It's common practice during the summer for many of football's minnows to get an opportunity to play a professional team as part of their pre-season schedule, but for Welsh League Division Three side Pontypridd Town AFC, they have taken the term 'David vs. Goliath' to a whole different level.
On Tuesday evening, Pontypridd, who ended the season in 15th position in a 19-team league, will step out onto a pitch in Eastern Spain to face La Liga side Valencia. It's a fixture that has not only caught the imagination of the Welsh town, but that of football supporters across Great Britain, with over 400 people making the trip to Spain to follow the game.
Ahead of their flight, Sports Mole spoke to player-manager Dominic Broad, who revealed how the fixture materialised and how former Liverpool and Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy became part of their 23-man squad.
First of all, how did the idea of a match in Spain come about?
"Basically, myself, Damien Broad, who is my brother and the assistant manager and Sam Houldsworth, the first-team coach, were sat around at Christmas time, trying to think of a goal or a focus for the rest of the season, because, as you're probably aware, going into the winter period can be a bit tricky with people not committing as much as they normally would and we were also struggling in the league, so I thought that we needed something that would drive the lads on and give them a bit of motivation.
"So, we decided to put our heads together and contact a few of the clubs that we had previously worked at. Fortunately for us, the first club that we contacted, Valencia, were the ones who came back to us."
I understand that the game won't be played at the Mestalla. Has that always been the arrangement or was it changed at late notice?
"No, it couldn't have been played there because they always have it worked on in July. So, even if they were playing Manchester United or a team like that, they wouldn't have been able to play at the Mestalla."
Have you been told if any of Valencia's first team will be involved?
"No, not yet. We know that it is going to be the reserves, a few lads that are coming back from injury and maybe a few of the good Under-21 players that they have. I have spoken to our links at the club, but they haven't given too much away."
After you arrive in Spain, what's the schedule looking like in the build-up to the game?
"We've got an itinerary in place for when we get there. Obviously, when we arrive, it will be sleep, but on the second day, we have a training session planned at the first-team ground and fortunately for us, our contacts at the club have decided to put on a session for us so we are going to have a few of their first-team coaches come over and coach a session for us.
"We are going to follow that up with an hour or two working on set pieces ahead of the game, and then, thanks to Wickes, we are going to go on a city tour with Colin Murray and the rest of the talkSPORT crew, like Neil Ruddock and Danny Murphy.
"On Tuesday, we will be going on a tour of the Mestalla because the club have agreed to put our Pontypridd emblem in their trophy cabinet. Obviously, we are the first Welsh league club to play against them so for them, it's quite unusual to play a team from Wales. After that, it's onto the game."
What have you made of all the media attention that you have received over the past few months? I imagine that it hasn't been what you expected!
"It's been unbelievable! We knew how important it would be for the town of Pontypridd and in fact, it's been a great opportunity for the younger players in Pontypridd to look at the first team and think to themselves that they have a chance to play at a better level and go on to play against some better opposition, whether that be once a year or once every few years.
"For us, it's always been important to us to leave something behind for the people of Pontypridd to think that they have a football team and have something to cheer about. It's been fantastic that different media outlets and social media have projected it to a level that we never, ever anticipated, and it's fantastic to see people like the BBC, talkSPORT, Sky Sports, the Daily Mirror and a whole range of different national newspapers have got involved. Even today, we were filmed by ITV for a news piece. It's been elevated past a level that we never anticipated."
The club have had a lot of good luck messages on Twitter too, haven't they?
"We have, we've got quite a few links with different people. Kit Symons, the Wales assistant manager, has wished us luck. Roberto Di Matteo has messaged my brother, and there's been people like Robert Earnshaw, and obviously Colin Murray, Danny Murphy, Daley Thompson, ex Wales Rugby Union captain Colin Jarvis. A whole range of people have been coming forward, so I'm really happy with that."
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You touched on this before, but how did the involvement of Danny Murphy come about?
"Danny works for talkSPORT and he was on the show with Daley Thompson. Danny basically announced on the radio that he would travel to Spain to come to support us, and to be honest, I didn't think it was real! I assumed that he was saying it just for a little bit of banter but he somehow got hold of my number to ring me later that evening to say that he was serious and that they were coming to Spain.
"After that, he sent me a picture of the ticket and then I thought to myself 'okay, he's serious'. Colin then contacted me to see if Danny could sign to play the final few games of the season with us as a bit of a publicity stunt to try to promote the tour and promote the club, but unfortunately, the transfer window had closed so there was no way that we could sign him.
"However, after that, Danny said that he would come and play a couple of minutes or at least be a part of the squad to come out and travel with us, and to try to raise the profile of the game."
How have preparations gone ahead of the trip?
"It's been tough. We have trained as often as we can but there are the limitations of people's full-time jobs and families. There's a very different ethos at our club because obviously Pontypridd and Valencia are poles apart. One is a very professional team who trains every day and then there is Pontypridd who train once or twice a week and even then, a few of the players struggle to make that because of work commitments.
"The lads have done above and beyond what could have been expected of them, and I think they've all been playing and working hard. We've been preparing for the game for a good few weeks now because before that, our main focus was doing well in the league, but as soon as that was over, we started to concentrate on this game."
Has Danny Murphy trained with the rest of the squad yet?
"No, he hasn't trained at all. He's purely travelling over with us and taking part in the game. Danny lives in England so I don't think that he could have come back and forth."
Have you decided what your starting lineup will be and how long each player will play?
"It's still undecided at the minute. We've got a few ideas in mind and a few backup plans, and we've gone through a few things with the lads. We've got a couple of formations that we are thinking of going with and obviously we will have a look at what Valencia are going with when we get there to try to deal with them as best as we can and to try to nullify the threat that they have."
Have any of your squad played at against a high-profile team or at a high-profile stadium in the past?
"Omar Abdilahi has represented Somalia at international level and spent a couple of seasons with Blackburn Rovers. Luke Gullick played professionally in Trindad & Tobago after spending time at Southampton as a youth player. Myself, I played for West Bromwich Albion and Leicester City, there's Geraint Passmore who played in the Welsh Premier for 10 years with Carmarthen Town.
"We've got a lot of players who have played to a high standard, especially at youth level, but life gets in the way, and for one reason or another, they haven't been able to carry on professionally, so it's been nice that they have been able to carry on at amateur level, which is still competitive."
Finally, do you see this being a one-off or do you think this could lead to more pre-season games in Spain in the future?
"The plan is to try to have a few friendlies. We've got links with a lot of clubs across Europe. Myself, Damien and Sam have all coached at a number of clubs across Europe and made some good contacts. I think that Valencia is testament to the fact that we've created contacts in good places, and fingers crossed, Valencia is a platform to build on."
Find out how Pontypridd get on with Sports Mole's full match report on Tuesday evening.
Darren Plant
