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Goytre United Football Club is a Welsh football club based in Goytre, near Port Talbot. They play in the Cymru South. Despite winning Division One of the Welsh Football League in 2005–06 and 2007–08 they were not promoted to the Welsh Premier League.
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| Full name | Goytre United Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | The Goyt | ||
| Founded | 1963 | ||
| Ground | Glenhafod Park Stadium, Goytre | ||
| Capacity | 4,000 (350 seated) | ||
| Chairman | Craig Humphries & Andrew Watts | ||
| Manager | Laurie Marsh | ||
| League | Cymru South | ||
| 2023–24 | Cymru South, 8th of 16 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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Their home stadium is the Glenhafod Park Stadium.
History
editIn the spring of 1963 what funds the club had were handed to football secretary Boris Suhanski. Utilising these funds Goytre United Football Club was reborn. The club were members of the Port Talbot and District Football League but were promoted to the South Wales Amateur League in the late sixties. After a successful opening spell things became more difficult and the club was eventually relegated back into the Port Talbot League in the late seventies.
In 1982 the Goytre United AFC Social Club opened.
A period of ten years passed when the club competed in the Port Talbot and District League. During this time the club grew in stature on and off the field and in 1988 was re-elected back into the South Wales Amateur League. In the 1989–90 season the club secured promotion to the First Division of the South Wales Amateur League. Also in this year a 350 all-seating grandstand was built.
In the 1990–91 season the club were promoted to the Welsh Football League and on 24 August 1991 played their first match against Milford United. Since the club's elevation into the Welsh League, steady improvements have been made both on and off the pitch and in 2000 floodlights were erected. In the 2003–2004 season the club attained its highest position within the League when it ended the season in the runners-up spot in division one and just missed out on promotion to the Welsh Premier League.
In the 2004–05 season the club won the League Challenge Cup for the first time at Ton Pentre. Further history was made in the 2005–06 season when the club lifted the Welsh League First Division Championship, only losing three games. However, they chose to remain in the Welsh League First Division for the 2006–07 season. [1] Normally, the top clubs from each of the two feeder leagues (the Welsh League First Division and the Cymru Alliance) are promoted subject to an application for membership of the Welsh Premier League being received and accepted and the stadium and infrastructure safety criteria of the League being met. Goytre United elected not to apply for promotion, and the First Division runners-up, Neath Athletic, failed to meet the stadium criteria and had their bid for promotion rejected. [2]
In the 2006–07 season, the reserve team won the Welsh League Reserve West Division for the first time in the club's history, guided by former team player/manager Paul Wiseman.
In 2007–08 they won the Welsh Football League again, but once more they declined to apply for promotion to the Welsh Premier League.
In 2008-09 the same situation occurred with Goytre winning the Welsh Football League for a third time, but were still denied promotion.
In the 2022/23 Season in the Cymru South Goytre started off the season with Mark Pike as the manager. Goytre got off to a bad start with the first game of the season which was in the Nathanial MG Cup taking a hefty defeat to Trefelin which ended 6–1 with Youngster Alex Walters scoring the only goal. Things were looking promising after taking 4 points from out first 2 games against Swansea University and Cambrian and Clydach Vale. The season took a turn for the worst after picking up 4 points out of a possible 30 in the next 10 games which had us sitting in the relegation zone with the possibility of relegation for the first time in 20+ years. At the start of December the clubs chairman Lyndon made the hard decision of parting ways with the current coaching team to bring in the previous seasons winning manager Karl Lewis and his team of coaches. Karl got off to a great start by beating his old club Llantwit Major 4-3 who were sitting in the top half of the table. From the 18 remaining games Karl had to rescue Goytre from the relegation zone he managed to take 24 points and secured Goytres place in the Cymru South for the 2023/24 season. A fantastic job done by Karl and the team who now focus on bringing Goytre back to where they belong. Also big credit to Lyndon and all involved who acted fast with the best interest of the club in mind.
Honours
edit- Champions: 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10
Port Talbot League Challenge Cup
- Finalists: 1985–86, 1988–89
Port Talbot League Premier Division
- Runners-up: 1988–89
South Wales Amateur League Division 2
- Runners-up: 1989–90
Port Talbot Challenge Cup
- Winners: 1992–93
Welsh League Division Three
- Runners-up: 1993–94
Welsh League Reserve Division
- Runners-up: 1994–95
Welsh League Division Two
- Runners-up: 1995–96
Welsh League Reserve Division Cup
- Finalists: 1996–97
Welsh League Division One
- Runner-up: 2003–04
Welsh League Shamrock Travel Cup
- Winners: 2004–05
FAW Reserve League South West
- Winners: 2022–23
Club Directory
edit•PATRON•
Martyn Margetson
•CLUB BOARD•
•CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER•
Craig Humphries
•CHAIRMAN•
Andrew Watts
•GENERAL SECRETARY/HEAD OF LICENSING•
Ryan Harding & Morgan Lambert
•GENERAL MANAGER•
Richard C Final
•TREASURER•
Pam Watts
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•MEDIA OFFICER•
Ryan Harding
•WEBSITE EDITOR•
Morgan Lambert
•MATCH DAY OFFICIALS•
Malcolm Margetson, David Glaves, Ben Howells, Morgan Lambert, Ryan Harding, Cameron Suhanski, Byron Hillier, David Ace
•SOCIAL CLUB ASSISTANTS•
Sue Ace & Julie Humphreys
•CORNER FLAG MATCH REFRESHMENTS•
Pam Watts & Chloe Davies
•CLUB LIFE MEMBERS•
John H Tobin, David G Evans, Robert A Ketcher
•FIRST TEAM HEAD COACHES•
Laurie Marsh & Michael Waters
•FIRST TEAM COACHES•
Owen Roberts & Cory Kingdom
•DEVELOPMENT & RESERVE TEAM COACH•
Mark Simmonds
•UNDER 19 TEAM COACHES•
Mark Simmonds
•HEAD OF MINI/JUNIOR FOUNDATION PHASE•
Paul Cardy
•CLUB PHYSIO•
Jordan Discombe
First Team Squad
editAs of July 24 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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First Team Staff
edit- Manager:
Laurie Marsh - Assistant Manager: Michael Waters
- Coaches: Owen Roberts, Cory Kingdom
- Physio: Jordan Discombe
- Kit and Equipment Manager:
Tristan Parker - Social Media Officer: Ryan Harding
- Chief Operating Officer: Craig Humphrey's (CxJ building services)
