Clint Jones

CPD Sychdyn United

We continue our series where we interview Flintshire-based clubs that compete within the Welsh football pyramid to see how they are performing during their respective 2023-24 season. In this blog, we interviewed Jordan Ashley, the manager of the fifth-tier club CPD Sychdyn United.

Club Information

  • Village: Sychdyn, Flintshire / Sir y Fflint
  • Founded: 1946 (as Sychdyn Villa)
  • Ground: Maes Bodlonfa (The Rec), Mold / Yr Wyddgrug
  • Nicknames: CPD, United
  • Colours: All navy blue kit with yellow trim.
  • 2023-24 League: North East Wales League Championship
  • Club Website: https://sites.google.com/view/cpdsychdyn/home
  • Club Twitter: @CPDSychdyn
  • Club Facebook: Facebook Page
  • Club Instagram: n/a
  • Club YouTube: n/a

Introduction

Clwb Pêl-droed Sychdyn United is a North East Welsh club that represents the central Flintshire village of Sychdyn / Soughton. The commuter rural village has a population of approximately 1800 inhabitants and is located approximately two miles north of the county town of Mold, with the main A5119 road running through the village and linking it with Mold and the A55 Expressway (via Northop) 1,5 miles to the north.

The 2023-24 CPD Sychdyn United squad.
[IMAGE: CPD Sychdyn United Facebook]

Soughton (the historic English name for the village, meaning ‘South Town‘, although the Cymraeg name is now commonly and formally used) is mentioned in the Doomsday Book as a small settlement within the county of Cheshire, however, it was soon recaptured by the Welsh during the battles with the Marcher Lords. It provides its name to Soughton Hall, a large Grade II listed country mansion-turned-hotel that was built in 1714 and was the traditional home of the Wynne Bankes family. It is situated on the northern outskirts of the village and has had various notable guests staying there since it became a boutique hotel in the mid-1980s, whilst also being a popular wedding venue. There is also a Lower Soughton Hall positioned between Sychdyn and Northop although that is privately owned by the former English international striker Michael Owen.

CPD Sychdyn United began life in 1946 as Sychdyn Villa and was set up by a group of local lads from the village, and the club proved to be a successful outfit by winning numerous local trophies. During the 1960s and 70s, the club was named Sychdyn United and played their home matches on Banks Park in the village, before moving to their traditional home on Wat’s Dyke Way on the eastern outskirts of Sychdyn, under the control of the Sychdyn Sports Association. Later the team became known as simply Sychdyn and they won the North Wales Coast Junior Cup in the 1985-86 season.

The traditional home of Sychdyn clubs.

The recent history of CPD Sychdyn saw them successfully compete within the local Clwyd League system before transferring to the North East Wales League when the Clwyd League pyramid was discontinued. They experienced their best-ever season in the 2016-17 season, winning both the North East Wales League and Premier Cup to achieve a double-winning campaign. The club finished six points clear of nearest rivals Mynydd Isa Spartans and conceded just 21 goals from their 26 league games. Sadly, despite it being one of the most successful seasons in the club’s history, CPD Sychdyn was unable to gain promotion to the Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) and actually had to fold due to issues arising from playing at their home ground. Thankfully after a two-season absence, they reappeared in local football to compete in the fifth-tier North East Wales League for the 2019-20 season, before being allocated the North East Wales Football League (NEWFL) Championship during the reorganisation of the Welsh football pyramid in the summer of 2020.

The 2016-17 North East Wales League – CPD Sychdyn were crowned champions before having to fold soon afterwards.

For the 2022-23 season, the club moved away from its traditional home of Wat’s Dyke Way and out of Sychdyn completely to play at the Northop Hall Pavilion, the traditional home of the Northop Hall Ladies team (and current home of CPD Yr Wyddgrug) due to continual issues with their Sychdyn ground. At the end of that season, the club announced it was merging with Rhydymwyn (who had withdrawn from the Ardal North West that season), with the squad and management staff moving to its superb Dolfechlas Road ground and playing under the returning Rhyd name. However, the Sychdyn club was resurrected for the 2023-24 season with a refreshed squad to compete in the NEWFL Championship and moved their home games to the Maes Bodlonfa (commonly known as “The Rec” and former home of the defunct Mold Town United) pitch in the centre of Mold. Further changes would occur during the middle of the 2023-24 season when the club also changed its name to the current CPD Sychdyn United and adopted a new logo to make a refreshed start in this section of the club’s history.

CPD Sychdyn United currently plays in the North East Wales Football League Championship, a fifth-tier league in the Welsh football pyramid which covers the northeastern region of Wales: Flintshire, Wrexham Borough County, and eastern Denbighshire. As mentioned previously, CPD Sychdyn were allocated to the league following the reorganisation of the Welsh football pyramid in the summer of 2020 and has competed in the league since its foundation. Last season, under the CPD Sychdyn name, the club finished in a respectable sixth place from eleven teams, earning 35 points from their 20 league games, and just missed out on fourth position by two points and fifth position on goal difference.

Location of CPD Sychdyn United’s home in Flintshire.

Recent Form

DateCompetitionOpposition (h/a)Result
20th JanNEWFL ChampionshipSkippy FC (h)8-3
13th JanNEWFL ChampionshipJohnstown YFC (h)3-2
6th JanNEWFL ChampionshipCPD Gronant (h)0-4
16th DecNEWFL ChampionshipCPD Yr Wyddgrug (h)1-8
2nd DecNEWFL ChampionshipRhydymwyn (h)0-7
The last five matches of CPD Sychdyn United (as of 28th January 2024)

At the time of writing, Sychdyn United were situated in 10th position in the thirteen-team North East Wales Football League Championship Division. From their fifteen league games played, they had achieved four wins, one draw, and ten defeats to accumulate thirteen points in total, putting them two points behind Holywell United in ninth position and four ahead of Brymbo in tenth spot.

The 2023-24 North East Wales League Championship table (as of 28th January 2024).
[IMAGE: Non-League Matters]

Following the major upheaval during pre-season, it was no surprise that CPD Sychdyn United’s season started sluggishly with the club picking up just one point from their opening six league fixtures – a 2-2 draw against debutants CPD Yr Wyddgrug in their second game. It wouldn’t be until late September that CPD achieved their first league victory with a comprehensive 7-0 drubbing over perennial underdogs Bellevue at Wrexham, before repeating the feat a fortnight later in the reverse fixture with Sychdyn putting 10 goals past Vue without reply. Joe Robins was the standout player of the two matches with a hat-trick in the first game and five goals and two assists in the second.

Sadly, Sychdyn were unable to follow up on their two consecutive victories by losing their next seven league games to leave them near the foot of the NEWFL Championship table. Thankfully for the club, the new year has seen their form improve as they halted their awful run of results in mid-January with an important home victory over Johnstown. Goals from Jordan Walker, Joe Mitchell, and Reece Jones (with a 40-yard screamer) ensured a hard-fought 3-2 scoreline for CPD. The club then achieved another win the following weekend when they beat Skippy FC 8-3 at The Rec. Joe Mitchell was again on the scoresheet with four goals and a brace of assists, whilst Kieran Jones achieved the ‘double-brace’ of goals and assists, and the remaining strikes coming from Daniel Mountstephen and Jordan Walker.

CPD Sychdyn United’s fourth win of the season against Skippy FC.
[IMAGE: @CPDSychdyn]

Questions to CPD Sychdyn United’s Manager Jordan Ashley

Q. Firstly, how do you think this season has gone for CPD Sychdyn United in the North East Wales Football League Championship so far?

Well, it was always going to be a difficult season with what happened in the summer, and with a new manager coming in, there was always going to be a transition period. I would’ve liked things to have run a bit smoother than they did in the first part of the season, but that’s football for you! Plenty of downs with the ups. We are in a much better place on and off the pitch since the turn of the year and the last two results [at the time of the interview] show that.

The location of the teams competing in the 2023-24 NEWFL Championship within North East Wales.

Q. What has been the best performance or result from the club so far this season?

For me, on a performance level, it has to be the first half away to league leaders CPD Gronant who were unbeaten at the time. We went in 0-0 at the break and probably should’ve been 1-0 up with Owen Pilson having the best chance of the first half. Result-wise, it has to be the game against Johnstown in a 3-2 win where we saw it out with some excellent game management whilst down to ten men. A special shoutout to Nathan Bradbrook in goal who battled on with a pulled groin to ensure the three points for us.

[IMAGE: @CPDSychdyn]

Q. Who do you think have been the standout players so far, and is there any individual player who you think the readers should keep an eye on this season?

The two standout players in the first half of the season have to be Joe Robins and Harri Mitchell. Both will die on a pitch for you, leave everything out there, and back it up with their qualities! Joe genuinely is a freak of a player at tier 5 with his insane energy. As for Harri, he is a luxury to have at this level. You can see why he started nearly every game for Mynydd Isa Spartans in the league above and was a massive part of the club for years.

As for the players to keep an eye on over the remaining nine matches in the league season, it has to be the three new boys. Nath Bradbrook in goal has changed how we can play and fills the side with confidence, which is a huge difference from how we started the season. It’s certainly changed the dynamic of the dressing room. Then onto Joe Mitchell who brings goals to the team. I was amazed when we got him into the club as Joe has bagged goals in tier 4 and has done so for a few years, so to have him at tier 5 is such a luxury. The same can be said for Kieran Jones who is easily the best player in this league now since his return. We’ve seen glimpses of Joe and Kieran working together in the 8-3 win versus Skippy and I can’t wait to see more of the same from the pair.

Q. What are the club’s aims for this season, and likewise, what are the long-term aims for the club?

So the goal for the club this season is to pick up as many wins as possible from now until the end of the season and gain some confidence within the group. Obviously, myself and the players have outlined which games we expect to win and how many points we hope to achieve, but we will keep that to ourselves for the time being. Long-term, the goal is to make this football club successful with this group of players. We are all a tight-knit group of mates which is what I refer to as “The Sychdyn Way“. Thinking back to my times as a kid, watching Shaun Antrobus‘ Sychdyn side which won the double as a group of mates, and speaking to some of the players from that side and the memories they all share, is something we would love to emulate in the years to come.

Q. Initially, it seemed as if the club would not be competing in the NEWFL Championship this season due to the merger with Rhydymwyn but it has returned with a refreshed squad and new home base – how difficult was that process of resurrecting a Sychdyn side and did you encounter any major problems?

So obviously, in the summer I took over Sychdyn, but it was under the Rhydymwyn name. For whatever reason, it didn’t work out, and I thought that it wasn’t fair for these lads not to have a team to play for after me taking them to Rhyd, and were now being left clubless. With regards to setting Sychdyn up again, it was so easy, and that was down to the league for understanding the situation and I can’t thank them enough for their great help. Obviously, the main issue was then building a squad that I wanted rather than a squad comprised from the previous managers. We lost a lot of players in the summer that I would’ve liked to have kept hold of, but again, that’s football! Due to the Mynydd Isa-New Brighton Villa merger, we benefited from a lot of their players coming across due to my connection with the football club there which was huge for us, and nearly every player who came from there has had relative individual success with us this season, which is great to see.

Q. Very recently, the club has changed its name from CPD Sychdyn to CPD Sychdyn United and unveiled a brand new logo – what were the reasons for the changes?

Up The CPD!
[IMAGE: CPD Sychdyn United Facebook]

The thinking behind the new name and badge was to put our own stint in the history of Sychdyn, but we wanted to keep the CPD part of the name. As mentioned in the previous answer, just like Shaun [Antrobus] managed to do during his time, he created the saying “Up The CPD!” to bring the players together. It’s something I always did when managing Sychdyn during the first stint and is something that all the players have bought into now. I believe it brings a togetherness to the dressing room as you’re all fighting for the same thing. Also, it makes for a great chant on a team night out. “CPD NA NA NA! CPD NA NA NA!!“

Q. Does CPD Sychdyn United have any plans to return to the village of Sychdyn in the future or will Mold now become a permanent base for the team?

Maes Bodlonfa aka The Rec, the former home of Mold Town United but is now used by CPD Sychdyn United.

If the chance to return to Sychdyn ever came about, the club would be back there in a heartbeat! However, the Wats Dyke Way pitch is definitely out of the question, which is a shame because you could create something special with that space, and perhaps one day, something could change for the better. For me, as a Sychdyn lad, it is important to keep the name ‘Sychdyn’ going around the NEWFA divisions as we’ve been a village with a fair few decent teams over the years, and hopefully, the one we’ve built / building can get itself in the conversation in comparison with those past sides.

Q. Finally, if someone was considering coming to The Rec to watch or follow the team for the first time, what do you think is the club’s greatest asset to encourage them to return?

[MAIN IMAGE: @eastleighfc1990]

The club’s greatest asset has to be the fans of the side. Since the recent signings were brought in, the number of supporters has flown up, but they’re all a class bunch of lads who get right behind the side and encourage them and myself on. It may be a cliché but they are our “12th man” and let the opposition know that they’re in a game. To encourage fans to definitely return next season, we would like to be in a position where we can sell hot drinks and food. For example, a coffee and a sausage roll would be ideal for a winter afternoon watching the side, but we will see how that idea develops in the near future.

A massive thank you to Jordan Ashley, the manager of the North East Wales Football League Championship side CPD Sychdyn United for answering our questions on their 2023-24 season so far and their future goals. We wish all sections of the club the very best of luck for the rest of the season, the whole of 2024, and the seasons ahead! Remember you can find Sychdyn United’s social media accounts in the links towards the top of the blogpage.

If you have any comments, suggestions, reactions, or even your own answers to the above questions, please write them in the comments box below. Likewise, you can either email us at the94thmin@gmail.com or send a message at @The94thMin on Twitter/X.

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