We are delighted to announce that Ryan Betteney has joined the Club as the new manager of our men’s team ahead of the 2022/23 campaign. The 33 year old arrives at Aberaman Park after a short stint at FC Porthcawl last season. Prior to this, Ryan spent two seasons at AFC Porth in the old Welsh League Division Two, retaining their Welsh League status and guiding them to a ninth placed finish, after a couple of difficult seasons for the Club. Before stepping up to senior football he spent three years at Ton Pentre as their youth team manager culminating in the youth league title in 2018. Upon confirming the new Manager, Secretary David Sweet said: “We approached Ryan to take over in the summer of 2020 but the stars didn’t align for us back then. When we heard he might be available again we moved quickly to bring him on board. We are all looking forward to working with Ryan to get the Club back where we all believe it should be”. The new manager was as equally looking forward to the task ahead: “It’s an honour to become the manager of a Club with the history and stature of Aberdare Town. This is a great opportunity, but as I am sure everyone will be aware, there is a lot of work ahead of us. After speaking to the Committee again this summer, it was clear there is no doubt the ambition of the Club and we can’t wait to get started on our pre-season arrangements”. Ryan replaces Paul Searl and Dai Thomas who took charge for the last 10 league games of the season and have decided to step away from senior coaching for personal reasons. Chairman Garry Williams said: “We would like to thank Paul and Dai for their efforts and commitment in what was a difficult season for us as and ensuring we continued to field a full squad with the utmost professionalism in how they conducted things and we look forward to seeing both of them around Aberaman Park in the season ahead”.

Published Friday 13th May 2022