If anyone was to ask who has made the biggest impact on the local football scene at all age levels over the years then you would have to say Brickfield Rangers.

The old Court Road club provide football opportunities for more than 1,000 players with no small thanks to Paul and Lyn Hoosan and workaholic John Nuthall.

Many have gone on to forge successful careers in football and Robbie Savage was a raw teenage star at Court Road and brothers Jim and Jeff Whitley went on to play for Manchester City and Wrexham.

When you mention Llay Welfare, you think of the halcyon days when the infamous Parry brothers would take you on single handedly.

In the mid-Eighties taking over as manager was the flamboyant Ken Swinnerton, who was my schoolboy friend from when we played together at the infamous ‘Croft’ and what a colourful character he was.

He is still so proud of how he took on Chris Armstrong from Youth League football as a goalkeeper before breaking into Llay’s first team en-route to becoming a multi-million pound striker in the Premier League with Spurs and Crystal Palace.

The Parry family links continues today with Vaughan Parry providing some strong leadership as chairman and, after being a star player in the 1950’s, still involved at the club after a lengthy spell as secretary is Cyril Davies.

Penycae have earned the highest of praise for what has been achieved at their Afoneitha ground during the last decade.

The driving force behind the transformation have been club stalwarts Stuart Griffiths, Steve Griffith and former player Colin Jackson who was such a gifted and talented footballer and played alongside club legends Macca Valentine, Chris Edwards and Richie Gendall.

Just down the road, Rhos Aelwyd have become the sleeping giants with success eluding them for so long.

But their backroom team of Dai Parry, Glyn Williams and George Jones has stayed much the same. Big game players to mention include Kevin Griffiths, Dai Williams, Andy Harper, Shoney, Steve Walters and goal machine Delly Pritchard.

Success might have evaded Coedpoeth United too in recent times but it was not that long ago that Mike Douglas brought good times to the village.

He was a fantastic footballer who went on to manage them and put some silverware on the mantlepiece.

Nowadays the club is in the safe hands of Mark Hughes, Paul Edwards and Karl Fenlon and all bodes well for the future especially with loyal servant Kevin Breeze still scoring for fun.

Rhostyllen were delivered a real body blow this month and were heavily penalised for playing Tom Douglas without inadvertently realising he had not been internationally cleared.

Manager Warren Duckett gladly has been able to breath a sigh of relief as his dream of playing at a higher level has been granted.

Still making an impression after lengthy contributions are Kevin Roberts and Mark “Spanner” Williams who earned his nickname for the way he unlocks defences.

In their pomp, they had Nigel Harper masterminding their midfield with Dickie Williams and up top John Hignett and Paul Rowlands formed a formidable partnership setting the standards for Mark Williscroft to follow soon after.

The hospitality shown on match days by Frankie Roberts and Dave Roberts is second to none.

Tower Fields at Llangollen is such an idyllic place to go and a club rich in history and were one of the region’s top sides in the 1960s.

Newly appointed Gareth Lloyd took over as manager alongside Richard Hughes and they certainly galvanized things bringing in many new faces which also included Lee Phelan who would win the ‘Journeyman Jack Nicklaus Award’ for the amount of clubs he’s ended up at.

They also went on to achieve Cymru Alliance status thanks also to the unrelenting support from Kev Richards, Phil Jones, Chris Tobin, Richard Vaughan, Jock Birrell and big Bob Evans.

Due to their business transitions, Airbus played under the banner of Hawker Siddeley in the early days and were then called British Aerospace.

It does not seem that long ago since Clive Thompson took them out of the Chester and District League with the help of club stalwarts Paul McKinlay, Mickey Mayfield, Steve Benyon and Clive Lanceley.

He made some big name signings at the time with the likes Alan Zico Jones, Ady Williams and Wayne Lavender and, until last season, were one of the Welsh Premier League elite.

As long as I can remember Buckley Town have had three special clubmen in the background - Mike Williams, Geoff Bradshaw and John Aird. Then of course were the special times the loveable Simon Sedgwick was in charge and he brought much success to the club.

The hard work invested by Gareth ‘Perry’ Thomas as Mynydd Isa must not be underestimated either and one of his players always stands out when it comes to thinking about local football’s hard men and that it Anthony ‘Psycho’ Williams who was tough as old boots and never shirked a challenge.

Castell Alun Colts have had their moments too. Warren Gittins, Brian Davies and Dion Williams have been the main stays but nobody has given up so much time to local football than the legendary Gary Crewe. On the football field – I would have no hesitation in stating Dave Bullough was the most stylish performer they have ever had.

Rhydymwyn had their highs and lows surviving the ups and downs over the years.

Club stalwart Phil Eaton was one of their best while Hawarden Rangers can boast they have seen more players than anyone else make it to the very top with Ian Rush, Michael Owen and Barry Horne all playing top flight and international football to the highest possible level.

What a well-run club they are and they have the likes of Gary and Lyn Owen, Dave Dickel and Stuart Lawrence to thank for their unrelenting loyalty to the club.

If you were to talk about ‘hard luck’ stories, look no further than Saltney Town who are run by a small band of workaholics.

Their ground has been vandalised on countless occasions but they keep finding the energy to pick themselves and overcome such adversity.

Darren Meredith, Marc Edwards and Andrew Johnson deserve the highest of praise for their drive and energy.

If there was an award for the most genial of people, the late Huw ‘Chick’ Jones would win that.

He was known right across Wales as ‘Mr Corwen’ but he did have an immense mentor in Tudor Jones. They have produced some quality players and Andy ‘Bobble’ and John Billington who even now are still part of the furniture at War Memorial Park.

My favourite away trip was always Penley because of the ‘Royal Welcome’ by Tony and Geoff Peate at the Dymock Arms. The made some real marquee signings in the my time such as Brian Evans, Johnny Archer, Dave Butler and Paul Gray.

Not too far away, Overton Athletic is such an idyllic place to go and always unearthed some rich local talent with names such Pat Loughlin, Adam McLoughlin and Alan Huxley and at the moment the glue holding them together is Dave Edwards, who added the club owes so much to village folk such as Keith Fowles Micky Blair and Barry Cornes.

Bala Town have earned much praise for coming out of the Welsh National League wilderness to become a leading team in the country and when I think of the club I always think of the hard graft invested all those years ago by Ted Edwards who is now their life president and this paved the way for Nigel Aykroyd, Ruth Crump and Colin Caton to take the club to another level.

Ruthin Town has always been a difficult place to go but once you get there the hospitality there is second to none.

Long-serving secretary Brian Lewis is a club stalwart while look no further than Robbie Dowell as the league’s fiercest competitor.

Over the years there has been a glut of players who chose to play at a higher standard and I am referring to the Edwards brothers, Richie and Barry Edwards and Ian Fraser while Dave ‘Pixie’ Taylor was Porthmadog’s top scorer as well as well as winning the European Golden Boot Award although the cream of the crop has to be the immensely gifted Terry Cooke (pictured left).

Finally a likely quiz question in years to come might just be: Who were the last ever winners of the Welsh National League Premier Division title?

The answer of course would be Holywell Town masterminded by the charismatic John Haseldin.

They suffered relegation from the Cymru Alliance but bounced back at the first time of asking despite starting their season weeks later than everyone else.

They were just one of many success stories in what has been a memorable 75 years.