End of an era for Welsh exiles Colwyn Bay FC after 35 years in English system

As another football campaign draws to a close, many clubs are still unsure of which league they will be playing in next season.

Promotions and relegations are still to be decided, play-offs still to be played.

But one club will not only be playing in a different league next season, they will also be playing in a different country.

After 35 years in the English non-league system, Colwyn Bay have taken the momentous decision to return to the Welsh leagues.

Saturday's home Evo-Stik League West Division game against Leek Town will be the Bay's final game in the English pyramid.

From next season Colwyn Bay will be playing in the FAW Championship North, one league below the Welsh Premier - a competition they fought against joining in the 1990s.

"The decision that the board and the shareholders have come to is something that has not been taken lightly," Bay manager Craig Hogg told BBC Sport Wales.

"The club has invested 35 years of history playing within the English football pyramid.

"A great many people have staked a lot personally to maintain that right to play within the English system."

The Seagulls left the Welsh football league after the 1983-84 season, returning to play in England having had a brief spell in the Birmingham League during the 1930s.

Under long serving manager Bryn Jones the club rose up the English pyramid and by 1991 had reached Division One of the Northern Premier League.

But the club's rapid progress on the field coincided with the Football Association of Wales' proposals for a new League of Wales during the 1991-92 season.

Bay secured promotion to the Conference North after a play-off win over FC United of Manchester in 2011

Colwyn Bay refused to join the new competition and along with Newport County and Caernarfon Town were forced into exile, playing two seasons at Northwich and Ellesmere Port.

The Exiled clubs took legal action against the FAW and won a High Court case which allowed them to return to their home grounds in Wales.

Reaching the Conference North, two levels below the Football League, was the highest the club achieved during their time in England

But two back to back relegations have seen them drop to their current level, the Evo-Stik League West Division and financial concerns led to the club looking at a return to Wales.

The club's shareholders voted in favour of a return to the Welsh system with the FAW accepting their application to join tier two next season, the newly formed FAW Championship North.

The decision has not met with universal approval among the club's fans but Hogg, a former Bay player, believes they are rejoining a football system that is thriving.

"Welsh football is in a really, really good place at the moment," said Hogg, who was a youngster at Everton.

"From the club's point of view now is perhaps the right time to be part of Welsh football, not only to grow and benefit ourselves as a club but to bring and add value to what is happening in Welsh football.

"We know exactly what we're getting ourselves into, we're under no illusions whatsoever.

Colwyn Bay, along with Caernarfon Town and Newport County, won a High Court case against the FAW in 1995

"Going into tier two we know we're going to be up against it and we're going to work very, very hard to field a competitive team and achieve the aims and objectives of the football club.

"We have that ambition of being a Welsh Premier team and we are going to earn the right. If that takes a bit of time then so be it."

Hogg, who took on his first manager's role when he succeeded Alan Morgan in September 2018, has signed a five year contract with the north Wales club in March.

"When I was offered the job I thought it was a great chance to jump two feet into the role and have a right go at being a manager and putting my own stamp on it," Hogg added.

"I've learnt a great deal about myself, I've learnt a great deal about people and more than anything I feel I've learnt a great deal about the game of football.

"I look back at the last nine months as a manager as a hugely positive experience.

"I'm desperate for this football club to be successful and I intend during the next five years to leave no stone unturned and to work my hardest to achieve that."