Golden boot Venables commits to Bala Town

Big boost for Bala Town – goal-getter supreme and captain Chris Venables has signed a new deal with the club.

The 34-year-old recently celebrated the fourth Cymru Premier golden boot success of his career, his 22 goals in 2019-20 putting him joint fifth in the all-time league scorers chart.

Venables’ heroics also helped ensure the Lakesiders qualified for Europe for a sixth time in eight seasons.

Having just completed his 17th season as a top-flight player, Venables won Player of the Month in December as well as being called up the Wales C squad during his fourth campaign at Maes Tegid.

The Shrewsbury-born star has been playing in the Welsh Premier since 2003-04, firstly spending four seasons with Caersws before moving to Welshpool Town.

He was at Aberystwyth in 2008-09 before four impressive seasons with Llanelli followed.

Then came a golden second spell at Aber, where between 2013-14 and 2015-16 he won three WPL Golden Boots in a row, netting 24, 28 and 20 goals respectively.

Venables was also named WPL Player of the Season in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Summer 2016 brought a surprise switch to Bala Town, where his chief highlight to date was captaining the Lakesiders to their first-ever Welsh Cup success in 2016-17.

Venables is level on 177 Cymru Premier career goals with Chris Summers.

The only players above the pair are Michael Wilde of Connah’s Quay Nomads (188), Lee Hunt (209), Rhys Griffiths (267) and Marc Lloyd Williams (319).

It has been a good week for Bala with Anthony Stephens, Steven Leslie and Kieran Smith penning fresh deals, while the club also signed top-class keeper Alex Ramsay from Caernarfon Town.

CYMRU PREMIER TOP GOALSCORERS SEASON-BY-SEASON

1992–93 Steve Woods (Ebbw Vale) 29
1993–94 Dave Taylor (Porthmadog) 43
1994–95 Frank Mottram (Bangor City) 31
1995–96 Ken McKenna (Conwy United) 38
1996–97 Tony Bird (Barry Town) 42
1997–98 Eifion Williams (Barry Town) 40
1998–99 Eifion Williams (Barry Town) 28
1999–2000 Chris Summers (Cwmbrân Town) 28
2000–01 Graham Evans (Caersws) 25
2001–02 Marc Lloyd Williams (Bangor City) 47
2002–03 Graham Evans (Caersws) 24
2003–04 Graham Evans (Caersws) 24
2004–05 Marc Lloyd Williams (Total Network Solutions) 34
2005–06 Rhys Griffiths (Port Talbot Town) 28
2006–07 Rhys Griffiths (Llanelli) 30
2007–08 Rhys Griffiths (Llanelli) 40
2008–09 Rhys Griffiths (Llanelli) 31
2009–10 Rhys Griffiths (Llanelli) 30
2010–11 Rhys Griffiths (Llanelli) 25
2011–12 Rhys Griffiths (Llanelli) 19
2012–13 Michael Wilde (The New Saints) 25
2013–14 Chris Venables (Aberystwyth Town) 24
2014–15 Chris Venables (Aberystwyth Town) 28
2015–16 Chris Venables (Aberystwyth Town) 20
2016–17 Jason Oswell (Newtown) 22
2017–18 Greg Draper (The New Saints) 22
2018–19 Greg Draper (The New Saints) 27
2019–20 Chris Venables (Bala Town) 22

Golden Boot Titles

7 – Rhys Griffiths
4 – Chris Venables
3 – Graham Evans
2 – Greg Draper, Eifion Williams, Marc Lloyd Williams
1 – Steve Woods, Dave Taylor, Frank Mottram, Ken McKenna, Tony Bird, Chris Summers, Michael Wilde, Jason Oswell.