We've lost players to rugby league before - Gary Pearce, Jonathan Davies, Jonathan Griffiths - and replaced them.' He waved an arm towards a group of reserves going through a training routine. 'Look, we've had bad starts before, and ended up beating everybody in sight. Like Moon and Lewis, the 43- year-old schoolmaster is clearly bruised by the months of conflict and criticism.'We're a bit sensitive just now,' he said. Maclean was voted off the committee - 'the victim of politics and petty jealousy,' according to a distinguished old player who remains close to the club - and replaced by Roy Bergiers, the centre who entered into legend when he scored the only try in Llanelli's 9-3 victory over the touring All Blacks in 1972.After Llanelli's 44-10 victory at Maesteg's Old Parish Ground on Wednesday, Bergiers explained that the car-park sale was still going ahead, subject to planning permission. The committee's controversial solution was to sell off part of Stradey's vast car park - the source, according to gossip, of the revenue from which the club has long met the 'expenses' of outstanding players - for a supermarket complex, at a price of between pounds 750,000 and pounds 2m.At a series of turbulent meetings, the membership chose as its scapegoat John Maclean, the chairman - and the author some years ago of a document summarising the official philosophy of the 122- year-old club (' to provide entertainment by playing effective and adventurous winning rugby enjoyable for both player and spectator alike .'). But at the end of last season it emerged that diminished gates had cost the club pounds 60,000, making it impossible to meet the repayments. Which was fine, when the cash was coming in through the turnstiles.

Problems with the funding led to the entire sum being borrowed from the Midland Bank, with repayments scheduled over 10 years. Three years ago, a new stand was built at Stradey Park, costing pounds 650,000. But we lose them for a fortnight when they join the Welsh squad - and this year there will have been three international matches before Christmas.'Buried deeper is an even more damaging result of Llanelli's recent lack of success on the field. They've all been extremely loyal over the years, in the lean times as well as the good. They'd won everything with Llanelli, so the next thing that motivated them was the national team Now it's the World Cup.