2009–10 Welsh Premier League

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.

Welsh Premier League
Season2009–10
ChampionsThe New Saints
(5th title)
RelegatedRhyl
Connah's Quay
CPD Porthmadog
Welshpool Town
Caersws
Cefn Druids
Champions LeagueThe New Saints
Europa LeagueLlanelli
Port Talbot Town
Bangor City (via dom. cup)
Matches played306
Goals scored861 (2.81 per match)
Top goalscorerRhys Griffiths (30)
Biggest home winPt. Talbot 7–0 Cefn Druids
Biggest away winWelshpool 0–5 Prestatyn
Cefn Dr. 0–5 Prestatyn
Highest scoringBangor 6–3 Bala

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
Location of clubs in Welsh Premier League 2009–10
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 Steve O'Shaughnessy Sacked Pre-Season Mark McGregor Pre-Season
Caersws David Taylor Mutual Consent Pre-Season Mickey Evans Pre-Season
Aberystwyth Town Brian Coyne Resigned 26 September 2009 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 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 Llanelli 34 25 5 4 79 26 +53 80 Qualification for 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 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
6 Rhyl (R) 34 18 8 8 74 43 +31 62 Relegation to Cymru Alliance[lower-alpha 2]
7 Airbus UK Broughton 34 12 13 9 49 37 +12 49
8 Prestatyn Town 34 12 12 10 53 53 0 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 47 −8 45 Spared from relegation[lower-alpha 2]
12 Haverfordwest County 34 11 11 12 43 47 −4 44
13 Newtown 34 10 11 13 54 57 −3 41
14 Connah's Quay (R) 34 11 8 15 31 42 −11 41 Relegation to Cymru Alliance
15 CPD Porthmadog (R) 34 6 6 22 23 66 −43 24
16 Welshpool Town (R) 34 6 5 23 30 70 −40 23
17 Caersws FC (R) 34 3 4 27 26 94 −68 13
18 Cefn Druids (R) 34 1 6 27 16 77 −61 9
Source: BBC
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:
  1. Bangor City are the winners of the 2009–10 Welsh Cup competition and have qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
  2. Rhyl 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]

Results
Home \ Away ABE AIR BAL BAN CAE CMR CDR GCQ POR HAV LLA NEA NEW PTA PRE RHL TNS WEL
Aberystwyth Town 0–3 1–0 2–1 3–2 1–2 4–1 1–2 1–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 2–3 2–2 1–3 1–1
Airbus UK Broughton 2–0 0–1 1–5 3–0 2–2 1–1 4–0 1–2 3–1 0–1 1–1 2–0 0–0 2–0 2–2 0–0 1–2
Bala Town 1–1 1–2 2–1 2–0 1–3 1–0 2–2 0–0 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–1 1–1 2–4 0–4 0–1 2–1
Bangor City 0–1 3–0 6–3 7–1 3–2 3–1 0–0 2–0 3–2 2–3 3–1 0–0 1–1 4–0 3–1 0–1 3–2
Caersws FC 0–4 0–4 1–3 1–3 0–3 1–0 1–0 1–2 0–2 0–2 0–1 1–1 1–2 1–5 2–2 0–3 3–0
Carmarthen Town 0–0 0–1 2–1 2–2 1–0 4–0 1–0 1–3 2–2 1–2 0–1 1–2 3–1 1–2 0–1 1–2 1–1
Cefn Druids 0–3 1–1 1–2 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–2 2–5 0–1 0–2 0–1 0–5 1–1 0–0 0–1
Connah's Quay 0–3 0–1 0–1 0–1 5–0 0–0 3–1 3–0 1–1 1–0 2–0 3–1 0–3 1–1 0–2 1–0 0–0
CPD Porthmadog 0–1 0–1 0–2 0–2 1–1 1–4 1–0 0–1 0–0 0–4 1–4 1–1 0–1 2–0 0–2 1–1 2–3
Haverfordwest County 0–1 1–1 1–1 2–2 3–1 2–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 0–1 1–2 1–2 1–1 3–3 2–4 0–0 1–0
Llanelli 4–0 2–2 2–0 3–2 7–1 1–0 4–0 5–0 5–0 1–1 2–1 3–2 1–0 4–1 3–1 0–2 2–1
Neath 1–3 0–0 2–1 0–1 5–3 1–1 1–1 1–1 3–2 1–2 2–1 1–1 0–2 1–1 2–0 0–1 4–0
Newtown 1–2 3–3 0–1 2–5 4–1 0–0 4–2 0–0 1–3 2–1 0–2 1–0 2–2 3–2 2–4 0–2 4–1
Port Talbot Town 1–2 2–1 0–0 2–1 4–0 0–1 7–0 1–0 5–0 1–0 0–0 2–0 2–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 3–0
Prestatyn Town 0–2 2–2 2–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 2–0 3–2 1–1 3–0 1–5 0–0 1–1 0–3 0–0 0–1 2–1
Rhyl 1–1 2–1 5–2 5–1 3–1 2–1 6–0 4–1 4–0 1–2 0–0 0–1 4–2 2–0 1–1 1–2 4–1
The New Saints 4–0 2–1 0–0 2–1 4–0 2–0 4–0 3–0 5–0 4–0 1–0 2–2 2–2 1–0 5–0 4–0 4–0
Welshpool Town 1–3 0–0 1–2 1–2 3–1 1–3 2–1 0–1 2–0 1–3 1–2 0–0 1–5 0–2 0–5 1–2 0–1
Source: Welsh Premiership Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Source: welsh-premier.com

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

Awards

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

Player of the season
  • Winner:

Liam McCreesh (Port Talbot Town)[4]

  • Nominated:

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

Young player of the season
  • Winner:

Craig Jones (The New Saints)[4]

  • Nominated:

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

Manager of the season
  • Winner:

Neville Powell (Bangor City)[4]

  • Nominated:

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

Team of the Season

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 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 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". Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  3. "Shock as Rhyl fail in licence bid". Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  4. "McCreesh is league's player of the season". welsh-premier.com. 13 June 2010. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  5. "Managers name team of season". welsh-premier.com. 4 May 2010. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
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