EX-WALES ACE IN AT OLD GOLD
FORMER Wales international Chris Llewellyn has joined the coaching team at Carmarthen Town.
The ex-winger has been appointed the club academy’s head of coaching.
It is a major coup by the Welsh Premier League club as they look to develop the next generation of stars at Richmond Park.
Llewellyn will make the switch from League Two side Colchester United, where he held the role of under-18s head coach.
His appointment is the latest step in a varied career for Llewellyn, which began when he broke into Norwich’s first team as a teenager in 1997-98. He was called into the Welsh squad soon after and won his first international cap in a 3-0 victory over Malta in Valletta.
He won six caps in total, with his solitary goal coming in the 4-0 victory over Liechtenstein in 2006.
Llewellyn also played for Wrexham, Bristol Rovers, Hartlepool and Grimsby and made more than 350 appearances in the Football League before ending his playing career in the Welsh Premier League with spells at Neath and Llanelli.
He began his coaching career with Swansea City, starting out as a youth coach before accepting the role as manager of the under-21 side. Under his guidance the under-21s won the Professional Development League 2 in 2015.
A Carmarthen statement said: “Chris brings with him an impressive coaching CV from which he has led technical, tactical, physical and physiological development of Swansea City’s elite squads.
“One of Chris’s responsibilities will be to look after the new FAW under9s to under-11s skill acquisition programme, developed by the FAW Trust.
“Chris will work closely with our academy director Sean Cresser to develop all players with an aim of reaching our first team.
“Chris will also look to mentor and develop our coaches within the club, to ensure the players receive the very best of education while being involved in an enjoyable environment.”
Llewellyn, 39, said: “I’m really excited about the challenges that lay ahead.
“I’m really passionate about Welsh football and when the opportunity to work in Wales arose I couldn’t turn it down.
“Carmarthen Town are a well-respected club and I look forward to helping the academy and the club in general push forward and enjoy further success on and off the pitch.”
Cresser added: “I look forward to working along side Chris at the academy.
“His previous experiences of working with young players, in particular, at the highest level of the game will help us to ensure that an excellent FAW technical programme is delivered by a top practitioner to the young footballers of Carmarthen.
“This in turn will help those young players to develop their technical ability so that they can better enjoy their football in an academy environment, and realise both their own ambitions and our ambitions for them of representing Carmarthen Town Football Club in the Welsh Premier League.”
Meanwhile, Carmarthen will face the next generation of Swansea City stars as part of their build-up to the new season.
The Old Gold will face Swansea’s under-23 side at Richmond Park on Saturday, July 20 (2.30pm).
It is one of five friendlies Carmarthen will play. The others are against Haverfordwest, Briton Ferry, Llanelli Town, Ammanford and Cinderford.