Mark Ovendale Memorial Match on Wednesday night.
Davies said: “I turned out for the Newport County side of 2006 and it was great to see some of the lads again and do our bit for Mark’s family. A lot of money was raised.
“I played for the whole 30 minutes until the game was called off due to waterlogging and I felt fine afterwards.”

'Davies played just short of 400 games for Newport and enjoyed his own benefit match at Spytty Park in front of 700 fans.

'Davies, who has had two operations on his left ankle, had his Ciren career cut short after less than ten starts by similar problems with his right ankle.
“I had spurs on the bone – basically from wear and tear,” said Davies, whose day job is as a courier for the South Wales Ambulance service.
“I had hoped to be back by Christmas but it was very frustrating what with all the red tape surrounding my health care, and I did not have the surgery until the end of May.
“I have been training with Croesyceiliog in the Welsh League and I feel fit, but I need some game time now.
“I really enjoyed my spell at Ciren. The club have a great ground and facilities and they always showed an interest in me during my time off.”

'During his brief sojourn at the Corinium Stadium, Davies earned two Man of the Match awards and firmly established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet.
“I am hoping and praying that Nathan can pick up where he left off,” said Town boss Brian Hughes.
“Clubs like ours just don’t get hold of players as good as Nathan Davies.
“His experience and know-how is priceless. He has a good engine and shows great tenacity. I also feel I can go back to playing two centre backs with Nathan in front to protect them.”'

According to my old match programmes, he was not in the Newport side that won 5-2 at Penydarren Park on 27 December 1999. Nor was he in the Newport side that we beat 2-1 at home on 16 April 2001. In the pen pics in that programme it says he was then in the second year of the Newport Schools Football Academy, and that he made his first team debut in January 2000.

He played in the Newport side that drew 1-1 at Penydarren Park on 27 August 2001 - along with Darren Robison, Jeff Eckhardt, Garry Shephard and Andrew Thomas (sub).

He was also playing for Newport at Penydarren Park on 26 December 2003 in another 1-1 draw - along with Jeff Eckhardt, Steve Williams, Garry Shephard, Gareth Phillips, Andrew Thomas and Raith Plant (the latter two both subs).

Sounds a bit like a latter-day Clarkey. Corner flags everywhere beware!

Welcome Nathan.

Quote from Sheppy on the official website:

"Garry told MTFC, 'I advise all fans of the club to keep an eye out on the website over the next week or so regarding two more potential signings'.

Have to say sounds positive.

I would expect the return of a former Martyr!!!

Good quality signing

Welcome to the club Nathan

Paul Keddle? Jamie Rewberry? Dale Griffiths?

maybe j.r.but i wouldnt think the other two.

Rewbs does come and watch us whenever he's not playing himself (as does Ashley Morris), it doesn't necessarily mean we're going to sign them. It might not even be a former player. I would however take the both players back I've just mentioned!

was old sod scouting in lanelli/bala game today,ashley seems to be out of favour at the moment but can we afford him i wonder.nice pass back there once old sod.

I think there will be quite a surplus of good players around with neath out of the WPL they surely cannot be a full time club anymore that is iff they survive.I can also see llanelli cutting back they have the lowest gates in the WPL What they get for entering the europa league i do not know.We could do with a few more signings of the calibre of nathen to mix with the younger boys in our side.WE must remember that players like traylor prosser howe griffiths etc have not yet reached their full potential and will only get better

rustic wrote:was old sod scouting in lanelli/bala game today,ashley seems to be out of favour at the moment but can we afford him i wonder.nice pass back there once old sod.

It shows I've still got it! A couple of really good goals yesterday but the game only livened up when Bala scored their goal. Ash looked good in the warm up which was the closest he got to playing. He was good enough to give Wayne his training top which was a generous thing to do. Is that an omen?

spoke too keds week ago,got the feeling he loved too return !!!!

I really like Keds as a player but he just seems too unreliable. He has walked out on us twice when things got tough. Most of the squad stuck by us and we are now reaping the rewards.

We have to bear in mind the money that the club can afford to pay in wages. As was stated in the annual meeting, VAT payments will be a problem to face next season.
So there will be a need to bring in more money! It will be a difficult task planning the budget as the average gate next term will be difficult to gauge.
Last season the attendances varied quite a bit - 500 plus for the first match and a 7-1 win but for the next game, FA Cup, the attendance fell by more than 200.
We ended up with two gates of more than 700 for the vital end of season matches.
I think some players with a reasonable pedigree may want to join Merthyr now we are back in the Southern League and, of course, playing at Penydarren Park.
We still must bear in mind Merthyr is a community club. Some fans still seem hopeful that some philanthropist is going to sink his own cash into the Martyrs.
But this (unlikely anyway) would just be going back to the days of one man holding the purse-strings and the club have stated they don't want this, as I see the situation.
No-one can INVEST in Merthyr because any income is ploughed back into the club to keep it going.And anyone throwing cash at the club would want a BIG say in its running.
This is why the club is being run on a business level and why Steve Lloyd was appointed as Business Development Manager.
That's how I see the situation and it's a case of building on the foundations and securing more income for the long term.

Both Alun Griffiths and Jack Howe have been outstanding at left back this season. For me the extremely versatile Alun Griffiths had my Player of the Season vote.

After a difficult pre-season (when he faced Jason Bowen!) Jack Howe had an almost flawless campaign whenever he played in the first team.

Even though we will play at a higher level next season, do we need to even consider the return of Paul Keddle?

Progress through stability - although the main aim of the Trust is to continue to strive to move from Step 4 to Step 3 it must only be achieved within the strict financial controls set by the Trust Board. In his programme notes for the final home game of the season against Ilfracombe John Strand stated "We will try to support the management team with a reasonable budget, but the priority must be a stable financial structure at the club."

This is why the development of the Academy teams will play such an important role in the future progress of the club.

I have to agree do we need keddle i do not think so .As been mentioned he let us down twice and we have good players for that position in paul and alan .At least when rewbury and mark jones left us it was for a good reason in that they were offered jobs by going to cambrian and clydach

Paul Keddle was pipped for the Port Talbot Players' Player of the Year title by another former Martyr, Cortez Belle. 'Tez also won The Supporters' Player of the Year award.
Port Talbot are spending the close season in Dublin playing a tournament against four other clubs.
Anyway, I think Merthyr will not find it always easy to compete with Welsh Premiership clubs in offering wages as some of these clubs are benefiting from European cash.
When Keddle left for Newtown, he told me he didn't fancy playing in the Western League and at Taff's Well. And the WP offered European football!
I don't think we can blame players if they leave as their priority must be themselves rather than any club, especially when they are paid to play.
Some could argue that a club let a player down when they release him if that player feels he
should have stayed. But in that case, the club's priority is the club, not any individual.
We have to remember that fans watch football in their spare time but players who are paid play as part of their work commitments.

Risca.Martyr wrote:I really like Keds as a player but he just seems too unreliable. He has walked out on us twice when things got tough. Most of the squad stuck by us and we are now reaping the rewards.

I wouldn't even consider bringing Keddle back. Risca is spot on in his posting, he didn't want to know when we had problems, and no matter how much he gives the impression he wants to come back, we don't need him as we have Alan Griffiths and Jack Howe to cover the left back position, both of who are better players than him. There are some players I'd welcome back as they'd improve the quality of the side, but Keddle isn't one of them.

When Keddle left for Newtown, he told me he didn't fancy playing in the Western League and at Taff's Well.

Most of the players probably didn't fancy playing in the Western League but showed incredible loyalty by sticking by the club and just look what has happened. It might not mean much to Keddle but at least our boys have got one (and in most cases) two championship winning medals to show for their loyalty.
And as for European football, fine if you want to play one round (or two rounds in some cases) and get humilated by getting a drubbing by some far flung Eastern European team!