Cofis lift the Huws Gray Alliance trophy aloft. (Paul Evans – Oval Ways)
Caernarfon Town’s promotion marks their return to the top flight of Welsh football after nine years away from the Welsh Premier League, however successful manager Sean Eardley has heaped the praise on former manager Iwan Williams for the club’s success.
Having been relegated back in 2008-09, it has been an arduous journey for the North Wales outfit. Successive relegations saw the club plying their trade in the third tier, however under the guidance of Eardley they this season completed their return.
With 65 points on the board, the Cofis secured the title, pipping Eddie Maurice-Jones’ Denbigh Town to the top spot by a mere five points. However, Eardley was quick to praise his predecessor for the club’s return to the pinnacle of Welsh football.
“I’m very proud, the foundation was set by previous manager Iwan Williams and we made a positive start to the season, when he left it was still up to the players to embrace my beliefs and my coaching style and that they did, culminating in winning the league championship.”
Eardley has only been in charge since November, when he made the step up from coach to manager after Iwan Williams departed the club for Welsh Premier League outfit Llandudno. But, now the duo will face off next season in the top flight.
Since taking over, Eardley has been involved in some memorable games, but has cited some of the key games that helped the club in their title winning season.
“I’ll never forget my first game as manager away at Airbus, being 3-0 down after 20 minutes I was looking to the heavens, but the boys shown tremendous character to get back in it. When we looked dead and buried against Denbigh and Rhyl for the lads to go right to the death is testament to their character and them results stick in my mind and were definitely season defining!”
Despite the success though, the manager is not resting on his laurels and has already begun building his squad for the forthcoming season. Key players have already been retained for the club’s return to the top flight.
In recent weeks Caernarfon have announced that Alex Ramsey, Joe Williams, Nathan Craig, Darren Thomas and Danny Brookwell have all committed to the club ahead of next season. Retaining the core of the title winning squad is something that Eardley believes was essential, and believes that getting his recruitment correct this summer is key for them next season.
“Very important as they are crucial players for us. I’m no different to any other manager, I’ll set season targets along with having a 2/3 season plan, so these players are important in carrying out the plans I have.”
“I think it’s important for a few reasons, it adds to the healthy competition for places and freshens up the changing room, needless to say we proved we could compete against WPL teams last year with the squad that we had so getting the balance right is the important part for me.”
However, the manager cannot wait to get started and will be hoping to bring further success to the town of Caernarfon.
“I’m buzzing for the challenge, there are some top managers with big pedigree so to pit my wits against theirs is certainly something I’m looking to embrace. We will take it a game at a time and after 22 games see where it takes us for the split.
FEATURED IMAGE: Paul Evans – Oval Ways
Leave a Reply