Llandudno Clinch Promotion to Cymru Premier with Stellar Season
Llandudno have secured promotion to Welsh football's top division after losing just one game in the Cymru North this season.
Football has long challenged the idea that success cannot be achieved with youth, and this principle extends beyond players to management as well.
Take Llandudno, the north Wales club, who this weekend will celebrate the conclusion of a dominant campaign that will see them return to the top-flight Cymru Premier after a seven-year absence, a period that included serious concerns about the club's future.
Leading the charge is a manager younger than most of the promotion-winning squad he oversees.
At only 24 years old, Jordan Hadaway has masterminded Llandudno's resurgence, securing the Cymru North title emphatically and is poised to be one of the youngest top-division managers in Europe next season.
Remarkably, he brings a decade of coaching experience to the role, including mentorship linked to Real Madrid.
Llandudno's Return to Cymru Premier After Title Triumph
The Championship striker 'out-performing' Harry Kane
'He Had an Aura About Him'
Hadaway's coaching credentials are impressive for someone who would still be considered young if he were a player rather than the manager selecting the team.
His rise is even more notable given the challenging circumstances under which this Gen Z coach earned his opportunity.
In 2023, Llandudno faced significant adversity: they were unable to use their home ground, had lost their entire coaching staff, and lacked sufficient players to field a team just weeks before the second-tier season commenced.
Conventional football wisdom often favors experienced leadership in times of crisis, yet Llandudno chairman Dave Guinn entrusted the role to a 21-year-old youth team coach.
"I don't think you could print some of the things that were said to me on social media when we appointed him," Guinn recalls. "But there was a gut feeling. Jordan just had an aura about him, that he wasn't just talking the talk."
Hadaway himself might have questioned the challenge ahead, as the club's financial state was described as "dire."
"The pitch had been condemned and we were £100,000 short of paying for a new pitch," Hadaway explains, with the club forced to play home games in Bangor and Conwy, money going out without coming in.
"There were no revenue streams, I was working unpaid because the FAW had taken the academy away so we were in a bit of turmoil.
"I was asked to step in and that I had a £400 budget – the lowest in the league – just to get a squad to start the season. And we had to pay a physio out of that.
"That's what makes staying up that year so special."
Alongside winning the Cymru North title, Llandudno reached the Welsh League Cup semi-finals and defeated top-flight Connah's Quay Nomads in the Welsh Cup.
From Real Madrid Mentoring to Welsh Football
This success is a far cry from the wealth and glamour of the Bernabeu.
Hadaway, inspired by his football-enthusiast grandfather and with parents who are Everton season ticket holders, was never destined to join the ranks of the Galacticos.
He was an academy player at his local club in Holywell but shifted focus to coaching at 14 after deciding he would not reach his playing ambitions and preferring coaching over refereeing.
His coaching journey included working with the Real Madrid foundation, teaching their style of football on courses across the UK and Europe. He attended conventions featuring coaching lectures from legends such as Roberto Carlos and Raul, and even took a selfie with Alvaro Arbeloa.
Hadaway jokes about whether Real Madrid's current manager has reached out following Llandudno's success, which came after he began managing in the Welsh fifth tier at 18, served as an assistant in the Cymru Premier with Cefn Druids, and eventually joined the Seasiders. He also led their women's team to the Cymru North title in 2024, narrowly missing out on top-flight promotion after a play-off final defeat.
The Welsh Teen Teaching the Real Madrid Way
Hadaway guided Llandudno's men's team to safety in his first season while simultaneously securing the 2023-24 Cymru North title for the women's team.
This year, the men's team has been unstoppable, dropping only seven points from 29 games. Their home record is flawless, scoring 50 goals and conceding just six.
"At the start of the season we wanted to finish in the top four and better last year's points," Hadaway states, now aiming to establish Llandudno as a stable top-flight club.
"I didn't think we'd win the league, perhaps as a manager I didn't think I'd be experienced enough."
Guinn, who endured the anxious wait to confirm promotion through the award of a tier-one licence, admits he initially had reservations about entrusting such responsibility to someone so young.
"His age was a bit of a worry, whether he could control the dressing room," says Guinn, a former player who was at the club when they faced Swedish giants IFK Goteborg a decade ago.
"But he had an old head on young shoulders and I'm glad my gut was right."
Hadaway adds:
"I wasn't naive when I was appointed. It wasn't so much the players, but others asking why the chairman would put his faith in me when the club could fold if we went down.
"I knew what people were going to say and think but I've always tried to be honest and open and it wasn't about trying to prove anything, just hard work and letting people see. If you treat people with respect it goes a long way.
"I'm not without flaws and I don't have everything but I've surrounded myself with good people and I'm able to still learn."
He continues to develop his skills while working as a PE teacher at a local sixth form college, noting that managing a classroom shares similarities with managing a football dressing room.
Ultimately, as football has demonstrated once more, age is merely a number.
