David Hayes departs Prestatyn Town and rejoins St Asaph City
Prestatyn Town all-time great David Hayes has left the club where he made his name and returned to tier 3 St Asaph City.
Hayes, 42, rejoined Prestatyn at the start of this season and made 11 appearances this term, scoring once.
In a brief statement on his departure, the Cymru North club said: “We thank Hayesey for his many years of service at the football club, undoubtedly establishing himself as a club legend.”
After spells with Rhyl FC and Prestatyn Nova early in his career, the David Hayes story truly began back in 2005/06 when aged 24 he skippered Prestatyn Town to a ground-breaking Welsh Alliance title triumph in a season which saw the Seasiders emerge undefeated throughout the entire league campaign.
Following a highly-promising debut season in the Cymru Alliance, Town were crowned champions in 2007/08 to clinch a dream promotion to the top-flight Welsh Premier League.
Prestatyn stayed in the WPL for eight seasons in total, twice in that time clinching a top-six spot.
Lionheart defender Hayes is Prestatyn’s all-time highest appearance maker in the WPL with 212 starts and six as substitute, netting 12 goals. He played for the Seasiders in every one of their eight seasons in the top-flight.
In 2012/13, Hayes led the first-ever Prestatyn Town side to lift the Welsh Cup in the club’s 103-year history, beating Bangor City 3-1 in the final at Wrexham.
Summer 2013 saw Hayes at the forefront as captain again as the Seasiders played in Europe for the first time and claimed a famous Europa League victory on penalties over Liepajas Metalurgs of Latvia before going out to Croatia’s HNK Rijeka in the next round.
An unforgettable few weeks was completed by Prestatyn lifting the NWCFA Challenge Cup for the first time.
Hayes helped Town win the HGA again in 2016/17, but at the end of 2017-18, after the club was relegated from the WPL for a second time, he announced his retirement.
However, the lure to help the Seasiders reach the top again with a young squad proved too great and he reversed his decision a few months later, playing for the club once more in the Cymru Alliance in 2018/19 and their championship-winning 2019-20 campaign, where they won the league but were unable to go up to the Welsh Premier due to a criteria issue.
After the 2020-21 season was wiped out by Covid, Hayes joined Holywell Town in 2021-22, staying with the Wellmen until November 2022, when St Asaph City became his latest club.
It turned into a dream move for the defender with Saints landing the 2022/23 treble of Tier 4 North Wales Coast East Premier Division title, NWCFA Intermediate Cup and Cookson Cup.
Last season saw Hayes make 33 appearances on Asaph’s return to the Tier 3 Ardal North West, where they finished a very encouraging sixth in the table.
He was back at Prestatyn at the start of 2024-25, but has now decided on a return to Roe Plas Meadows.