Crusaders Success For All of Wales

Maurice Jones the Plaid candidate for Alyn and Deeside with Peter Ryder Plaid candidate for Delyn at the Wigan game.

Having attended the first three Crusaders matches I thought that it may be a good time to comment on what has happened so far.


At the first game I was very pleased to see people from all over the north as well as a strong contingent from Bridgend. My experience of the Bridgend fans has been marvellous, teasing us for and helping us with our lack of knowledge of the rules. The Wrexham football fans cheering when the ref gave a decision to Leeds was probably their funniest moment.

In the two away games they were by far in the majority and happy to see supporters from the north joining them. I have to admit I was expecting some animosity but I have found none. To be fair this has also been the case with away fans as well, I don’t know whether it was because of the gutsy performance against Leeds or whether it is just rugby league but the good will from both Wigan and Salford fans has been brilliant.

I think that Crusaders now has a chance to be a franchise for the whole of Wales. It is important that games are played in the south as well as the north and if they would have played a couple of games up here last year the situation now would be better. I believe that the club should now be taking the lead in setting up supporters clubs and transport. Back in the late 70s when Wrexham had a great football team on match days Mold Road would be full of coaches from all over the north and as far south as Aberystwyth. There is no reason this can’t happen again and with the good rail links to the south special trains could also increase our following.

I believe that on the pitch Brian Noble has done a brilliant job but the Racecourse staff now have to back them up. Lets see them organising trips to away games and trips to home games. After all there is a lot of money to be made out of this. I believe they would make 10% commission on away ticket sales alone.

It's going to be another big game on Sunday. Hull F.C. are tipped for the top four at the end of the season. So let's hope we can throw a spanner in the works for them with another big performance. Come on the Cru.

Parliamentary candidate pledges workers' wage if elected

Plaid Cymru's challenger for the Alyn and Deeside Parliamentary seat  has pledged to only take a workers' wage if elected.

Maurice Jones, a former steelworker and life-long trade unionist, made the pledge to take the average skilled workers' wage if elected as an MP after being selected by Plaid Cymru members in the seat. The rest of the money will be ploughed into community projects in the constituency.

Mr Jones said that it was about time that Alyn and Deeside had an MP that put the local voters before business interests in the Home Counties.

He said:

“All the big London-based parties are financed by the same bankers and business men that got us in this mess in the first place, they all holiday on the same yachts and they all have their snouts in the same gold-plated trough.

“I ask you to send me to Parliament not to join those politicians corrupted by an institution where an army of flunkies opens doors for the privileged few, where the taxpayer is just someone to be squeezed to pay for everything from a loo brush to a luxury Kensington flat."

Mr Jones, a father of two, added:

"The expenses scandal showed that many of our MPs have no idea what it's like to live in the real world. Their basic salary is larger than the budgets of some community councils. For this reason, if elected, I will take only the average skilled worker's wage and use the rest of my wages to set up a community fund that will support community projects all over Alyn and Deeside.

“I will enter Parliament to help end the influence of this corrupt system on the people of Alyn and Deeside. I will battle for our own Welsh parliament to bring democracy home where it belongs, in the hands of our people, in our own country."