Behind the scenes at The New Saints FC: ‘It is up there as the biggest game of our lives’
The Cymru Premier team invite us to their modest Park Hall Stadium in Oswestry as they prepare for their historic clash with Fiorentina
A Welsh flag flies high outside Park Hall Stadium in Oswestry, Shropshire. As The New Saints players file downstairs into the gym from an opposition analysis meeting, they head past a giant whiteboard with another reminder, in block capitals and green marker pen, of the historic step that awaits. “Fiorentina away, 8pm,” reads Thursday’s calendar entry.
The schedule also details their 9am flight to Florence, training at Stadio Artemio Franchi exactly 24 hours before their Conference League opener, rare rest and recovery windows, and the reality of coming back down to earth with a Cymru Premier trip to Briton Ferry, a few miles from the blast furnaces of Port Talbot, on Sunday. Later that day, Fiorentina will host Milan.
Jake Canavan, Josh Lock and Adam Wilson enjoy a gym session before training at the ground.
