Great fit – great club, great manager. Neil Ashton takes over at Cefn Albion

Any Cefn Albion fans who might still be a little down in the dumps over narrowly missing out on promotion last season have been handed the perfect tonic today.

Former Wrexham and Shrewsbury Town defender Neil Ashton has been appointed new manager of the Cefners.

Until recently, the 38-year-old Ashton was boss of nearby Cefn Druids, but now the B Licence holder will be leading the Albion’s quest to win promotion from the tier 3 Ardal North East in 2023-24.

On his new appointment, Ashton said today: “𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘦𝘧𝘯 𝘈𝘭𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦.

“𝘐’𝘮 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.”

He added: “𝘈𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘪𝘦𝘳 3 𝘈𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘭 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥.

“𝘐𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴.”

Effective in defence or midfield, Ashton started his playing career with Tranmere Rovers as a youth in 2001 and turned professional in 2003.

He was part of the senior squad until 2005, making just one league appearance during his time at Prenton Park.

In the 2004-05 season he was loaned out to League Two Shrewsbury Town and made 24 appearances.

By the end of 2004/05, Ashton’s loan deal with the Shrews became permanent and he went on to feature in 133 games in all competitions, before switching to Macclesfield Town in January 2008.

He spent the rest of the 2008-09 campaign with the Cheshire-based League Two outfit, playing in 19 matches.

In summer 2009, Ashton signed for Chester City, who had recently been relegated to the Conference Premier.

However, he was left without a club on 26 February 2010 after Chester were expelled from the Football Conference for breaching five league regulations, then wound up.

After Chester’s demise, Ashton joined fierce rivals Wrexham on trial, playing twice for the reserves, impressing then manager Dean Saunders.

He signed for the Conference club ahead of the 2010-11 campaign and was to spend five seasons at the Racecourse.

Ashton became a regular and in his first season with the Dragons made 42 appearances including playing in both legs of the defeats to Luton Town in the Conference Play-off semi-finals.

In the 2011-12 season, Ashton was part of the Wrexham side that finished second in the league, gaining 98 points, but they again lost in the play-off semis to Luton.

Liverpool-based Ashton earned the club’s player of the season award after making 48 appearances including an FA Cup 3rd round match against Brighton & Hove Albion when they lost on penalties after a replay.

The 2012-13 season was one to remember for Ashton, who took over penalty duties from the departing Jake Speight.

In March 2013, he picked up his first career honour by winning the FA Trophy with Wrexham.

Ashton played in every round but missed the final at Wembley against Grimsby Town due to injury.

A month and a half later, Ashton played at Wembley in a Wrexham shirt, in a 2-0 loss to Newport County in the Conference play-off final.

Ashton was released by Wrexham on 14 May 2015. He made 222 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring 15 goals.

Stints with Barrow and Southport followed before in July 2017 Ashton signed for Cefn Druids of the Welsh Premier.

At the end of his debut campaign at The Rock, the Ancients had achieved their best top flight finish of fifth and qualified for Europe via the play-offs.

In 2018-19, Ashton had his first taste of European football as Druids qualified for the Europa League, losing just 2-1 over two legs to Lithuanian side FK Trakai.

Ashton left Druids after three seasons and joined Llandudno in September 2020.

The Seasiders and their new signing were to play just one match in 2020-21 in the Nathaniel MG Cup, the rest of the campaign cancelled due to Covid.

Ashton recommitted to Tudno for 2021-22, but last season became manager of Druids, doing a solid job in difficult circumstances, winning JD Cymru Premier Manager of the Month for November 2022.

Now he is set for a new challenge.

Long-serving manager Ian Andrews now transitions back to be Ashton’s assistant in 2023-24, while 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗼.

Previous assistant-manager Richard Williams-Cooke has stepped down to devote more time to his family.