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Two football clubs playing in the same town have joined forces to boost their chances of on-field success.

Struggling Aberbargoed Town has merged with Aberbargoed Buds, who play their football in the Ardal League South East – the third tier of Welsh football.

Buds manager John Lewis – a former Cardiff City midfielder – is confident Aberbargoed has a bright footballing future. 

Lewis – who started his career at the Buds – returned to the club on an interim basis in 2009 when the club found itself in trouble on the pitch.

He said: “They were in a spot and asked me to come back. We were at the bottom of the table but managed to turn it around quickly.

“I had to come back, without this club I wouldn’t have had a career. My heart will always be with Aber.”

As well as Cardiff, Lewis also represented Swansea City and Newport County during his playing career.

Although the Buds were getting by, it was the Town that found themselves in difficulty – to the point where collapse looked inevitable. 

After a few years at the club, Lewis decided to coach full-time and quickly realised both sides would benefit from a merger.

“I actually initiated the merger myself after speaking to a few people around both clubs. I thought, we’ve got all these teams in the area, it would be great to make one strong club.

“We arranged a meeting with the Town – along with 16 officials representing Aberbargoed – and both parties accepted straight away. They were losing their club, it made sense for both sides.

One club doesn’t mean one team however. John spoke about the ambitions of Aberbargoed to create four sides under the Aberbargoed Buds name, including a reserves, a development squad and an Under-16s. 

This idea would ensure that the club has a solid base on which to grow and hopefully ensure the future of the club, according to Lewis. To do that however, a culture change that was needed.

“We have a meeting this Thursday to discuss the process and finalise all the details before next season. Our focus right now is steadying the ship and changing the mentality.

“To be successful we need to return our focus to our own boundaries. We’ve tried the ‘looking to get players from Cardiff’ approach – it doesn’t work. We need good local players who want to play for us.”

The club doesn’t currently meet the Football Association of Wales’ (FAW) requirements to be eligible for the Cymru South – the second tier of Welsh football – but it is hoped the merger can be the first step in a period of sustained success.

“We’ve been up and down as a club since I arrived in 2009. Both the Buds and the Town are stable financially so combining that with the players should help us going forward,” Lewis said.

The merger is not the first time both the Town and the Buds have been together, having enjoyed success following a brief merger in 1999, which saw the club go on to win the Gwent Cup.

But Lewis emphasised Aberbargoed Town will not be a forgotten party going forward, with the club’s history becoming part of the Buds.

“We’re going to change our badge to incorporate both clubs. The plan is to ask children at a local school to help us design the badge so that the whole community can play a part.

“We’ve had no pushback on the idea and both sides have been really positive about the whole thing which is great to see.

“At the end of the day, we just want to be successful on the pitch – that’s where it matters.”