Welsh football 2023 is dominated thus far by a number of issues - Cardiff City's battle against relegation, Wales post-Gareth Bale kicking off their Euro 2024 campaign, the Wrexham fairytale story driven by Hollywood A-Listers.
It's gone somewhat under the radar, but amid that backdrop of headline-grabbers little TNS have just landed their 15th Welsh Premier League title in the last 23 seasons.
For avoidance of any doubt, that is one outstanding effort by a truly remarkable football club.
The Bluebirds get the biggest crowds, boast the best stadium and have FA Cup and Real Madrid scalps to their name - as demonstrated by the 'Allez Allez Allez' chant sung by Cardiff's supporters.
Swansea City have the recent Premier League years to their name, plus a Wembley trophy of their own.
Wrexham? Well, they're just football's happening team of the moment.
For consistency and time span though, TNS would put their own hands up when it comes to the most incredible Welsh club success story of the last two decades.
Yet another title in the bag, this little village side run by their charismatic chairman Mike Harris are firmly setting their sights on cracking Europe next.
Big time. With that, Harris argues, perceptions change.
Thirty years on from its inception, it's fair to say the League of Wales - or Cymru Premier to use today's title - is still to tap into the Welsh psyche at large. A huge part of that, and this was apparent from day one, is having to fight against the shadow of bigger Welsh clubs who've historically played in the English system, or Premier League giants like Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City who produce their star-studded football just an hour away over the border.
But TNS refuse to give up on the dream. Reaching the group stages of a European competition - be that the Champions League or Europa League - would be the game changer, reckons their owner Harris.
"When the dam breaks and that happens, the media coverage would be so great the spin-offs would be enormous; greater publicity, greater interest, greater opportunities for sponsorship," says Harris enthusiastically.
A pipe dream, you might think, given Welsh Premier results in Europe, taken as a whole, have by and large been pretty poor over the course of three decades.
"There is a definite improvement though," emphasises Harris, whose TNS continue to be the real trailblazers, the side others need to look up to and match.
Last season, TNS were smashing crack Czech side Viktoria Plzen 4-0 in the Europa Conference qualifiers. Two injury time goals made it 4-2, the Czechs won the return leg 3-1 and went through on penalties.
This season, the same Viktoria Plzen were in a Champions League group containing Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. OK, they lost every one of their six games, but you get the picture.
"That shows how much the gap is closing. A few years back we'd have lost that by five or six nil, these days sides like Plzen hate playing us, fear it's a real banana skin of a game," says Harris.
"Improved results in Europe is one of the tangibles which demonstrate the huge progress that is being made.
"Another, in my eyes, is this - only one club in this season's league, I won't name them, wouldn't have been able to challenge for the title that we won 20 years ago.
"If our team today played our title winners from back then, the current side would win. Pretty comfortably, too, I suspect.
"Yes we've won yet another league crown, but my desire for success and to keep improving never dims. I take particular pride and passion in seeing my ambitions realised and I'm not going anywhere until we get into the group stages of a European competition.
"That would up the ante significantly when it comes to media coverage, but the very fact you're talking to me shows we're doing something right. We need to knock that door down and show everybody how fantastic our league can be."
So the standard is undoubtedly up, no-one can deny that, but why do crowds remain so disappointing? Why does the league not cut through with the people at large?
There are, of course, a plethora of reasons for this. Maybe that's another article for another day.
What is beyond dispute is that Harris believes in the Welsh domestic product with a passion and remains hopeful more and more will buy into the Cymru Premier and start voting with their feet by coming to matches.
FAW chief executive Noel Mooney, like Harris a visionary brimful of enthusiastic new ideas to improve Welsh football, is conducting a root and branch reform of the league to see what can be done. The findings will be made public in a report expected to come out this year.
The biggest issue, Harris feels, is a simple one of geography.
"it's very easy to be kept in the shadow of the English pyramid system," he explains. "Clubs from the bigger conurbations, Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, have played in the Football League for 100-odd years, their fans like it, they follow that football.
"I totally get that. Cardiff and Swansea have been in the Premier League recently. The business model is totally different. I fully understand. They don't want it any different. Why should they?
"Prior to Ryan Reynolds pumping his money into Wrexham, I'd argue it would have made sense for them to come into the Cymru Premier and push for Europe. However, they are targeting a return to League Two and beyond, there is a new feelgood factor. I get that, too.
"Then we have the big Premier League clubs playing their games just up the road, so to speak, from clubs in the north.
"Our challenge, and hope, is getting Welsh people interested in consuming their own product, rather than just consuming the English game.
"Or watch one at home one week, the other the next week perhaps?
"How much would it cost for four people to sit together at Old Trafford, or Anfield? Hundreds and hundreds for just one game. I think our top price is £8 and it's a nominal fee for youngsters.
"We know people can easily make the trip across to Manchester United or Liverpool, or down to Wolves or one of the other big Midlands clubs, but we have to show the Welsh Premier is of a high enough quality in its own right to persuade them to come and watch our teams."
With a semi-mischievous bit of goading, Harris smiled: "Remember, we're Welsh clubs playing in Wales under a Welsh banner. Were the others to get into Europe, they'd be doing it under an English flag!"
A teeny bit ironic, some might argue, given TNS actually play their home games just over the border in the English market town of Oswestry. That is as a result of a merger with Welsh village side Llansantffraid back in 1996, from whence TNS, originally the name of Harris' business, were formed.
The owner quickly addresses that issue himself, mind, pointing out: "We didn't have the facilities in Llansantfraid to develop into what I wanted us to become. We're proud to fly the flag for Welsh domestic football and the ambitions will continue."
Despite having been at the helm for almost 30 years, Harris' burning desire for success in the Welsh game hasn't dimmed one iota. The 15th league title tastes as sweet as the first one back in the day.
"Whoever you support, you never tire of winning football matches and trophies," beams Harris. Nor have his visionary ideas, many of which have undoubtedly been for the betterment of Welsh football, dried up.
Take quotas in Rob Page's Wales team, for example, who kick off their Euro 2024 qualifiers in Croatia this week.
"The FAW should demand that he has at least one, possibly more, Welsh Premier players in his squad," argues Harris strongly.
"For starters it would make the national team manager look properly at the Welsh system. Two, it would increase the profile of our league. Three, we have fabulous Academies these days and talent is undoubtedly there, it just needs to be recognised.
"Look, I'm not saying Page, or whoever the manager may be, has to pick a Welsh Premier player in his team. Far from it. But just being around the squad, training with these elite players, would improve standards further. Perhaps it would also enable our guys to have more belief in themselves, closely look at others in the Welsh squad in training and realise they're not actually that far behind, or accept what they need to do in order to reach that standard.
"I hate the 'Oh it's only the Welsh League' attitude. We have to start to break down those barriers.
"I hark back to Steve Evans, a colossus of a centre-half who was outstanding for us over a number of years. He moves from TNS to Wrexham - within five weeks he gets a first Wales cap. Then went on to win more, including playing in a World Cup qualifier in Russia. I was absolutely delighted for Stevie, a top guy, a top defender - but he was no better five weeks on than he was with us. Yet because he was playing in the English system, suddenly he's being recognised?
"This is what I mean about barriers."
Harris also feels the FAW could more to push the Welsh domestic game and cites as an example the decision to take this year's Welsh Cup final to Bangor's little Nantporth ground, rather than Cardiff City Stadium which has become the home of Welsh football.
The Welsh Cup, which used to be a brilliant competition, was devalued when the FAW kicked out Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and Wrexham back in the 1990s, but it still means an awful lot to those teams taking part.
TNS won the final against Penybont at the CCS last season, the crowd of 2,400 being the biggest attendance since the 1996 final.
"I rather hoped that was set in stone. The road to Cardiff, rather like the road to Wembley for those in the FA Cup," says Harris.
"Cardiff City Stadium is a wonderful ground, playing there could be an aspiration for every club when they start out in the competition.
"Make it an event. Bring as many stakeholders and people as possible to the final. A bit like the English FA have done with their women's game. Their matches possibly used to have less followers than a Welsh Premier club - suddenly they've made a fuss about it, managed to draw a crowd, it's become an event.
"Yet the FAW have chosen to take our final this year to Nantporth. It's a bit like the FA deciding to take an FA Cup final involving, say Barrow and Harrogate, to Preston because of proximity. The road to Preston - no disrespect, but hardly the same as Wembley, is it?
"We should be heavily promoting our own domestic cup final, take the game to the biggest football ground in Wales, look to bring as many as possible to Cardiff City Stadium, show off the game, attract neutrals, make it the showpiece it should be. Instead, I feel, a decision has been made about our national cup competition which kind of takes us back to the dark ages from where we were last season."
Harris has never been slow in offering constructive critique, but that's the key - if he isn't happy with something he doesn't just snipe from the sidelines, he puts forward an alternative solution that he believes can work.
Certainly ideas that initially appear left field at best, wacky if you wish to be critical, have consistently been put forward and often worked to help make TNS Welsh flagbearers.
Merger, ground move, new plastic pitch, going full-time. There was even the infamous change of name which led to Sky's Soccer Saturday host Jeff Stelling famously acknowledging a winning goal with the phrase, "They'll be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions tonight".
Through everything, Harris has remained steadfast in his desire to better his club and in doing so better Welsh football.
"Of course we've always had to deal with brick walls and criticism. Lots of it. People who drive change are always in the firing line. Lots of others want 20-20 hindsight. But if I had worried about the flak, we'd still be in the dark ages ourselves. Instead we're in a rather different place and I'm proud of the role I've played in helping that change happen," says Harris.
Fair to say this remarkable little club, who played defending European champions Liverpool in the Champions League and were only beaten by a Steven Gerrard hat-trick, will continue to do things differently as they seek to take Welsh domestic football to the next level.
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