Young Duo Sign Professional Contracts

Connah’s Quay Nomads are delighted to confirm that the young duo of Joe Bennett and James Hughes have both signed their first professional contracts with the club.

Both Joe and James were key parts of The Nomads’ U19 side which made it to the U19 National Academi Playoff Final back in May having won the Northern Development League earlier in the month.

The pair have both made their competitive debuts for the First Team in the last 18 months alongside a number of other Academy graduates and First Team Manager John Disney was full of praise for the pair; “We are delighted to offer another two of our successful Scholarship group professional contracts with the club.

James is someone who has been at the club all the way through the age groups and someone with a family that has a real affinity with the club - his art of scoring goals is something that very few possess.

I am really looking forward to seeing James develop and with a number of clubs looking to take him on loan right away, learning his trade in the Cymru Premier at Airbus is something that we are excited for and we feel this will be a great learning experience for him.”

Disney continued; “Joe is a wonderful defender and was the Captain of the scholarship group last year demontstrating real leadership qualities and growing into the role as the year went on.

Joe has been successful each time he has represented the first team and again had a number of clubs looking to take him on loan but we feel Gresford will give Joe the game time required to learn and develop and look to come back to the first team as a more experienced player with first team minutes under his belt.

We wish them both massive good luck and they are both joining two good clubs with Managers who know them and will give them opportunities to develop away from the club with always the aim to come back and be apart of the first team here at Connah’s Quay Nomads.”

As mentioned in John Disney’s comments, Bennett will be joining Gresford Athletic under the tutelage of Anthony Weaver who combines the role of Gresford Manager alongside being Head Coach of our U19 side whilst Hughes will be joining local neighbours Airbus for the next six months on loan.

Everyone at the club wishes the pair the best in their learning experiences at the clubs ahead of the new campaign.

Date Published: Thursday, 30th July, 2026 - 10:00am by Nik Mesney