Never before has there been so much hype for a Mid Wales football match, and it all started when Sky Sports revealed three weeks ago that it would send a camera crew and celebrity ex-player after the club was ridiculed by anchorman Jeff Stelling in front of millions.

 

It triggered a bizarre series of events with Welshpool Town manager Dave Jones retorting in an email that was subsequently read out live on air a week later. He pointed out that the club had been saved at the 11^th hour and that results like the 10-1 defeat to Waterloo Rovers were all part of trying to keep the club alive.

 

A jovial Stelling (pictured) joked that “this won’t be the last you hear of Welshpool Town” after being “put in my place” by Jones and, true to his word, plans were immediately made for a showpiece match to be featured on Sky.

 

That match is tomorrow (Saturday) when high-flying Rhayader travel to Maesydre but the promised ex-player is only known to Jones and a select few and will be revealed just an hour before kick-off (which is 2pm).

 

“We are all looking forward to tomorrow and it promises to be a fantastic day for the club, the town and the league and we are hopeful that there will be a big crowd down,” said Jones, 26.

 

“As most people know, this season has been a struggle for Welshpool Town which we always knew it was going to be given the position the club was in 10 days before the start of the season, but I could never have possibly imagined when I took over in August that we would find ourselves on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday! It’s not every day you get the chance to appear on one of your favourite TV programmes.”

 

Jones hasn’t revealed anything about the player but pointed out that all the relevant paperwork has now gone through.