Shropshire Star

Football map given red card as Oswestry-based Welsh champions TNS are snubbed

A map of European football which shows the league winners of every country has put Oswestry football fans in a frenzy.

Published

For the Welsh champions have disappeared off the face of the earth with the emblem of Leicester City covering Wales as well as England.

The exploits of Oswestry-based The New Saints, who did the treble this year, winning the Welsh Premier League, Welsh Cup and Welsh Word Cup, seem to have gone completely unnoticed on the map, which was published on the Uefa Euro 2016 Twitter feed.

Club owner Mike Harris, said today someone would have egg on their face as the mistake had been picked up by hundreds of people on social media.

"It proclaims Leicester as champions of England and Wales," he said.

"We are very pleased for Leicester, taking the English Premier League, but we would like to remind everyone that The New Saints are Welsh Champions."

Mr Harris said he was sure that the dragon and the lion, that stand proudly on The New Saints crest, would 'make a meal' of the Leicester fox.

"I have heard that dragons and lions eat foxes for breakfast," he said.

"The map shows Celtic as Scottish champions, why hasn't Wales been included?"

He said the map's publication came at a time when, ironically European football was uppermost in players' and staff members' minds.

"The players are having a very short break at the moment but they will be back in training next week in readiness for the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League.

"The first game will be on June 28 and we will know who we will be playing when the draw is made on June 20."

The New Saints FC become Europe's first champions of 2015, wrapping up the Welsh title with five games to spare back in March.

One of The New Saints most popular supporters is Stewart Bloor who writes blogs on the team and his hobby of angling under his pen name, The Angling Rev. "It is disappointing that Wales has disappeared from the map of Europe," he said.

"I congratulate Leicester for becoming English champions but it seems they have also been declared Welsh Champions."

Oswestry businessman Mr Harris first got involved in Welsh football when he invested in the Llansantffraid Football Club after it won the Welsh Cup 20 years ago. He renamed the club The New Saints and then moved it to the Park Hall Stadium.

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