Llanelli Town A.F.C.

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Llanelli Town AFC

Full name	Llanelli Town Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Reds
Founded	1896 (Reformed 2013)
Ground	Stebonheath Park Llanelli
Capacity	3,700 (1,005 seated)
Chairman	Wayne Stephens
Manager	Lee John
League	Cymru South
2022–23	Cymru South, 2nd of 16
Home colours Away colours

Llanelli Town Association Football Club (

The team is based at Stebonheath Park from 1920, having previously played at the Halfway athletics ground.

Formed in 1896, the club's first honour was the Welsh League division one title in 1913–14 with further wins coming in 1929–30 and 1932–33. Llanelli made several attempts to join

2012–13 was difficult financially with three petitions to wind the club up presented by HM Revenue and Customs.^[3][4][5]

The club was wound up on 22 April 2013 at the High Court in London following a petition presented by

The game of Association Football was introduced to the townspeople of Llanelli when workers from Staffordshire migrated to the town to work in the 'newest' of the town industries – the Pottery works from 1892 to 1920. Finding the game of rugby Football Union alien to their natural habitat whilst domiciled in the town, workers founded a team to play friendlies versus other teams from the various pottery works industry which had been set up in Swansea and Neath. However, by 1896 interest had waned due in the main to those initial workers returning to their homesteads having successfully instructed their local co-workers into the intricacies of the pottery world. The first playing area had been at 'Cae Blake' in the Furnace area of the town, but when the new Peoples Park in the middle of the town was opened as a recreation area for the town's populace the team had transferred to this new ground. By 1904 with more and more clubs being formed in the south of the principality ardent soccer aficionados decided to resurrect the club under the astute managership of Bert Andrews, a man from Ironbridge, Shropshire, who had remained in the town working in an administrative post at the Llanelli Pottery. The club entered into the Swansea and District League and played their home matches firstly at Tunnel Road and thence to Penyfan Fields.

The Pre-War Era

In season 1911–12 after seven years of consolidation Llanelli AFC became League champions and were also losing finalists in the League Cup. This was the spur that was needed to progress even further and led by another immigrant to the town, W T Morris who hailed from

The Interwar Period

In the 1919–20 season the reformed club's formats of pre-war years when the 1st team squad contested in both leagues and the team's reserve side participated in the Swansea Senior League. By 1922 it was obvious that to further their ambitions of achieving Football League status a new stadium near the town centre would have to be sought. A piece of ground in the Stebonheath area of the town was purchased and plans were afoot to move the club lock stock and barrel from Halfway. This was achieved just in time for the 1922–23 season, when

The club were wound up in April 2013 over an unpaid tax debt amounting to £21,000.[7] Distraught manager Bob Jeffries thought there was only one man to save the club and started making calls to local celebrity multi-millionaire David Craddock, Director of Davies Craddock Limited. David has an endless list of contacts in the football world and is often seen around Britain in VIP rooms of professional clubs. Weekly calls turned into daily calls which he answered in his very busy schedule and when Mr Craddock had a tour of the Stadium and met FAW’s Neil Dymock, he felt ready to take on the mission. They were reformed as Llanelli Town later that year and were placed in the Welsh Football League Division Three for the start of the 2013–14 season.^[8] They are considered by the FAW to be a direct continuation of the same club.^[9] In the First season 2013/14 Llanelli Town finished 6th in Welsh League Division 3 and the following season they finished as Champions 2014/15 and rose to play in Division 2.In the third season 2015/16 they finished in 7th place. The pitchside first aider Rebecca Conibear provided home and away support for the first team. They suddenly Manager Bob Jeffrey was headhunted to take up a managers position in the USA, so chairman David Craddock consulted with the club coach David Bowen and Sec Neil Dymock and approached Ex Player Andy Hill who agreed to become the new manager for the 2016/17 season. That Season Llanelli Town won the Double ( league Champions and League Cup Winners ) In 2017/18 their great success continued when they won the Welsh League Div. 1 title and narrowly lost another Welsh League Cup Final. At this stage most of the players , supporters and Committee wanted to enter the Welsh Premier League, unfortunately due to business commitments David Craddock resigned as Chairman, but continued his interest to become Honorary Club President, a position he still holds.

Badge History

Llanelli Town A.F.C. Crest History

Stadium

The club's home ground is

Llanelli first ever game in Europe was against Swedish team Gefle IF. Going a goal down early on in the game at the Swedish national stadium, Llanelli rallied and won the game 2–1 thanks to a debut goal from Rhys Griffiths and a goal from Jacob Mingorance. The return leg was played at Stradey Park in front of a crowd of 5,000, it finished 0–0. The draw for the second qualifying round put them up against Danish side Odense Boldklub. The Reds lost the away leg 1–0. The home leg was played at Swansea's Liberty stadium, Antonio Corbishierio put the Reds 1–0 up on the night to bring the aggregate scores level, Odense destroyed Llanelli's hopes of progression by running out 5–1 winners on the night and 6–1 on aggregate.

2007–08 UEFA Intertoto Cup

Llanelli qualified for the

Llanelli qualified for the UEFA Champions League after winning the Welsh Premier League. The Reds were drawn against FK Ventspils of Latvia in the first qualifying round. In a close match at a sell out Stebonheath Park, Llanelli ran out 1–0 winners thanks to a goal from defender, Stuart Jones. The Reds then went to Latvia to try to defend this slender lead. Llanelli could not repeat their heroics of the previous week and lost the game 4–0 to bow out 4–1 on aggregate.

2009–10 UEFA Europa League

Llanelli's first appearance in the newly formatted Europa League saw them drawn against Scottish Premier League side, Motherwell. The game was played at Airdrie's stadium with a strong contingent making the long journey north from South Wales. The Red's pulled off a major shock by beating the SPL side 1–0 with a first half goal by Stuart Jones. The return leg, which was played at Parc Y Scarlets was a different story. Motherwell, backed by 3000 travelling fans defeated the Reds comfortably, 3–0.

2010–11 UEFA Europa League

A second-placed finish in Andy Legg's first season as manager saw Llanelli play European football for the 5th consecutive season. They were drawn against Lithuanian minnows FK Tauras Tauragein the first qualifying round. The first leg, which was played in front of a sell out Steboneath Park crowd finished 2–2, centre backs Wyn Thomas and Stuart Jones got Llanelli's goals, Chris Holloway was also sent off and handed a 2 match ban. The second leg was played at the Lithuanian national football stadium, Tauras took the lead due to some poor defending only for Chris Llewellyn to equalise. Llanelli again conceded from some poor defending, this time from a corner. The battling Reds side equalised once again, a ball over the top led to Jason Bowen beating the offside trap, he raced clear and neatly slid the ball past the Tauras keeper. With extra time fast approaching, Llanelli had Rhys Griffiths and Craig Moses sent off, somewhat controversially. The Tauras players seemed to make a meal with every challenge. Extra time proved too much for the tired Reds side as Tauras ran out 3–2 winners on the night and 5–4 on aggregate.

2011–12 UEFA Europa League

Llanelli were drawn against Dinamo Tbilisi. The first leg was played at Parc Y Scarlets. Llanelli, who were missing 5 key players, stunned the Georgians by taking the game 2–1, with a brace coming from Jordan Follows. Tbilisi pulled a goal back in stoppage time with a penalty. The Reds approached the second leg in with confidence, key players returning and a 2–1 advantage. Hopes of progressing were quickly dashed as a rampant Tbilisi side knocked in 5 goals without reply. Llanelli went out 6–2 on aggregate.

European record

• Q= Qualifying

Season	Competition	Round	Opponents	Home leg	Away leg	Aggregate
2006–07	UEFA Cup	Q1	Gefle IF	0–0	2–1	2–1
		Q2	OB Odense	1–5	0–1	1–6
2007	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Q1	FK Vetra	5–3	1–3	6–6
2008–09	UEFA Champions League	Q1	FK Ventspils	1–0	0–4	1–4
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	Q1	Motherwell	0–3	1–0	1–3
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	Q1	Tauras	2–2	2–3	4–5
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	Q2	Dinamo Tbilisi	2–1	0–5	2–6
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	Q1	KuPS	1–1	1–2	2–3

Honours

• League of Wales / Welsh Premier League (Step 1)
  • Winners 2007–08
  • Runners-up 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10
• Welsh League Cup
  • Winners 2007–08
  • Runners-up 2010–11
• Welsh Cup
  • Winners 2010–11
  • Runners-up 1913–14, 2007–08
• FAW Premier Cup
  • Runners-up 2007–08
• Southern League (as a top division)
  • Best ever finish Fifth in 1950–51
• Southern League Division 2
  • Best ever finish Third in 1919–20
• Southern League (Western Division)
  • Runners-up 1930–31
• Welsh League Division 1 / (Step 1)
  • Winners 1913–14, 1929–30, 1932–33, 1970–71, 1976–77, 1977–78, 2003–04
  • Runners-up 1930–31, 1933–34, 1959–60, 1972–73, 1996–97, 1998–99
• Welsh League Division 2 West (Step 2)
  • Winners 1957–58
• Welsh League Division 3 (Step 4)
  • Winners 2014–2015
• Welsh League Cup
  • Winners 1929–30, 1931–32, 1974–75
  • Runners-up 1930–31, 1933–34, 1948–49, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1989–90, 2003–04
• West Wales Senior Cup
  • Winners 1930–31, 1947–48, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1963–64, 1967–68, 1970–71, 1976–77, 1999–00, 2008/09
  • Runners-up 1924–25, 1931–32, 1934–35, 1938–39, 1948–49, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1957–58, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1998–99
  • Shared 1962–63 (with Swansea Town)

Players

Latest squad

As of 14 September 2023^[10]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  WAL Scott Coughlan — GK  WAL Henri Phillips — DF  WAL Sean Cronin — DF  WAL Jamie Baker — DF  WAL James Perry — DF  WAL Daniel Birch — DF  WAL Miles John — DF  ENG Adam Robbins — MF  WAL Louis Gerrard — MF  WAL Ryan Bevan

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Tom Johnston — MF  WAL Josh Allen — MF  WAL Josef Hopkins — MF  WAL Liam Warman — MF  WAL Sam Johnson — MF  WAL Dylan Williams — MF  WAL Calum Bateman — MF  WAL David Lyon — FW  WAL Eli Phipps — FW  WAL Ethan Cann

Managers

References

External links

• Official site