Wildey bids farewell

Michael Wilde has announced he will leave Connah’s Quay Nomads at the end of the 2023/24 season.

Wilde was a major part of our European achievements, our back-to-back JD Cymru Premier title-winning campaigns and our domestic cup glory.

The striker has certainly cemented his status as a club legend and will forever go down as one of the JD Cymru Premier’s greatest ever players.

Altogether, Wilde has made over 240 appearances for The Nomads and has scored 101 goals during that time.

In his first spell with The Nomads, Wilde’s most infamous moment came in 2021 when his remarkable first half hat-trick sank The New Saints, which ultimately was a season-defining victory as we claimed our second league title.

Wilde left The Nomads later that year and joined fellow Flintshire side Flint Town United, where he would join up with now Nomads boss, Neil Gibson.

After Gibson returned to The Nomads for a second spell, but this team as manager, Wilde followed suit as the striker returned to Deeside in 2022 and finished as our top scorer in the JD Cymru Premier last season.

Wilde will leave The Nomads on a high note, and he can still help the club make even more history when Neil Gibson’s side face The New Saints in the JD Welsh Cup Final on Sunday 28 April.

Wilde took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to post the following message:

Second in WP, European qualification secured again, and Welsh Cup finalists ??

Thanks to @NeilGibson22 & management team, all the players over the last two seasons,since returning!

Last few games as a @the_nomads player, including Park hall & WC final ..Then onto the next
????

— Michael Wilde (@wildey10) April 8, 2024

Neil Gibson hailed the forward and admitted it has been a pleasure to manage him for the past three years:

"He is an ultimate professional", said Gibson. "He is still scoring goals and setting standards. He deserves all the plaudits that come his way.

"He will undoubtedly have success in whatever his next challenge is."

Fans can follow Wilde in his last few games in a Nomads shirt, starting with our final home game of the season against Bala Town on Friday night.

The Nomads will then face The New Saints twice in one week as we finish our league campaign at Park Hall before travelling to Rodney Parade to take on Saints in the JD Welsh Cup Final.

The Nomads and Wilde will be looking to replicate their success of 2017/18 as the club won the JD Welsh Cup for the first time with Wilde scoring twice in a 4-1 win over Aberystwyth Town.

Thank you for everything and all the best for the future, Wildey!