NEWBRIDGE Football Club will not be running a side this season.

The club withdrew from the MMP-NL Mid Wales League East this week and officials conceded the future of the club was in doubt.

Spokesman Will Woods said: “We were fortunate enough to have a strong squad at under 14 level who have stuck with us for eight years and came close to winning the league with Scott Davies at the helm.

“Scott has gone on to bigger and better things at Monmouth and players have been offered opportunities with bigger town clubs and clubs that are able to move with the new league structure.

“It’s with the full support of Newbridge FC that these boys play at the highest level they can achieve.”

Woods hoped the club could re-form in the future but insisted it depended on getting the right personnel in place.

The restructure of Welsh football has also hit village clubs hard.

Woods conceded the role of village clubs like Newbridge would be developing talent for larger town clubs with facilities to comply with Welsh League criteria in the future.

He said: “As a club we hope that we will field a team in the Mid Wales League South in the future.

“We would hope that club will progress to the limits that we have as a village club and turn out another group of players that will go on and improve our larger town club neighbours at a higher level.”

The loss of the Penbont club is a blow to football in the region with the villagers long-established members of the Mid Wales League which will itself go into the new season competing across two regional conferences following the FAW shake-up of the pyramid.