2023–24 Cymru Premier

The 2023–24 Cymru Premier (Welsh: Uwch Gynghrair Cymru 2023–24; known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons) was the 32nd season of the Cymru Premier (formerly known as the Welsh Premier League), the highest football league within Wales since its establishment in 1992.

Cymru Premier
Uwch Gynghrair Cymru

Season	2023–24
Dates	11 August 2023 – 11 May 2024
Champions	The New Saints
Relegated	Colwyn Bay Pontypridd United
UEFA Champions League	The New Saints
UEFA Conference League	Bala Town Caernarfon Town Connah's Quay Nomads
Matches played	192
Goals scored	566 (2.95 per match)
Top goalscorer	Brad Young (22 goals)
Biggest home win	The New Saints 8–0 Cardiff Metropolitan University (6 January 2024)
Biggest away win	Caernarfon Town 1–8 The New Saints (23 February 2024)
Highest scoring	Caernarfon Town 1–8 The New Saints (23 February 2024)
Longest winning run	26 – The New Saints (16 September 2023–21 April 2024)
Longest unbeaten run	32 – The New Saints (11 August 2023–21 April 2024)
Longest winless run	8 – Aberystwyth Town (12 August 2023–27 September 2023), Pontypridd United (17 October 2023–26 December 2023), Barry Town United (3 February 2024-13 April 2024)
Longest losing run	7 – Colwyn Bay (29 November 2023–9 February 2024)
Highest attendance	1411 – Colwyn Bay 0–4 Caernarfon Town (13 August 2023)
Lowest attendance	112 – Cardiff Metropolitan University 0–1 Bala Town (16 March 2024)
Average attendance	380 data missing for six games, average shown is the total of the available attendance data divided by 192
← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The winners (The New Saints, their third consecutive title win and sixteenth overall) qualified for the 2024–25 Champions League first qualifying round. The runners-up (Connah's Quay Nomads), third-placed team (Bala Town), and play-off winners (Caernarfon Town) qualified for the 2024–25 Conference League first qualifying round. The bottom two teams (Colwyn Bay and Pontypridd United) were relegated to either the 2024–25 Cymru North or the 2024–25 Cymru South.

Teams

The league consisted of twelve teams; the top ten teams from the previous season, and one team each promoted from the second-tier leagues, the Cymru North and Cymru South. The New Saints entered the season as defending champions (for the second consecutive season).

The two promoted sides were Colwyn Bay (winners of the 2022–23 Cymru North) and Barry Town United (winners of the 2022–23 Cymru South).^[1][2] Barry Town United were promoted back to the top tier on the first time of asking following their relegation in the 2021–22 season, while Colwyn Bay were promoted to the top tier of Welsh football for the first time since switching from the English football league system in 2018–19.

The bottom two teams from the 2022–23 season (Airbus UK Broughton and Flint Town United) were both relegated to the Cymru North for the 2023–24 season.^[3] Flint Town United's relegation was only confirmed on the final day of the previous season, where a dramatic victory for Aberystwyth Town, combined with Flint's defeat to Pontypridd United, saw the Silkmen drop into the relegation zone.^[4]

Haverfordwest County came close to being relegated following their failure to achieve a Tier One license at the first time of asking, but their appeal was successful, ensuring their stay in the league.^[5]

Stadia and locations

Aberystwyth
Town

Bala Town

Barry Town United

Caernarfon Town

Cardiff Metropolitan University

Colwyn Bay

Connah's Quay Nomads

Haverfordwest County

Newtown

Penybont

Pontypridd United

The New Saints

Locations of the 2023–24 Cymru Premier teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Aberystwyth Town	Aberystwyth	Park Avenue	5,000
Bala Town	Bala	Maes Tegid	3,000
Barry Town United	Barry	Jenner Park Stadium	2,650
Caernarfon Town	Caernarfon	The Oval	3,000
Cardiff Metropolitan University	Cyncoed	Cyncoed Campus	1,620
Colwyn Bay	Old Colwyn	Llanelian Road	2,500
Connah's Quay Nomads	Flint	Cae-y-Castell	3,000
Haverfordwest County	Haverfordwest	Bridge Meadow Stadium	2,100
Newtown	Newtown	Latham Park	5,000
Penybont	Bridgend	Bryntirion Park	3,000
Pontypridd United	Treforest	USW Sports Park	1,000
The New Saints	Oswestry	Park Hall	2,034

Personnel and kits

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Front shirt sponsor
Aberystwyth Town	Anthony Williams	Jack Thorn	Acerbis	Aberystwyth University
Bala Town	Colin Caton	Kieran Smith	Macron	Aykroyd's
Barry Town United	Jonathan Jones	Kayne McLaggon	Macron	RIM Motors
Caernarfon Town	Richard Davies	Darren Thomas	Errea	Gofal Bro Cyf
Cardiff Metropolitan University	Ryan Jenkins	Kyle McCarthy	Errea	Cardiff Metropolitan University
Colwyn Bay	Steve Evans	Tom McCready	Hope and Glory	GO2 People
Connah's Quay Nomads	Neil Gibson	John Disney	Adidas	Castle Green Homes
Haverfordwest County	Tony Pennock	Dylan Rees	Macron	Clegg Gifford / The Athletic
Newtown	Scott Ruscoe	Shane Sutton	Errea	Control Techniques
Penybont	Rhys Griffiths	Kane Owen	Macron	Nathaniel Car Sales
Pontypridd United	Gavin Allen	Clayton Green	Joma	UPVCDIRECT.CO.UK
The New Saints	Craig Harrison	Chris Marriott	Macron	SiFi Networks

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Barry Town United	Lee Kendall	Resigned[6]	26 July 2023	Pre-season	Steve Jenkins	5 August 2023[7]
Pontypridd United	Andrew Stokes	Resigned[8]	4 January 2024	12th	Gavin Allen	22 January 2024[9]
Newtown	Chris Hughes	Mutual consent[10]	10 January 2024	4th	Scott Ruscoe	18 January 2024[11]
Barry Town United	Steve Jenkins	Changed to Director of Football[12]	2 February 2024	9th	Jonathan Jones	2 February 2024

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	The New Saints (C)	32	30	2	0	117	18	+99	92	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Connah's Quay Nomads	32	18	5	9	70	43	+27	59	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round[b]
3	Bala Town	32	13	12	7	38	31	+7	51
4	Newtown	32	13	5	14	49	46	+3	44	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round play-off
5	Caernarfon Town (O)	32	11	8	13	52	70	−18	41
6	Cardiff Metropolitan University	32	10	9	13	35	63	−28	36[c]
7	Penybont	32	14	7	11	46	37	+9	43[d]	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round play-off
8	Haverfordwest County	32	11	10	11	39	40	−1	43
9	Barry Town United	32	7	11	14	36	54	−18	32
10	Aberystwyth Town	32	7	6	19	27	57	−30	27
11	Colwyn Bay (R)	32	7	4	21	34	66	−32	25	Relegation to Cymru North
12	Pontypridd United (R)	32	8	7	17	23	41	−18	22[e]	Relegation to Cymru South

Source: Cymru Premier
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Goals scored; 5) Matches won.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Teams played each other twice (22 matches), before the league was split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
2. The 2023–24 Welsh Cup winners also qualified for the Conference League first qualifying round. Since the cup winners (Connah's Quay Nomads) qualified based on league position, the Conference League spot was passed to the third-placed team.
3. Cardiff Metropolitan University were deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player against Bala Town on 3 February 2024.
4. Penybont were deducted six points for fielding ineligible players.
5. Pontypridd United were deducted nine points for failing to pay players on time, failing to comply with contractual player obligations, failing to register players correctly, and fielding ineligible players.

Results

Matches 1–22

Teams played each other twice, once at home and once away.

Home \ Away	ABE	BAL	BAR	CAE	CMU	COL	CQN	HAV	NEW	PEN	PON	TNS
Aberystwyth Town	—	2–3	2–4	2–4	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	1–3
Bala Town	0–1	—	1–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–0
Barry Town United	0–1	3–1	—	0–3	0–0	1–1	1–4	2–2	4–0	1–1	2–0	2–6
Caernarfon Town	3–0	1–1	2–3	—	5–1	2–1	0–4	0–1	2–1	2–4	1–0	1–3
Cardiff Metropolitan University	4–2	0–0	2–1	2–2	—	1–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	0–3	2–0	1–5
Colwyn Bay	3–1	2–3	0–1	0–4	2–2	—	2–3	1–2	2–4	2–1	2–3	0–1
Connah's Quay Nomads	4–0	1–1	7–0	6–1	4–0	2–1	—	1–2	3–1	4–2	3–1	0–4
Haverfordwest County	3–0	2–3	2–0	1–1	1–1	5–0	1–3	—	0–4	3–2	0–0	0–1
Newtown	0–0	1–0	2–0	4–0	2–1	4–2	1–2	1–1	—	1–3	3–1	0–2
Penybont	0–2	0–2	1–0	3–2	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	—	1–0	1–4
Pontypridd United	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–3	0–3	0–3	2–0	0–1	0–0	—	0–1
The New Saints	6–0	2–0	2–2	2–1	8–0	6–1	6–2	5–1	3–1	3–0	4–0	—

Source: Cymru Premier
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–32

After 22 matches, the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six). Each team plays every other team in their group twice (once at home and once away).

Top six

Home \ Away	BAL	CAE	CMU	CQN	NEW	TNS
Bala Town	—	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1
Caernarfon Town	2–2	—	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–8
Cardiff Metropolitan University	0–1	2–2	—	0–3	1–3	0–5
Connah's Quay Nomads	0–0	1–1	2–1	—	0–0	1–5
Newtown	1–5	5–0	2–0	2–3	—	0–1
The New Saints	4–1	7–1	4–0	2–0	3–0	—

Source: Cymru Premier
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom six

Home \ Away	ABE	BAR	COL	HAV	PEN	PON
Aberystwyth Town	—	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–3	3–0
Barry Town United	2–1	—	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–3
Colwyn Bay	1–2	1–0	—	0–0	1–2	1–0
Haverfordwest County	2–0	2–1	3–1	—	0–1	1–1
Penybont	1–1	2–2	5–0	1–0	—	0–1
Pontypridd United	0–0	1–1	4–0	0–1	0–3	—

Source: Cymru Premier
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Conference League play-off

Teams placed 3rd–7th will enter one-off play-off matches for the third spot in the Conference League first qualifying round. The higher-placed team gains home advantage. Since the 2023–24 Welsh Cup winners finished in the top three, the 3rd-placed team qualified automatically for the Conference League and the spot was vacated.

Semi-finals

Caernarfon Town (5th) v Cardiff Metropolitan University (6th)

10 May 2024	Caernarfon Town (5th)	2–0	Cardiff Metropolitan University (6th)	Caernarfon
19:45				Stadium: The Oval

Newtown (4th) v Penybont (7th)

11 May 2024	Newtown (4th)	0–5	Penybont (7th)	Newtown
12:20			Kircough 6', 64' Venables 18', 33' Little 74'	Stadium: Latham Park

Final

Caernarfon Town (5th) v Penybont (7th)

18 May 2024	Caernarfon Town (5th)	3–1	Penybont (7th)	Caernarfon
14:45	Lloyd 20' Clarke 26' Bradley 37'		Reynolds 90+1'	Stadium: The Oval Attendance: 1,960

Season statistics

As of 18 April 2024^[13]

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Brad Young	The New Saints	22
2	Jordan Davies	Connah's Quay	19
3	Aaron Williams	Newtown	18
4	Chris Venables	Penybont	17
5	Ryan Brobbel	The New Saints	14
	Adam Davies	Caernarfon Town
7	Declan McManus	The New Saints	13
8	George Newell	Bala Town	12
9	Ollie Hulbert	Barry Town United	11
	Ben Clark	The New Saints
	Adrian Cieślewicz	The New Saints

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Ryan Brobbel	The New Saints	Haverfordwest County	5–1 (H)	16 September 2023
Aaron Williams	Newtown	Caernarfon Town	4–0 (H)	7 October 2023
Brad Young	The New Saints	Barry Town United	2–6 (A)	21 October 2023
Sion Bradley	Caernarfon Town	Cardiff Met	5–1 (H)	21 October 2023
Harry Franklin	Connah's Quay	Caernarfon Town	6–1 (H)	27 October 2023
Chris Venables	Penybont	Caernarfon Town	2–4 (A)	4 November 2023
Martell Taylor-Crossdale	Haverfordwest County	Colwyn Bay	5–0 (H)	4 November 2023
Brad Young	The New Saints	Cardiff Met	8–0 (H)	6 January 2024
Brad Young	The New Saints	Caernarfon Town	1–8 (A)	23 February 2024
George Newell	Newtown	Bala Town	1–5 (A)	24 February 2024
Brad Young	The New Saints	Cardiff Met	4–0 (H)	2 March 2024

Notes

(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Richard Davies	Caernarfon Town	Sion Bradley	Caernarfon Town
September	Chris Hughes	Newtown	Jordan Davies	Connah's Quay
October	Craig Harrison	The New Saints	Ben Nash	Connah's Quay
November	Tony Pennock	Haverfordwest County	Ryan Sears	Newtown
December	Craig Harrison	The New Saints	Josh Pask	The New Saints
January	Steve Jenkins	Barry Town United	Brad Young	The New Saints
February	Gavin Allen	Pontypridd United	Ben Ahmun	Pontypridd United
March	Richard Davies	Caernarfon Town	Rhys Abbruzzese	Haverfordwest County
April	Chris Venables	Penybont	Rhys Griffiths	Penybont

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Manager of the Season	Craig Harrison	The New Saints
Player of the Season	Sion Bradley	Caernarfon Town
Young Player of the Season	Brad Young	The New Saints

Team of the Season
Goalkeeper	Kelland Absalom (Bala Town)
Defenders	Ryan Sears (Newtown)	Ben Nash (Connah's Quay Nomads)	Danny Davies (The New Saints)	Rhys Abbruzzese (Haverfordwest County)
Midfielders	Leo Smith (The New Saints)					Daniel Redmond (The New Saints)					Danny Gosset (Caernarfon Town)
Forwards	Jordan Davies (Connah's Quay Nomads)					Brad Young (The New Saints)					Sion Bradley (Caernarfon Town)

Attendances

Team	Highest	Lowest	Average
Aberystwyth Town	824	271	370
Bala Town	564	138	292*
Barry Town United	521	243	426
Caernarfon Town	978	339	576
Cardiff Metropolitan University	563	112	248*
Colwyn Bay	1,411	422	714
Connah's Quay Nomads	506	139	268
Haverfordwest County	698	308	458
Newtown	421	181	298
Penybont	863	175	311*
Pontypridd United	537	191	279*
The New Saints	532	161	322

Figures taken from FAW Cymru Football app and other club channels. Correct as of 22 April 2024. *Denotes incomplete record, as missing attendance figures. Figures for Penybont v Caernarfon (16/9), Pontypridd v Bala (16/9), Bala v Aberystwyth (27/9), Penybont v TNS (7/10), Penybont v Aberystwyth (27/10) and Cardiff Met v Connah's Quay (6/4) have not been publicly recorded. Average attendances for these teams are calculated on basis of available attendance data divided by total number of home games played