“After a successful season finishing 4th from 16 in the Gloucestershire North Senior League Division 1, we successfully passed a ground inspection and a league panel interview.
We now begin another new challenge…
It’s not bad for a team which formed just eight years ago, starting our football journey in the Cheltenham Football League Division 5 in 2008.
We've been promoted 8 times in 9 seasons now and we had won our previous league by 20 points…
Mark Taylor, the player who founded the senior Welland team in 2008 has recently taken on the role of 1st team manager in the absence of Dave Oakley, who managed the club from 2008-2018.
Dave had achieved huge success as a manager and we are all incredibly grateful for all the time he has dedicated to the team over the past 10 years.
The door will always remain open for him to come and assist and help the club develop and progress further.
Mark (‘Tayls’) is a very knowledgable coach, who was a very good player in his prime, so we're very lucky to get him on board.
Last season had been yet another successful one on the pitch, with difficult circumstances off it. After winning the league by 20 points during the previous season, we initially lost five influential players for various reasons which obviously had a big effect on our squad. Furthermore, our long-serving manager Dave Oakley had to step down in January due to ill health, so myself and Tom Clement had to take over as temporary player/managers. The lads responded brilliantly and everyone stepped up on and off the pitch to ensure that we could still continue to have a successful season.
We have a great atmosphere in our squad and have done for a few years now. The numbers at training have been great again and our squad is now a very tight group of guys who will do anything for each other on the pitch. We all wish Dave a continued speedy recovery and hope he can be back to full health in time.
We chose to apply to move leagues as we had reached a dead end in our Gloucestershire journey because the next league up is based in Bristol and geographically we are too far north to compete in this. We were therefore delighted to be accepted into the Midland Football League and are all very keen to start our new campaign on August 10th.
So, with all this in mind, we still managed to finish in an extremely creditable 4th place last term, ending with the league's most goals scored (85 in 30 games).
This total was helped significantly by the league’s Golden Boot winner, James Lush, who scored 31 times. We also finished 2nd in the Respect Fair Play Awards with no red cards received during the entire season.
We have only lost two players due to work commitments or changing clubs and currently we have a large 22-man pre-season squad, with seven new players, which will have to decrease come the start of the season.
Our player retention is solely due to the atmosphere and tightly knit squad we have built over the past three seasons. We have no 'money chasers' in our squad and most of us have played at a higher level at some point, being disinterested by any other offers. We all go training, we all go to team socials and everyone gets on; it's just a great atmosphere to be involved in.
Omar (Pabbs) & James (Slusher) have been huge goalscoring influences for the club and retaining them will be key to us challenging for the MFL Division 3 title. However, no player is too big for our squad and everyone plays their part on the pitch whether it's winning a header, pulling off a great save as a ‘keeper, or busting a gut tracking back to retrieve possession.”
About Jon Williams:
“I'm originally from South Wales and began as a flying left-winger back in the late 1990s… I played for my hometown club called Llantwit Major who now play in the Welsh Division 1. I was a fast forward for a good few years and since then I've played every position at some point for Welland (except ‘keeper) but left back has been my most common position.
Last season I actually played in five different positions… I scored 25 goals from left-wing in my U16s season and made the county team. We should've had a trial game v Cardiff City's U16s but it never happened…
Since I moved up to Worcestershire in 2008 I've played for Bromyard Town, Perrywood, Malvern Town and Welland, all since 2013.
The best goal I've ever scored was when I was 20 and it was a looped, top corner 25 yard volley against the top of the league team back in Wales. They hadn't lost all season and we won the game 3-1. I definitely drank a few beers that night. I don't score many goals these days but I always hope to get a couple each season.
One of the best players I've played with is Lushy, who is definitely up there for his work rate and how he can consistently and effortlessly beat players with pace and skill, whilst his goal tally is incredible. Also I was impressed by a lad I played with back in Wales called Danny Major, who once scored 20 in a season from centre-back, only half of which were with his head!”
Welland 1st XI Presentation Evening,
Saturday 22nd June 2019:
The award winners:
Top goalscorer with 31: James Lush…
Players' Player Of The Year: James Lush…
Manager's Player Of The Year: Kieran Scollan...
Captain's Credit: Sean Gleeson…
Clubman Of The Season: Tom Clement…
"We are currently looking for new sponsors for the up and coming 2019/2020 season to assist with the financial constraints of moving into the Midland Football League. We would welcome any business to assist us into gaining success during our new season.
We are also currently looking for a volunteer physio’/sports therapist to assist us on match days between the hours of 1pm-5pm on most Saturdays during the competitive season.
You do not have to be fully qualified, for we would welcome any trainees or volunteers with previous experience.”
Jon Williams, Welland FC…
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