Sad news – Llandudno Albion set to call it a day at the end of the season

One of the most vibrant football clubs to emerge in North Wales over the past 10 years have announced they will be folding at the end of the season.

After nine years, 272 games, 862 goals, three promotions, five trophies and a FAW Trophy final, this will be the farewell campaign for Llandudno Albion.

The tier 3 Ardal North West club have struggled badly this term, both on the pitch and also due to the situation with Maesdu Park, the ground they share with Llandudno FC, currently being unfit for purpose.

In recent times, Albion have played all their matches away just to keep competing, but it has all taken its toll.

The team currently lies third bottom of the ANW with just three wins in 17 games. However, they did have good runs in both the Welsh Cup and FAW Trophy this season.

Club chairman, secretary and treasurer Paul Cheung said tonight: “As part of the tier 3 licence for next season we must have a ground share agreement in place by March 1st which is obviously not possible at Llandudno at the moment.

“We would then need a season-long commitment from another club which we know is extremely unlikely given the challenges we have had this year, and to be honest another season practically playing away isn’t something we would consider again.

“It wouldn’t be right to pin the decision solely on this. It has been a matter of when, not if, the club calls it a day after the disappointment in never being able to secure our own ground.

“The future commitment of our core players which is the heartbeat of this club and the difficulty of attracting new committee members are all factors in this. This is by far the most professional league we have played in but it takes a huge level of commitment on and off the pitch and running a club with mostly a one-man committee just isn’t sustainable long term.

“Dropping down a league was never considered; it just isn’t in the DNA of this club to take on a lesser challenge – we have always strove to play as high as possible.

“Given all these reasons and more we just feel like it’s the right time to walk away. It’s a shame the decision was made for us with the pitch and not many from Llandudno have had the chance to see us play this year but hopefully people can now get to one last game.

“We are extremely proud of everything this club has achieved from an idea of getting a couple of mates playing football together to reaching a national final, only to be cancelled due to Covid, from the  club and donating thousands of pounds to a local foodbank.

“More than all of that, we have always tried to do things the right way, we have never paid a player wages to play for this club, it’s always been for the badge.

“The togetherness of these set of players bonds built over years of playing together with the same players I think will be hard to match. This club has never been a revolving door of players, you only have to look through the team and see how long each player has been here to see the love these lads have.

“I can assure we will be giving everything in these last nine games, we have never been relegated so that’s the motivation going into the final games.

“There’s too many thank you’s to be made right now but I will say the same as the players the sponsors are as committed long-term, having supported us from the beginning and still to this day.
“Details on the final games, venues, times etc and details on  club and of course a big party to be had will all be communicated in due course.”