Cwmbrân Town A.F.C.

Full name	Cwmbrân Town Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Crows
Founded	1951
Ground	Cwmbran Stadium Cwmbrân
Capacity	10,500 (2,200 seated)
Chairman	Gareth Griffiths
Manager	Nicky Church
League	Gwent County League Division One
2017–18	4th (of 16)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Cwmbrân Town is a football team based in Cwmbrân, Wales, and play in the Gwent County League Division 1, the fifth tier of Welsh Football.

History

Formed in 1951, Cwmbrân Town began in the Monmouthshire Senior League, playing their matches at Cwmbrân Park. In 1960 the club joined the Welsh Football League and they moved to their present home at the Cwmbran Stadium in 1975. Cwmbrân lost their place in the top division of the Welsh Football League in 1978 and it took them three years to return to the top level. Although they finished eighth in the 1981–82 season, they were invited to join the National Division of the restructured League. Cwmbrân finished third in 1986–87 and almost won the title in 1989–90. In 1992 they were invited to become founder members of the League of Wales. They took the title by five points from rivals and near-neighbours Inter Cardiff, conceding only 22 goals all season and losing only three games (all 1–0).

That inaugural Konica League championship brought European reward in the form of a UEFA Champions League tie against Cork City from the Republic of Ireland. In the preliminary round, Cwmbrân won the home leg by 3–2, after being 3–0 in front but despite going a goal ahead early in the second match they lost 2–1 and went out on away goals. Cwmbrân had another taste of European football in 1997 in the European Cup Winners Cup, having lost 2–1 to newly crowned champions Barry Town in the Welsh Cup final.

Qualifying for Europe again in 1998 and 1999, Cwmbrân met FC Național București of Romania, and Celtic respectively.

In the 1999–2000 Welsh Cup final Cwmbrân lost to Bangor City, and in 2002–03 Barry Town defeated them in the final in a penalty shoot-out. In the 2003–04 UEFA Cup they lost 6–0 on aggregate to Maccabi Haifa of Israel, playing the away leg in İzmir, Turkey.

Financial problems (2006–07)

The 2003/04 season saw the introduction of a new manager, Brian Coyne, who had previously managed Newtown. But his reign was short, and during the 2004/05 season after the resignation of long term Chairman John Colley, Brian also decided to step down as manager due to financial reasons.

For the rest of that season Cwmbrân were managed by former player Sean Wharton. For the next two seasons, in difficult circumstances Wharton looked to local talent to try to avoid relegation. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Town were close to dropping out of the Welsh top flight for the first time since the League's formation. Cwmbrân finished in the second relegation position, but were saved from relegation due to a lack of teams in the feeder leagues wishing to be promoted. But at the end of the 2006/07 season Cwmbrân were relegated for the first time from the Welsh Premier League into the Welsh Football League. They finished in 17th place and were ultimately relegated following a 5–1 defeat by Llanelli AFC on 20 April.

The season's on-field performances were overshadowed by off-field financial problems. Towards the end of November 2006, reports surfaced that players were not being paid. The club initially denied this, but on 30 November the club announced officially that it was unable to pay its players. A few key players left, including top scorer Jody Jenkins, who joined Haverfordwest County.

Cwmbrân Town received some help from Newport County, who offered a friendly with all proceeds going to the club. Wharton resigned at the end of the season.

Post Welsh Premier League relegation (2007–present)

Season 2007/08 saw the club install a new manager, Guillermo Ganet; but his reign was short: he only stayed with the club for one season and then left by mutual consent. A year later the experienced Gary Proctor became as manager, but relegation from Welsh Football League Division 1 followed.

For the 2009/10 season the club had a new management team of Barrie Hughes and Gareth Kedward. With a completely new squad, the team finished fifth from bottom in Division 2, and because of the league restructure, demotion to Division 3 followed. Another relegation followed at the end of the 2010/11 season, and Hughes resigned mid-season.

Manager Mark Parfitt and assistant Jamie Jenkins built a new squad for 2011/12 using local players and managed a creditable 3rd place in Division 1 of the Gwent County League. Season 2012/13 started in promising fashion but a few games into the season Parfitt stepped down and Jamie Jenkins took the hot seat, finishing the long hard season near the bottom.

The following season Jenkins was joined by his brother and ex-Crow Daniel Jenkins and the pair oversaw a good run of results: the team were fighting for the league championship until four defeats in the last five games resulted in a 7th place finish.

The Crows appointed former Cwmbran Celtic FC manager Steve Morgan for the start of the 2014/15 season, but after a bad run of results with no wins in the first eight games, Morgan resigned. First team coach Andrew Howells stepped into the manager position and was joined by former PILCS manager Matthew Ryder with a third of the season remaining. Together they steered the team to the safety of 14th place. Howells left the club, and Ryder took over as manager for the 2015/16 season.

Season 2015/16 started so well on the new 3G pitch at Cwmbran Stadium winning more than usual; as the season ended, the Crows avoided another relegation, finishing in 12th place, with the league restructuring relegating 4 teams from the Gwent County League.

For 2016/17, Ryder brought in Gareth Hinwood as his assistant manager and a host of new players from Cwmbran Celtic FC, finishing the season in 8th position, despite being the league's leading goal scorers; it was the other end that let the team down.

In 2017/18 Ryder and Hinwood had added quality to the squad, with a real hope of achieving promotion to the Welsh Football League. Ryder hit a bad patch over the Christmas period losing 3 games on the bounce resulted in him resigning, leaving the Crows in 6th position and Hinwood taking caretaker charge for the final 10 games, but Hinwood also stepped down with three games remaining.

In April 2018, at the end of the season, Nicky Church was appointed manager with Della Cheedy as his assistant. The club finished the season in 4th place.

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Opponents	Home leg	Away leg	Aggregate
1993–94	UEFA Champions League	Preliminary round 1	Cork City	3–2	1–2	4–4
1997–98	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Qualifying round 1	National Bucureşti	2–5	0–7	2–12
1999–2000	UEFA Cup	Qualifying round 1	Celtic	0–6	0–4	0–10
2000	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Qualifying round 1	Nistru Otaci	0–1	0–1	0–2
2001–02	UEFA Cup	Qualifying round 1	Slovan Bratislava	0–4	0–1	0–5
2003–04	UEFA Cup	Qualifying round 1	Maccabi Haifa	0–3	0–3	0–6

Honours

Players

1st team squad

As of 1 July 2018.^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Nicky Church GK Luca Bullock GK Mark Randall DF James Vernall (captain) DF Joseph Cashman DF Michael Phillips (vice captain) DF Sam Phelps DF Joel Griffin DF Craig Cheedy DF Lloyd Horribin DF Kieron McConnachie DF Rhys Parry

No. Position Player MF Lewis Grant MF Jordan Hill MF Bertrand Abang MF Daniel Prichard MF Logan Haynes MF Sean Matthews MF Sedric King FW Kofi Rowe FW Owen Llewelyn FW Myles Case FW Daniel Jenkins FW Leigh Williams

Club officials

Committee

Position	Name
President	John Colley
Chairman	Gareth Griffiths
Vice Chairman	Brett Howells
Treasurer	Debbie Gibbons
Secretary & Programme Editor	Marc Herbert
Youth Chairman	Mark Williams
Youth Secretary	Sarah Smith
Youth Treasurer	Robert McGrath
Safeguarding & Welfare Officer	Ian Smith
Committee Member	Cheryl Herbert
Website Editor	Steve Thomas

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Manager	Nicky Church
Assistant Manager	Della Cheedy
Assistant Manager	Craig Bourne
1st Team Coach	Miles Griffin
Physio & Kit Manager	Robert Hole

Youth set up

The Club has a large and very successful youth structure at various age groups. All youth sides are based at Pen-y-Lan playing fields in Cwmbran, Torfaen. The Club holds a very popular mini festival tournament each year which is attended by many clubs around the Gwent area.

Position	Name
Under 6 coach	Lee Manley
Under 6 coach	Daniel Davies
Under 7 coach	Matthew Robinson
Under 7 coach	Cori Britton
Under 8 A coach	Rhys Stokes
Under 8 A coach	Scott Smith
Under 8 B coach	Tony Jones
Under 8 B coach	Jody Jenkins
Under 9 coach	Mark Hobbs
Under 9 coach	Jason Tahanha
Under 10 coach	Jonathon Larcombe
Under 10 coach	Darren Wheatstone
Under 11 coach	Ian Smith
Under 11 coach	Anthony Barlow
Under 12 coach	Matthew Evans
Under 12 coach	Marc Berriman
Under 13 coach	Robert McGrath
Under 13 coach	Paul Sandford
Under 14 coach	Leigh McCauley
Under 14 coach	Ben Graham

Facilities

Miscellaneous

Top scorers

Season	Player	Goals
1992–93	John Powell	12
1993–94	Andrew Clissold	9
1994–95	Andrew Mainwaring	28
1995–96	Andrew Mainwaring	17
1996–97	Mattie Davies Simon Dyer	27 15
1997–98	Simon Dyer Mattie Davies	27 22
1998–99	Chris Summers Mattie Davies	21 20
1999–00	Chris Summers	28
2000–01	Mattie Davies Jodie Jenkins	19 18
2001–02	Craig Hughes	16
2002–03	Chris Summers	10
2003–04	Chris Summers	21
2004–05	Jason Welsh	14
2005–06	Kaid Mohamed	11
2006–07	Jodie Jenkins	12
2007–08	Jean Black Ngody	10
2008–09	Rob Fowler	8
2009–10	Steve Hughes	12
2010–11	Kristian Powell	13
2011–12	Chris Ham	20
2012–13	Luke Thomas	19
2013–14	Luke Thomas	32
2014–15	Chris Pike	9
2015–16	Luke Thomas	19
2016–17	Owen Llewelyn	33
2017–18	Owen Llewelyn	21
2018–19

References

External links

• Official website
• "Crows in cash crisis again"
• "Takeover group could save Crows"