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 7–0 Cefn Druids
Biggest away win	Welshpool 0–5 Prestatyn Cefn Dr. 0–5 Prestatyn
Highest scoring	Bangor 6–3 Bala
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

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

Aberystwyth Town

Airbus UK Broughton

Bala Town

Bangor City

Caersws

Carmarthen Town

Cefn Druids

Gap Connah's Quay

Haverfordwest County

Llanelli

Neath

Newtown

Port Talbot Town

Porthmadog

Prestatyn Town

Rhyl

The New Saints

Technogroup Welshpool Town

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	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	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	045^2
12	Haverfordwest County	34	11	11	12	43	47	−4	044^2
13	Newtown	34	10	11	13	54	57	−3	041^2
14	Connah's Quay (R)	34	11	8	15	31	42	−11	41	Relegation to Cymru Alliance Welsh Football League First Division
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
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

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
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	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

Annual awards

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

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

Kendall Evans Johnston Holmes Barrow Ruscoe McCreesh Jones Kellaway Rose Griffiths

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.

• 44 Albania
• 45 Armenia
• 46 Wales
• 47 Montenegro
• 48 Faroe Islands
  • Full list

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. "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

• Welsh Premier League Football