Why CPD Caerwys deserve to progress as a football club…..
CPD Caerwys deserve the opportunity to continue the good work developed over more than 40 years as a community winter league football club.
The Flintshire-based club is badly in need of a manager to take the reins for the 2024-25 season and it is hoped someone is found sooner rather than later.
Here is a rundown of a club’s history which has provided a lot more than just a capable first team…..
Caerwys ran a football side – and still does – for many years in the Llandyrnog and District Village Clubs Summer League before forming a winter team in 1983-84 and joining the Clwyd League.
Their first notable success came in 1996-97 when they finished third in Division One, thus earning promotion to the Premier Division.
Caerwys had their best season to that point in 1999-2000, when they finished runners-up in the Premier, losing out on the title only via goal difference to champions Abergele. Nonetheless, the Lon-yr-Ysgol outfit were promoted to the Welsh Alliance League for the first time in their history.
From 2000-01 to 2006-07, the club managed to stay in the Tier 3 Welsh Alliance, never finishing higher than 11th, but far from disgraced at a very decent standard of football.
They eventually dropped back down to the Clwyd League, operating in Division One between 2007-08 and 2010-11.
In 2011-12, they joined the newly-formed Clwyd League East before becoming part of the Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Division One in 2014-15, finishing seventh that season.
Midway through the 2015-16 campaign, Caerwys withdrew from the WNL, dissatisiied with lack of commitment from the players and the way the league was run.
Making a quick comeback in the North East Wales League in 2016-17, the Flintshire club remained a Tier 5 outfit until in 2022-23, they finished runners-up in the Championship Division, securing promotion to the T4 Premier with an unbeaten 20-match record.
Their first season in the Premier saw them finish seventh, while Caerwys’ second team won the NEWL Reserve Division title and the youth topped the Flintshire Under-19 League to complete a superb campaign for the club. 2023-24 was truly a season of progress for CPD Caerwys.
Perhaps the two most famous achievements in Caerwys’ history came in 2002-03, when they reached THREE major finals – FAW Trophy, North Wales Coast Challenge and Alves Cup – under the management of Russ Pierce and Mark Speakman, and in 1998, when the club’s veterans over-40s team, managed by Steve Griffith and Dave Williams, triumphed in the National UMBRO Knockout Cup by defeating Bedfordshire based Sandy Albion at Rushden & Diamonds ground.
Caerwys have particularly excelled at veterans football over the years.
One hopes they can sort out their managerial situation and build upon the great work already done at Lon yr Ysgol.