2009–10 Welsh Premier League

Welsh Premier League
Season 2009–10
Champions The New Saints
(5th title)
Relegated Rhyl
Connah's Quay
CPD Porthmadog
Welshpool Town
Caersws
Cefn Druids
Champions League The New Saints
Europa League Llanelli
Port Talbot Town
Bangor City (via dom. cup)
Matches played 306
Goals scored 861 (2.81 per match)
Top goalscorer Rhys Griffiths (30)
Biggest home win Pt. Talbot 70 Cefn Druids
Biggest away win Welshpool 05 Prestatyn
Cefn Dr. 05 Prestatyn
Highest scoring Bangor 63 Bala

The 2009–10 Welsh Premier League was the 18th season of the Welsh Premier League since its establishment in 1992 as the League of Wales. It began on 14 August 2009 and ended on 24 April 2010. Rhyl were the defending champions.

Teams

Bala Town were promoted from the Cymru Alliance and played in the top division for the first time in their history. Caersws survived relegation for a second straight year after ENTO Aberaman Athletic failed in their appeal to get a domestic licence after their floodlights were not up to the Welsh FA's expectations. None of the remaining top two teams in the Welsh Football League First Division could meet ground regulations.

The league was reduced to a size of 12 teams after this season following a unanimous decision by the Premier League clubs in June 2009.[1] As a result of this, six clubs were relegated. The number of relegated teams could also have been seven or eight (the maximum), depending on whether any Cymru Alliance / Welsh Football League First Division clubs were eligible to be promoted to the 2010–11 Premier League. None of them were, so six teams were relegated, including last season's champions Rhyl.[2]

Team summaries

Team Ground Capacity
Aberystwyth Town Park Avenue 5,500
Airbus UK Broughton The Airfield 2,100
Bala Town Maes Tegid 3,000
Bangor City Farrar Road Stadium 1,500
Caersws Recreation Ground 3,500
Carmarthen Town Richmond Park 3,000
Elements Cefn Druids Plaskynaston Lane 2,000
Gap Connah's Quay Deeside Stadium 5,500
Haverfordwest County Bridge Meadow Stadium 2,000
Llanelli AFC Stebonheath Park 3,700
Neath The Gnoll 7,000
Newtown AFC Latham Park 5,000
Port Talbot Town Victoria Road 2,500
Porthmadog Y Traeth 2,000
Prestatyn Town Bastion Road 2,500
Rhyl Belle Vue 3,800
The New Saints Park Hall 2,000
Technogroup Welshpool Town Maes y Dre Recreation Ground 3,000

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming manager Date of appointment
Gap Connah's Quay Wales Steve O'Shaughnessy Sacked Pre-Season England Mark McGregor Pre-Season
Caersws Wales David Taylor Mutual Consent Pre-Season Wales Mickey Evans Pre-Season
Aberystwyth Town Scotland Brian Coyne Resigned 26 September 2009 Wales Alan Morgan 4 November 2009

League table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 The New Saints (C) 34 25 7 2 69 13+56 82 2010–11 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2 Llanelli 34 25 5 4 79 26+53 80 2010–11 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
3 Port Talbot Town 34 19 8 7 56 23+33 65
4 Aberystwyth Town 34 19 7 8 54 41+13 64
5 Bangor City 34 19 6 9 75 45+30 63 2010–11 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round 1
6 Rhyl (R) 34 18 8 8 74 43+31 62 Relegation to Cymru Alliance
Welsh Football League First Division 2
7 Airbus UK Broughton 34 12 13 9 49 37+12 49
8 Prestatyn Town 34 12 12 10 53 530 48
9 Neath 34 12 11 11 41 38+3 47
10 Carmarthen Town 34 12 9 13 45 38+7 45
11 Bala Town 34 12 9 13 39 478 0452
12 Haverfordwest County 34 11 11 12 43 474 0442
13 Newtown 34 10 11 13 54 573 0412
14 Connah's Quay (R) 34 11 8 15 31 4211 41 Relegation to Cymru Alliance
Welsh Football League First Division
15 CPD Porthmadog (R) 34 6 6 22 23 6643 24
16 Welshpool Town (R) 34 6 5 23 30 7040 23
17 Caersws FC (R) 34 3 4 27 26 9468 13
18 Cefn Druids (R) 34 1 6 27 16 7761 9

Source: BBC
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1Bangor City are the winners of the Welsh Cup 2009–10 competition and have qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
2Rhyl were denied the domestic licence for competing in the 2010–11 Welsh Premier League and were therefore relegated to the second tier. Welsh Premier League aspirants Llangefni Town (Cymru Alliance) and Afan Lido (Welsh Football League First Division) were also denied licenses meaning that no team from the second tier was promoted. Since these three teams failed to obtain licenses, the best three teams originally to be relegated, with all three obtaining their licenses, were spared from relegation (Bala Town, Haverfordwest County and Newtown AFC).[3]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away ABE AIR BALBANCAECARCDRGCQPORHAVLLANEANEWPTAPRERHLTNSWEL
Aberystwyth Town 03 10 21 32 12 41 12 10 21 11 11 21 21 23 22 13 11
Airbus UK Broughton 20 01 15 30 22 11 40 12 31 01 11 20 00 20 22 00 12
Bala Town 11 12 21 20 13 10 22 00 11 01 10 11 11 24 04 01 21
Bangor City 01 30 63 71 32 31 00 20 32 23 31 00 11 40 31 01 32
Caersws FC 04 04 13 13 03 10 10 12 02 02 01 11 12 15 22 03 30
Carmarthen Town 00 01 21 22 10 40 10 13 22 12 01 12 31 12 01 12 11
Cefn Druids 03 11 12 01 11 01 01 10 12 25 01 02 01 05 11 00 01
Connah's Quay 03 01 01 01 50 00 31 30 11 10 20 31 03 11 02 10 00
CPD Porthmadog 01 01 02 02 11 14 10 01 00 04 14 11 01 20 02 11 23
Haverfordwest County 01 11 11 22 31 21 10 10 20 01 12 12 11 33 24 00 10
Llanelli 40 22 20 32 71 10 40 50 50 11 21 32 10 41 31 02 21
Neath 13 00 21 01 53 11 11 11 32 12 21 11 02 11 20 01 40
Newtown 12 33 01 25 41 00 42 00 13 21 02 10 22 32 24 02 41
Port Talbot Town 12 21 00 21 40 01 70 10 50 10 00 20 21 11 21 20 30
Prestatyn Town 02 22 21 11 10 00 20 32 11 30 15 00 11 03 00 01 21
Rhyl 11 21 52 51 31 21 60 41 40 12 00 01 42 20 11 12 41
The New Saints 40 21 00 21 40 20 40 30 50 40 10 22 22 10 50 40 40
Welshpool Town 13 00 12 12 31 13 21 01 20 13 12 00 15 02 05 12 01

Source: Welsh Premiership Football League
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Top scorers

Source: welsh-premier.com

Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Wales Rhys Griffiths Llanelli AFC 30
2 Wales Jamie Reed Bangor City 24
3 Scotland Chris Sharp The New Saints 23
4 Wales Matthew Williams Rhyl 20
5 Wales Luke Bowen Aberystwyth Town 17
6 Wales Marc Lloyd-Williams Airbus UK Broughton 16
England Martin Rose Port Talbot Town 16
8 England Mark Connolly Rhyl 15
England Lee Hunt Bangor City 15
10 Wales Jack Christopher Haverfordwest County 14
England Andy Moran Prestatyn Town 14
Wales Craig Stiens Neath 14

Awards

Monthly awards

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month
Manager Club Player Club
September England Greg Strong Rhyl Wales Marc Lloyd-Williams Airbus UK Broughton
October Wales Andrew Dyer Neath Wales Lee Surman Port Talbot Town
November England Andy Cale The New Saints England Paul Smith Bangor City
December England Neville Powell Bangor City Wales Steve Evans The New Saints
January Wales Colin Caton Bala Town Wales Luke Sherbon Aberystwyth Town
February Wales Andy Legg Llanelli Wales Ricky Evans Bala Town
March Wales Alan Morgan Aberystwyth Town England Jamie Reed Bangor City

Annual awards

Player of the season

Liam McCreesh (Port Talbot Town)[4]

Steve Evans (The New Saints), Martin Rose (Port Talbot Town)

Young player of the season

Craig Jones (The New Saints)[4]

Scott Barrow (Port Talbot Town), Jamie Reed (Bangor City)

Manager of the season

Neville Powell (Bangor City)[4]

Andy Cale (The New Saints), Mark Jones (Port Talbot Town)

Team of the Season

Nat. Position Name Club
Wales GK Lee Kendall Port Talbot Town
England RB Danny Holmes The New Saints
Wales CB Steve Evans The New Saints
Wales CB Michael Johnston Bangor City
Wales LB Scott Barrow Port Talbot Town
Wales RM Craig Jones The New Saints
Wales CM Scott Ruscoe The New Saints
Wales CM Liam McCreesh Port Talbot Town
England LM Geoff Kellaway Aberystwyth Town
England ST Martin Rose Port Talbot Town
Wales ST Rhys Griffiths Llanelli

Wales
Kendall
Wales
Johnston
Wales
Barrow
Wales
Ruscoe
Wales
McCreesh
Wales
Jones
England
Rose

Source:[5]

Welsh clubs in Europe 2009-10

UEFA Champions League

After winning the league in 2008/09 Rhyl represented the league in the premier football competition, they started in the second qualifying round with a trick tie with Serbian club Partizan Belgrade. They were beaten 4-0 at home in the first leg, and hammered 8-0 in Serbia in the second leg, thus ending their participation in Europe for the season.

UEFA Europa League

The New Saints and Llanelli started in the first qualifying round of the competition. TNS were drawn against Fram from Iceland and Llanelli were handed an interesting tie with Motherwell from Scotland. In a good first leg for both sides, Llanelli produced the shock of the round with a 1-0 away win against Motherwell, giving them a wonderful chance of progression. TNS also had a good chance after a respectable 2-1 defeat in Iceland.

The second legs were disappointing however, as even though TNS took an early lead which would have earned them progression, Fram turned the game around and won 2-1, thus knocking out TNS from European competition for another season. Llanelli were also disappointed, losing 3-0 at home to Motherwell which put them out as well.

Bangor City were the only Welsh side still in European competition when they started their Europa League campaign in the second qualifying round against FC Honka from Finland. They had hope of progression and this was compounded by a positive 2-0 defeat in Finland, but unfortunately for them they lost the home leg 1-0, which knocked them out and ended Wales' participation in European competition for 2009.

UEFA Ranking

The Welsh league picked a disappointing 0.250 for their participation in European competition in 2009, the only points coming from Llanelli's away win against Motherwell.

The league was ranked 46th out of 53 leagues in Europe by UEFA after the 2009-10 season.

References

  1. "Clubs accept reduced Premier League". BBC online. 13 June 2009. Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  2. AGM votes for 12-club league
  3. Shock as Rhyl fail in licence bid
  4. 1 2 3 "McCreesh is league's player of the season". welsh-premier.com. 13 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  5. "Managers name team of season". welsh-premier.com. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.

External links

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