Christopher Mark Llewellyn (born 28 August 1979) is a Welsh

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former professional footballer. He has made over 350 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, Bristol Rovers,

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

, before joining

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sides

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

and Aberystwyth Town. He earned 6 full international caps for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, scoring once from between 1998 and 2006. He also previously earned 14 caps for the Wales U21 team.

Club career

Norwich City

A product of the

youth team, Llewellyn broke into the first team at Norwich in the 1997–1998 season making a total of 16 appearances with 4 goals. After injury in the 2002–03 season, he lost his place and went on loan to Bristol Rovers; he was released in June 2003 from Norwich. In the 6 years that Llewellyn spent in the first team it was rumoured that on more than one occasion an unknown Premiership club had had an offer of 3 million pound plus rejected by Norwich, who were keen to keep hold of the player dubbed, 'The New Giggs.' It was this title that earnt him cult hero status at Norwich, indeed a group of supporters known as, 'The Barclay Boys,' regularly sang a song about their Welsh Wizard to visiting supporters, 'Try and spell his effing name, effing name, effing name, try and spell his effing name, Chris Llewellyn.'

Wrexham

Llewellyn signed for

and a strong 2003–04 season saw him recalled to the Welsh squad in May 2004 and come on a sub to win his third cap against

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. He took part in the club's

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win in 2005.

Hartlepool United

Later, he signed for

but only stayed one season and returned on a free to Wrexham on 29 June 2006. He scored once for Hartlepool in an

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tie against Tamworth.

Return to Wrexham

On the final day of the 2006–2007 season, Wrexham needed to avoid defeat against Boston United to avoid relegation to the

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. After coming from 1–0 down, Llewellyn scored the goal which handed the Red Dragons a 2–1 lead before they eventually won 3–1 and preserved their

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

status. He was released by Wrexham in May 2008 following the club's relegation to the

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Grimsby Town

He joined

on a two-year contract in July 2008. He made his league debut in the opening game of the season, in the goalless draw with

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. He made 32 appearances in all competitions for Grimsby, 17 as substitute.

Neath

Llewellyn was released by Grimsby at the end of the 2008–09 season and joined Welsh Premier League side Neath Athletic. After scoring five times in the opening five games of the season, Neath manager Andrew Dyer praised Llewellyn's performances and described him as "''the best striker in the league''". However, he scored just four times during the rest of the season.

Llanelli

In June 2010, he left Neath by mutual consent to sign for

. Llewellyn scored in the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with ...

second leg tie against

FK Tauras Tauragė Tauragės futbolo klubas, commonly known as FK Tauras or simply Tauras, is a Lithuanian professional association football, football club based in Tauragė. The club competes in the II Lyga, the third tier of Football in Lithuania, Lithuanian foo ...

. He joined Aberystwyth Town on loan in January 2012. He left Llanelli in June 2012 after being released.

West End

In June 2012, Llewellyn was appointed player-assistant manager at

Welsh Football League The Welsh Football League (also known as the Nathaniel Car Sales Welsh Football League for sponsorship reasons) was a club football league in Wales. For its final season in 2019–20 season it operated at levels 3 and 4 of the Welsh football leag ...

side West End alongside manager Anthony Wright.

Coaching career

In December 2012, Llewellyn joined Swansea City as a full-time youth coach. In February 2014, Llewellyn became manager of Swansea City Under 21s. Llewellyn replaced Kristian O'Leary who was promoted to the role of Assistant First Team Coach. In 2015, the Under-21s won the 2014–15 Professional U21 Development League 2. In doing so, the under-21s became the first Swansea City Academy age-group to win an English national development trophy. Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Llewellyn took charge of the under-18s team alongside Eric Ramsay. On 12 August 2021 Swansea City Ladies appointed Chris Llewellyn as head coach, but he left after less than a month in charge.

International career

He gained Welsh B and under-21 honours. He later won full honours and made his Welsh debut against

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in 1998. He was recalled to the full Wales squad in May 2004 and come on a sub to win his 3rd cap against

. Llewellyn scored his first international goal for Wales against

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in November 2006 alongside his ex Norwich City strike partner

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is the current Football coach (association football), head ...

Honours

Wrexham *

: 2004–05

References

External links

*
Career information at ex-canaries.co.ukWelsh Premier profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llewellyn, Chris 1979 births Living people Footballers from Swansea Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Wales men's B international footballers Wales men's international footballers Norwich City F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Neath F.C. players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players English Football League players Cymru Premier players Aberystwyth Town F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Colchester United F.C. non-playing staff West End F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. non-playing staff