“Hands off my players” – warns Rhyl boss Gareth Thomas

CPD Y Rhyl 1879 manager Gareth Thomas has hit out at other clubs for trying to poach his players.

Despite a highly frustrating first 12 months in charge of the newly-formed club, which has included having the whole 2020-21 season cancelled due to Covid-19, Thomas has managed to build a quality squad at Belle Vue.

But recently his players have been targeted by several clubs in tiers 1 and 2 – and the former Conwy Borough boss is less than impressed.

In an interview after Tuesday night’s 0-0 draw at Buckley Town, Thomas said: “Five or six offers have come in the last week from clubs in tier 1 and 2 who just think they can speak to the lads behind our backs. At the moment none of the lads have gone bar one – one bailed straight away.

“At the end of the day we thought we’d got the squad we wanted, we’ve been building 16 months for it. Obviously other clubs now realise they probably haven’t got the money they’ve been promising players and can just start cherry picking our players.

“If they’re going to carry on we’ll just start reporting them to the Welsh FA as it’s bang out of order.”

As a player, Thomas spent most of his career with Halkyn United, but also had short spells with both Flint Town United and Connah’s Quay Nomads in the League of Wales.

He helped Halkyn move through the leagues right up to the Cymru Alliance under the management of George Thelwell, to whom he eventually became assistant. When Thelwell left the club, Thomas took over.

Known popularly as “Perry”, Thomas then had stints as manager with Mynydd Isa, Buckley Town, FC Nomads and Denbigh Town, whom he guided to the Word Cup Final in 2016.

In 2017-18, Thomas took charge at Conwy Borough and led the club to a magnificent treble in his first season of Welsh Alliance League title, FAW Trophy and Cookson Cup.

He left Conwy the following season and had focused largely on junior football before becoming manager of CPD Y Rhyl 1879, a phoenix club formed in April 2020 following the demise of Rhyl FC.

CPD Y Rhyl 1879 friendlies results to date

June 22, 2021: Buckley Town (a) 0-0
June 19, 2021: Porthmadog (h) 1-3
June 12, 2021: Holywell Town (h) 0-2
June 8, 2021: St Asaph City (a) 3-2
June 5, 2021: Rhydymwyn (h) 3-2
June 1, 2021: Mynydd Isa (a) 0-0
May 29, 2021: Rhuddlan Town (h) 11-2
May 25, 2021: Airbus UK (a) 1-0
May 18, 2021: Connah’s Quay Nomads Scholars (a) 4-3
December 19, 2020: Rhuddlan Town (h) 6-2
December 13, 2020: Abergele (h) 2-0
November 29, 2020: Corwen (h) 1-2
November 22, 2020: Ruthin Town (h) 1-3
November 15, 2020: St Asaph City (h) 0-1