Sad news: CPD Caerwys forced to fold their winter league team

CPD Caerwys have reluctantly folded their winter football team.

After beginning the 2024-25 season with seven straight defeats in all competitions, the Flintshire club have called it a day.

They have withdrawn their team from the North East Wales Football League Premier Division, in which they sat bottom of the table with five consecutive losses.

The tier 4 club was left in the lurch three weeks before the start of the campaign when manager Dan Sands left to join CPD Gronant.

Around the same time, first-team coach and under-19s manager Neil Day announced he was taking a break from football, whilst the Reserves management of Connor Richardson and Ieuan Rowe took over at NEWFL Championship side Brymbo.

Several players also moved on, but despite this Caerwys vowed to carry on competing.

Andrew Gilsenan took over as first team manager, Iwan Woodworth his assistant and Ryan Howells operated in a coaching role.

However, a run of poor results led to the team’s resignation following a weekend 5-1 defeat at Ruabon Rovers.

In a statement, the club said: “It is with great sadness that CPD Caerwys FC have decided to fold the current winter league team.

“This season has been a real struggle, having lost our management team and so many players pre-season.

“Sincere thanks must go to Andrew Gilsenan and Iwan Woodworth for all their efforts in managing the team and trying to recruit players to keep the team competing in Tier 4.

“The club would also like to thank the players who stayed loyal to the club in this difficult time, the new players that joined this season, our supporters and club sponsors.

“We didn’t take this decision lightly and are very sorry for all involved but had to be realistic about our ability to fulfil our fixtures this season.”

Sad loss of a great club

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.

How sad to see how things have nosedived in recent months.

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.

For now, the story of Caerwys’ winter league side is over after 40 years of competing. One hopes that in the future, the team will return.