Happy birthday to midfield marauder Stacey Tradewell (Llandudno FC)

One of the greatest footballers to wear the colours of Llandudno celebrates a birthday today.

Born on February 22, 1989, Stacey Joanne Tradewell has been a key part of the Seasiders’ midfield for many years.

One of her finest seasons was 2021-22, when she scored 20 goals as Llandudno landed the inaugural Tier 2 Genero Adran North title and NWCFA Challenge Cup double.

And this season, with Tudno targeting a second Adran North championship in three years, she is performing as well as ever, notching seven goals so far.

Born in Solihull, West Midlands, Stacey moved to North Wales at the age of 11 and soon joined Conwy Borough Girls Under-12’s, a talented team with a great track record.

Her first coach was Neil Todd, who she cites as a significant influence in her development, as well as Karl Rigby and later Mark Jones at Llandudno, who she says taught her a lot about her own individual strengths and weaknesses.

During her time as a student at Llandrillo College, Stacey played for Welsh Colleges in 2008, taking on English Colleges at Telford.

One of her main strengths has always been her ball distribution. She possesses a great passing range, a good engine and is firm in the tackle.

In her early senior career, Stacey played for the very strong Colwyn Bay side which dominated the North Wales League.

When the Bay disbanded, Stacey was among a number of players who moved to Llandudno Junction.

The team firstly played in the Welsh Premier League North Conference, before later becoming members of the fully-national WPWL in 2012-13.

In 2013, they adopted the name of MBi Llandudno Ladies due to sponsorship. This was dropped in 2016 and the team name reverted to Llandudno Ladies.

Stacey remained part of the Llandudno set-up throughout the eight seasons they competed in the WPWL until their resignation in 2019-20.

Constantly during Llandudno’s national league existence, Stacey was a steady performer and a regular goal scorer. She scored in what was probably the team’s best WPWL result – a 3-1 victory at PILCS in 2014-15.

In 2015-16 she played her part in Llandudno’s run to their first-ever Welsh Cup final, where they lost 5-2 to Cardiff City FC Women. Stacey scored the opening goal in a 4-0 semi-final triumph over Denbigh Town.

Now with Tudno possibly heading back towards top-flight status, Stacey remains as important a player to the team as she ever was.