Llanelli A.F.C.
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| Full name | Llanelli Association Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | The Tinmen, The Reds or Scarlets | ||
| Founded | 1896 | ||
| Ground | Stebonheath Park Llanelli (Capacity: 3,700; 1,012 seated) |
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| Chairman |  Nitin Parekh |
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| Manager |  Andy Legg |
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| League | Welsh Premier League | ||
| 2008–09 | Welsh Premier League, 2nd | ||
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Llanelli Association Football Club is a Welsh professional football club that plays in the Welsh Premier League for the 2009–10 season. The team has been based at Stebonheath Park since 1920, and as of 2009 is managed by Andy Legg.
Formed in 1896, the club's first honour was the Welsh Football League championship claimed in 1913–14. After winning the title twice more, in 1929–30 and 1932–33, Llanelli made an attempt to join fellow Welsh sides Swansea Town and Cardiff City in The Football League during the 1950s – despite making an effort to turn professional, the club was not elected.
Llanelli was a founder member of the League of Wales in 1992, but after only four seasons suffered relegation. Promotion back to the top division was achieved in 1998–99, but 2002–03 saw the team demoted only to return to the top-flight for the 2004–05 season. Llanelli turned professional in 2005, and achieved a second-place finish behind The New Saints to qualify for the UEFA Cup. The club went one better in 2007–08 as the Welsh Premier League championship came to Llanelli for the first time.
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[edit] History
The club has had several periods of strength, with their first honours coming in 1914, when they won the Welsh Football League championship, a feat the club repeated in 1930 and 1933.
In the 1950s, in an effort to gain admission to the Football League they signed a number of professional players such as Jock Stein from Scottish side Albion Rovers, later to become a legend at Celtic The bid to gain entry failed, and the club sunk back into obscurity for some years.[1]
The club was a founder member of the League of Wales, but was relegated during the 1995–96 season. Three years later however it achieved promotion back to the top division, achieving its best finishing position of fifth in the 1999–2000 season. It was lucky to survive the following season, staying up because no team in the Welsh League Division One met the promotion criteria. Llanelli was eventually relegated two years later, but bounced back immediately for the 2004–05 season.
During the summer of 2005, the television giant, Tinopolis announced ambitious plans for Llanelli AFC to become a full-time side. This move led to unprecedented success in the league, culminating in the best-ever finish of second, behind fellow full-timers The New Saints.[2] Finishing second in the league also qualified the club for the 2006–07 UEFA Cup.
On 11 April 2008, Llanelli AFC won the Welsh Premier League for the first time in their history.[3]
In the inaugural Europa League, Llanelli were drawn against Scottish Premier League outfit Motherwell. Due to pitch problems at their Fir Park ground the first leg was played at the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, some 8 miles from Motherwell on July 2nd 2009, where Llanelli claimed a shock 1–0 win.
[edit] Stadium
The club's home ground is Stebonheath Park, which has a capacity of 3,700. In recent years, big games in European competition have been played at Stradey Park, the traditional rugby venue in the town. The town's rugby sides, the Scarlets of the Magners League and Llanelli RFC, opened Parc y Scarlets, a new 14,000 capacity stadium, in November 2008. However, despite early rumours, Llanelli AFC have no plans to move there, and are instead committed towards improving their own ground.
The first ground improvement started in the summer of 2008 by building a seated stand to accommodate 300 supporters. This takes the Stebonheath Park seated capacity to 1,000 – therefore making it a UEFA-compliant stadium for European football.
[edit] Recent European performances
[edit] Europa League - 2009–10
Llanelli A.F.C. started their first Europa League campaign with a surprise 1–0 away victory over Scottish Premier League side Motherwell on July 2 2009.
[edit] Champions League – 2008–09
Llanelli A.F.C. qualified for the UEFA Champions League after finishing as the champions of the Welsh Premier League. The Reds were to play FK Ventspils from Latvia in the first qualifying round. In a close match at Stebonheath Park, Llanelli ran out 1–0 winners thanks to a goal from defender, Stuart Jones. The Reds then went to Latvia to try and defend this slender lead. At full time in Latvia, the match ended 4–0 to Ventspils which meant that Llanelli had been knocked out 4–1 on aggregate.
[edit] Intertoto Cup – 2007–08
Llanelli A.F.C. qualified for the Intertoto Cup after finishing third in the Welsh Premier League behind The New Saints and Rhyl. The Reds travelled to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius for the first leg of the first round against FK Vėtra where they lost 3–1. A magnificent return leg (played at Carmarthen as Stebonheath did not meet UEFA criteria) saw Llanelli come agonizingly close to qualifying, taking the game from 3–2 down at half time to 5–3 up in the last minute (including a Rhys Griffiths hattrick) and missing a last gasp opportunity to finish off their badly shaken opponents, going out of the tournament on away goals.
[edit] UEFA Cup - 2006–07 season
Llanelli A.F.C. won the first qualifying round draw against the Swedish team Gefle IF (2–1) on aggregate. They then went on to play the Danish side Odense Boldklub in the second qualifying round.
Because of UEFA regulations on stadia, the club played its home leg of the first qualifying round at Llanelli's Stradey Park, home of the Llanelli Scarlets rugby union region, and played the second round home leg at Swansea City's Liberty Stadium. However, they suffered a substantial loss during the home leg and were ejected from the UEFA cup tournament (1–6) on aggregate.
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] International Footballers playing for Llanelli AFC
- Steve Jenkins Wales – 16 Caps
- Andy Legg Wales – 6 Caps
- Jason Bowen Wales – 2 Caps
- Chris Holloway Wales U21's – 2 Caps
- Owain Warlow Wales U21's –– 2 Caps
- Lee Jarman Wales U21's 1 Caps
- Stuart Jones Wales U21's – 1 Cap
- Jordan Follows Wales U21's
