New Saints chief wants more competitive Cymru Premier

Mike Harris became involved with Llansantffraid before they merged with Oswestry to form The New Saints

The New Saints chairman Mike Harris wants to see the Cymru Premier more competitive and has challenged other clubs to step up to close the gap.

Saints, the league’s only full-time club , finished 33 points ahead of second placed Connah’s Quay Nomads this season to secure the title for a 16th time.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) recently revealed plans for the biggest shake-up in the competition’s 32-year history.

"Anybody who's got money please come to the Welsh Premier League but don't expect to win it just because you want to pile a few hundred grand into it," Harris said.

"You've got to be 'can I do it the next season, will I do it the next?' Have a philosophy and then be able to try it for two to three seasons.

“We need better competition.

“I’ve always been someone who has said I’d love to play in a league where teams can be full-time or a hybrid of full-time.

“We were the first to go 3G and that came from Scandinavia – we could train and play when it’s bad weather.

“We started there and looked at what else do they do and how do they bring young players in and how do they continue perhaps in University.

“But then you make your full-time players work around the time and availability of these people.

“You’ve got to work out what’s right for your club.”

Saints’ hopes of completing a domestic Welsh treble were ended by Nomads, who secured the JD Welsh Cup with a 2-1 victory at Newport’s Rodney Parade.

Nomads manager Neil Gibson says the "challenge" for themselves and other clubs is to get closer to the Saints.

“There are clubs in this league backed by wealthy people who have put their money in and do put it in,” Harris told BBC Radio Wales' Call Rob Phillips programme.

“You can put in as much money as you want but ultimately there’s only one club that can win every season.

“We’ve had Connah’s Quay who’ve been competition, we’ve had Barry Town, who I’ll always say we set our stall on to beat back in the day. You’ve got to say they found a formula to win.

“You’ve got to have some money but ultimately it’s not just about money.

“You’ve got to have good player recruitment, you’ve got to have a good progression of players from your youth all the way through.

“We’ve been doing this now for 25 years.

"How you spend your money is really down to the chairman and his management team."

The New Saints have won the JD Cymru Premier for the past three seasons

The FAW had already announced a four-year £6m investment package into the top-flight and radical plans revealed for the league include more clubs, Friday night games and VAR.

The league’s new format and the number of clubs involved will be revealed in September but Harris has welcomed the FAW’s planned investment.

“Noel [Mooney, FAW chief executive] has pushed and pushed and pushed and obviously found some money to back the product, which is good,” Harris added.

“Because ultimately you’re only as good as who you play and it’s encouraging to see that there’s some money there.

“I’m interested to see how he’s going to reformat the league

“Because competition is king really if you’re going to compare yourself against other European teams, which is where ultimately you need to be able to demonstrate your ability against other countries’ competition.

“Back in the day it was great when you had 20-odd teams but realistically the standard of football was never really that inspiring and clubs would cut their budget off after a couple of months if they weren’t doing well.

“In the current format it has meant that there’s usually something on each game you play, whether you get relegated or if you could win a European place.

“It has been possibly very competitive for the teams but possibly for the spectator, who wants to go to more places and more variety, I can understand that point of view.

“I’m really keen to see how they bridge that gap.”