BRIAN COYNE believes there is a dearth of young talent in the Welsh Premier.

The Aberystwyth boss celebrated more games at the helm in the Welsh top flight than any other manager last weekend when his Green and Blacks beat Newi Cefn Druids 1-0.

Having led both Cwmbran Town and Newtown into Europe – the latter during a 10-year stint at the club which ended in 2003 – Coyne is well placed to give his opinion on how the league is progressing.

But Coyne reckons the Welsh Premier will suffer if it doesn’t attract more quality youngsters into its ranks.

“The big thing for me is that if you look at the other teams in the league, a big percentage of them seem to have the same players they’ve had for four, five, six years – some even longer than that,” said Coyne.

“When we played Newi Cefn Druids on Sunday the two best players on the pitch were Timmy Edwards and Aneurin Thomas, who’ve both been playing for years.

“I think there’s some good young players in the league but I’m not sure they’re in any great number.

“If you look at the likes of Colin Reynolds, he’s still going strong at Caersws – guys like these have been going for 10, 12 years and I’m not sure whether the young players are coming through in the numbers that are needed to push the league on.

“There are some cracking players and I’ve got some good young players at my own club. But here at Aberystwyth we’re a wee bit out on a limb in that I don’t think there are many boys from Ceredigion going to play in England.

“It might be that a lot of young lads from the North Wales coast or from South Wales go across the border to play, I just don’t know.”

The Aberystwyth boss said the league was also still suffering from a lack of quality playing surfaces – which saw many games postponed last season – and made a plea for the FA of Wales to invest in the pitches.

“For me the other big thing where I think drastic measures need to be taken is in the standard of playing surfaces,” he said.

“I hear (league secretary) John Deakin spouting on about summer football but I don’t think the pitches will improve in the summer because there’s not many teams have got a full-time groundsman.

“The best pitch we’ve played on has been Haverfordwest – apparently they’ve got a full-time groundsman.

“But the Welsh Premier or the Welsh FA need to invest some money in the playing surfaces.

“I don’t see how they’ll improve in the summer because pitches will become dried out and rotted and they could even be dangerous for players.”

Despite his concerns, Coyne said there were grounds for optimism over the league’s future because it was still in its infancy.

“I hope the league does improve,” he added. “It’s just a slow process.

“People look at Ireland as an example but that league’s been going for 40 years.

“The Welsh Premier’s only in its 16th season now so it’s still a young league, but unless the FAW are prepared to invest in it I’m not sure it’s going to progress.”