Connah’s Quay Nomads owner Gary Dewhurst: “We could lose numerous key players in January window”

Connah’s Quay Nomads owner Gary Dewhurst believes his talented squad could be decimated through a bombardment of transfer requests in the January window.

Dewhurst expects not just interest from Cymru Premier outfits with bigger budgets, but also Football League clubs turning to the Welsh pyramid for potential new stars.

Nomads are enjoying an outstanding top-flight season to date, lying second behind champions The New Saints and on a nine-match unbeaten run – eight wins.

Players such as Callum West, Harry Franklin and Frankie Deane have shone brightly under the thriving leadership of manager John Disney.

Dewhurst was in charge at Nomads when they won back-to-back Cymru Premier titles in 2019-20 and 2020-21, as well as the Welsh Cup in 2024, but maintaining full-time status to challenge TNS proved unsustainable.

Nomads’ excellent start to this current season has not gone unnoticed with multiple English and Scottish league clubs sending their scouts to watch over the North Wales club’s young talent, most of whom are training full time between their Connah’s Quay and Manchester bases.

The majority of interest has been in the outstanding Callum West (21), who was on the end of an alleged illegal approach from a prominent rival last year.

However, Nomads have also rejected record offers for forward Harry Franklin (26) from two National League clubs and are expecting further bids in the upcoming window – they fear they may not be able to hold onto these players.

Alongside these, scouts have also been to watch the Nomads’ flying defenders Alex Hughes (20) and Joe Ferguson (23) including international interest in the latter.

Only last week, the club received applications from a League One club to specifically watch Jordan Hodkin (19) and Frankie Deane (22).

Owner Dewhurst said: “With only three European slots up for grabs and it being highly likely two of them will be filled by TNS and Penybont, due to their huge playing budgets, we have had to adapt our football/business model by focusing on recruiting young talent with unfulfilled potential and a burning desire to make a career in full-time football.

“The byproduct of this is we attract huge interest in our best players and of course, we will have to face commercial reality by moving some of these players on, which is disappointing in terms of wanting to challenge the top clubs over the long term.

“The Nomads are literally providing a shop window for talent, in exchange for sustaining a challenge for the Cymru Premier title.

“Most of football still see a move to the lower reaches of English and Scottish football as a significant step up on the Welsh system, it’s going to be difficult to reverse this perception.”

Dewhurst added: “2026/2027 is a crazy year….we could invest in a squad to challenge multi-champions TNS, come 2nd in the league on goal difference…and still not qualify for Europe!

“It’s almost a lottery and I wonder why investors are hovering around Welsh football with such financial jeopardy? “