CROESYCEILIOG FOOTBALL CLUB BRIEF HISTORY 1964-2015

Croesyceiliog AFC formed in the year of 1964 by the 5th form pupils at Croesyceiliog school when they came to an agreement with the youth warden that the club could use the school facilities. The club immediately joined the Newport and District Under 18 league and our first ever fixture was a friendly against Cwmbran Wanderers. Our first season commenced in September 1964 and our first league fixture was against Beechwood AFC. From the 1965/66 season Cwmbran Wanderers players joined us at Croesyceiliog which resulted in us entering two teams into the Newport and District Youth League Under the Croesyceiliog name, later the team entered the Newport and District league making its bow in Division 2B, the same year the side won the Monmouthshire Youth Cup and players from that side are still with the club in various roles.

1967/68 saw the senior side finish runners-up in Division 2B and when the Gwent Premier League was formed the following year, Croesyceiliog were founder members and years later can be proud of the fact that they have never been out of the league’s First Division! And winning the league four times.

In 1968 David Harris won the Welsh Youth cap and two years later a young man by the name of Mike Lewis joined the club playing at centre half in the Second team. He was later to become Commercial Manager at Newport County and graduated to similar roles at Reading and Tottenham Hotspur.

Four Croesyceiliog players have progressed to play in the Football League. In 1965 whilst former Newport County manager Les Graham was coach, Terry Cooper joined us and went on to play for Newport County, Notts County, Lincoln City, Scunthorpe United, Bradford City, and Rochdale. Thirteen years later Andrew Dibble joined and went on to play for Cardiff, Luton, Man City, Glasgow Rangers, Wrexham and various other clubs. Goalkeeper Glyn Garner has gone on to play for Bury, Leyton Orient,Shrewsbury and Newport County. While most recently Christian Doidge is currently playing for Dagenham & Redbridge

Season 2004/2005 saw Croesyceiliog eventually join the Welsh League set up having remained unbeaten when winning the Gwent League First Division the previous season.

Under the guidance managers Neil Gilmore and Chris Evans, Croesyceiliog gained promotion in that season to Division Two, and followed that success the following season by gaining promotion to the First Division.

After relegation we won the League Cup beating Goytre United 3-1 at Bridgend's ground in May 2010 with goals from Jody Jenkins, Richard Perry and Rhys Carr.

Season 2010/11 saw us miss out on promotion on the final day of the season while narrowly losing the Gwent Senior Cup final to Newport County

Meanwhile the Second team entered the Reserve Division under the guidance of Marc Thomas and Ian Williams and in Season 07/08 won the Reserve League Shield. They also won the Reserve East title in 08/09. The reserves have brought on a number of players to First team level over the past few seasons and Gareth Wilmott will lead the team for season 2015/2016

The first team will be lead by a management team of Mark Waddon, John Bailey and Pat O'Hagan for 2015/16 with Gareth Pattimore assistant manager and Chris Watkins first team coach. Last season we finished 8th after a good run towards the end of the season.

As in previous seasons we used a few youth players who had a first good season in youth football after coming across from Henllys Rangers under the guidance of Mike Allen.

Season 2014/2015 will see us have two Under 18 sides, one being managed by Mike Allen, while our link with Henllys Rangers sees us gain another Under 18 which will be managed by Huw Kear, Huw's side finished third last season while also winning the League Cup.

At the start of season 2013/2014 we agreed a link with Henllys Rangers Youth Football Club, as Henllys facilities do not meet the required standard to progress. Once the Henllys sides reach Under 18 level they will transfer over to our club and continue their development hopefully to progress to the first team