Meet the Manager: Jay Roberts (CPD Mynydd Llandegai)

Jay Roberts was recently appointed manager of CPD Mynydd Llandegai for the 2026-27 season.

He will take over from Huw Davies and Phil Thomas when they step down at the end of the current campaign.

Former Llangoed boss Roberts has already begun his work at the Tier 4 North Wales Coast West Premier Division club, shadowing stalwarts Davies and Thomas in the closing weeks of the 2025-26 season.

Here, Roberts talks to Grassroots North Wales about his early impressions of life at Penrhiw.

It’s been a couple of weeks since you were appointed CPD Mynydd Llandegai manager for the 2026-27 season. Are you already getting involved with the management at the club, working with Huw Davies and his team?

My work behind the scenes has begun, but it will be Huw and Phil finishing off this season as they deserve a strong end to their time with the club.

You’ve already made some signings for next season – can you give us some details?

Both striker Alan ‘Blacks’ Owen and goalkeeper Elgan Roberts are key players for the club, especially now. Elgan, a GK is someone who Huw has kept an eye on for a long time and is someone I’m also looking forward to working with next season onwards. Same goes for Alan, I’ve tried to sign him for my previous club, so I’m looking forward to working with him.

After your first two weeks with the club how are you feeling? Can you see a lot of potential at Penrhiw? The club is performing steadily at Tier 4. What sort of ambition will you be bringing into the job – will you sets your sights high early on, or take it steady in the beginning?

Like I’ve mentioned, it’s only behind the scenes work that I do at the moment, preparations for next season are underway. The club will soon be announcing the other coaches who will be coming in with me in the summer.
The main reason I was attracted to this club is because I see a tonne of potential here. The facilities are awesome, there are already some talented players here, and a very committed committee. So with all that already at the club, my ambition is obvious, I want to get this team pushing for promotion, but I know it’s something that doesn’t just happen overnight. I have a previous record of taking a team from the bottom to fighting at the top, and I enjoyed doing that. It’s time to do it again.

What style of football do you envisage Mynydd Llandegai playing under your managership? Much different to what it is now?

Style of football, all is basic with me. At the end of the day we don’t play on carpet football pitches, so trying to play some nice cute football is definitely not in my plans. All I aim to see is confident players who can do the basics of football.

You’ve managed at Tier 5 with Llangoed, Llandegai will be a step above. Are you confident you can adapt?

I wouldn’t have gone into this role if I wasn’t confident I could adapt. When I joined Llangoed I’d say that took more adapting as I went from coaching ubder-8s to seniors. All I expect here is to adapt to a slightly higher level, and I’m excited at the prospect of aiming to adapt to that.

Tell us about your style of management

My management style is pretty simple, I’m known for my organisation, whether it’s planning stuff for the week straight after FT, or setting sights on a monthly target, or even helping out with gaining some exposure for the club via social media. Everything I do has a plan to it, and that plan is set very early on. When it comes to coaching, I tend to be called a very ‘hands on’ coach, because I like to get deep into detail weather it’s training drills, or just a one on one chat.

Are you familiar with Tier 4? What do you think of the standard you’ve seen?

I am very familiar with Tier 4, yes. If Llangoed didn’t have a game, I’d usually watch Tier 4, because my aim was to get Llangoed into Tier 4 so I needed to feel the difference in level. I explain the standards as a mix of Tier 3 teams and Tier 5 teams, you’ve always got your usuals at the top half, and same goes for the bottom half. Now it’s time for me to change that with Mynydd. I want us to be one of the top half teams, or even better, the team at the top!

How will you spend the summer preparing for the new season? More signings, regular training sessions etc? Are you planning any friendlies as yet?

Like I’ve mentioned, preparations have already started, I’ve already sorted a few games. I tend to sort more games in pre season than training because ultimately, it’s match fitness that’s important so what better way to achieve that than playing about 7 games in 4 weeks. With also a training session at the start and a fitness session in the middle of all that. And of course I have my eye on signings, the club will be in a transitional period, so expect a lot of outgoing and incomings within the club.