Meliden FC set to return in 2026-27 with a new management team

Meliden FC have appointed a new management team for the 2026-27 season.
Richard Hillier-Evans, Scott Stewart and James Sweetman will run the Miners on their return to football after temporarily disbanding early in the current campaign.
Hillier-Evans is a past North Wales Coast East Division One league title and cup winner with Bow and Rhos United, where he managed at the start of 2025-26 before a short stay with St Asaph City.
The popular goalkeeper is now a player only with CPD Gronant, but will return to management duties at The Mine next season.
Sweetman is an experienced manager with past service at Gronant, Rhuddlan Town, Glan Conwy and Llysfaen and has worked closely over the years alongside Hillier-Evans.
A former player with Prestatyn Sports, Bow and Prestatyn Athletic, Stewart will now be transferring that experience to the management part of the game.
Meliden resigned from the North Wales Coast East League in September due to a shortage of players. The intention has always been to rebuild and return to the field after a break.
Back in October 2024, things looked incredibly bright for the Prestatyn-area club after a brand-new grass pitch was installed at The Mine courtesy of a £225,000 grant awarded by the Cymru Football Foundation, in partnership with the UK Government.
A second grass pitch was developed to allow the club to accommodate demand with the view of welcoming new women and junior teams.
Earlier in 2024, the club announced it had secured a lease at Ffordd Ty Newydd for the continued use of footballing activities for the next 25 years
However, the 2025-26 season started badly for Meliden, with no wins in seven league and cup matches and languishing next-to-bottom of the North Wales Coast East Premier Division.
Manager Dan Sleet stepped down and a number of players left the club.
Meliden called off a ;league game against Kinmel Bay in September as it could not raise a team, and soon announced it was temporarily folding, but did assure supporters this was a temporary setback and the club will return.

MELIDEN FC – THE HISTORY

Meliden Football Club was founded in 1974 and first began to make their mark in the Clwyd Football League in the 1980’s.
In 1993-94, the Miners were crowned Clwyd League Division One champions
They were promoted to the Clwyd Premier Division in 1995-96 but dropped out of that league in 1997-98.
The club reformed for the 2008–09 season and initially joined the Clwyd Football League, soon to become the Vale of Clwyd and Conwy League, winning the President’s Cup and Clwyd Cup in 2011-12, as well as finishing Premier Division runners-up.
They gained promotion to the Welsh Alliance League in 2012-13 and played seven seasons in Division Two, with their best finishing position being fifth in the first campaign
In March 2019 the club announced that at the end of the 2018–19 season they would resign from the Welsh Alliance League and rejoin the Vale of Clwyd and Conwy Football League.
They finished 2019–20 in sixth place in a season curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020 the team was accepted into the Premier Division of the new North Wales Coast East Football League, where it campaigned before disbanding in September 2025.
Now with top-class facilities and a fresh management set-up, Meliden hopes the future will be brighter..