MANAGER Frank Sinclair has now pencilled in 14 of his 17 or 18 man squad for next season, with three new faces so far and 11 of last season's squad agreeing to sign on again.
They are Chris Sanna, Danny Taylor, Danny Meadowcroft, Tom Smyth, Mike Lea, Gaz Evans, John McKenna, Jamie Crowther, Rob Hopley, Paul Ellis and James Ellison.
The notable absentee is Shelton Payne who won the Conference North Player of the Month award for April after playing a big part in Colwyn Bay's great end of season run, but has decided to move on.
"I offered Shelts a new contract, but I am not surprised that a number of clubs are showing interest in him and he has decided the time is right to move on," said Frank.
"I am disappointed because I would have liked more time to work with him and believe I could have made him into an even better player, but he haxs decided against that and I wish him good luck.
"I brought him backto do a job for us over those last couple of months of the season, which he did with his goals and assists and I thank him for that.
"We will replace him with another quality player if we can, but we also have Paul Ellis who will be working hard in pre-season and will be like a new signing for us."
Frank has also agreed terms with three new players so far, who include Rhyl-based striker Luke Wandless and young goalkeeper Josh Ollerenshaw, both of whom have just been released by Oldham Athletic.
The 22-year-old Ollerenshaw, who had a spell on loan at Altrincham, progressed through Oldham Athletic's centre of excellence and youth set-up. He appeared for the Latics' reserves and has been on the first-team bench on a number of occasions.
Wandless, 18, is a former Wales youth international and was a member of Oldham's youth team last season.
He was also a promising athlete when he was at Rhyl High school and won a bronze medal in the triple jump at the 2010 Welsh Schools Athletic championships at Brecon.
"Josh is a young keeper who I believe will provide strong competition for Chris Sanna, while Luke Wandless is an ambitious young player who I have seen play a couple of times and has a lot of ability. He will provide good back up for Rob Hopley and Jamie Ellison," said the manager.
Frank has also reached agreement to sign 24-year-old Conwy Borough winger/striker Steve Connor, who started his career at Everton, where he won four Under-17 international caps for England and had a spell on loan to Partick Thistle. Since being released by the Goodison Park club he has had spells in the Welsh Premier with The New Saints, Bangor City and Airbus, and was a key player for Conwy last season, helping them win the Cymru Alliance League Cup.
Promising defender Anthony Miley, however, is going to stay with the Conwy club for another season to gain experience.
"He needs to develop a bit more and it is going to be more beneficial for him to get regular football with Conwy next season rather than come here and only be third or fourth choice," said Sinclair.
The manager is now looking to add three quality signings to the squad if he can before pre-season training starts at the end of June.
Franks says he will also register himself as a player again as defensive cover but adds: "My hope is that I will not be needed and the team will be strong enough without me."

GOOD news that the FA have agreed to Bishop's Stortford's request to be swtitched to the Conference South next season, which gets rid of Colwyn Bay's longest trip of the season. This is subject to expected agreement at the Conference AGM.
Coming into the Conference North next season are Stockport County, Telford (Shropshire), Barrow (Cumbria), North Ferriby (East Yorkshire), Hednesford (Staffordshire) and Leamington (Warwickshire).

Teams proposed for the Conference North are:
AFC Telford United
Altrincham
Barrow
Boston United
Brackley Town
Bradford Park Avenue
Colwyn Bay
Gainsborough Trinity
Gloucester City
Guiseley
Hednesford Town
Leamington
Harrogate Town
Histon
North Ferriby United
Oxford City
Solihull Moors
Stalybridge Celtic
Stockport County
Vauxhall Motors
Worcester City
Workington

COLWYN BAY will play FA Trophy winners Wrexham in a pre-season friendly at Llanelian Road's Red Lion Foods Stadium on Tuesday July 23rd (7.30pm kick off).
Wrexham, who beat Grimbsy in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in the FA Trophy final at Wembley in March, have listed this as a first team game so their manager Andy Morrell is expected to bring a strong side along with some decent support.

COLWYN BAY achieved a double award for their brilliant end of season run today when Frank Sinclair was named Conference North Player of the Month for April and Shelton Payne got the Player of the Month.
The Bay won their last six games in the space of 15 days to secure their place in the league for next season and Payne, who was signed by Frank from Trafford at the end of February, scored four goals in that spell, as well as a couple of assists, to finish the season as the team's second top scorer with seven.
The manager commented: "It is great recognition for the club at what we achieved over the last month of the season and I am really chuffed, but I see this as an award for everybody connected to the club - all the players, the board and the fans all played a huge part in those last six games.
"Its great for Shelts to get his award. I brought him back to the club because of his goals and his assists and that paid off with the success we had over that last month."
Completing the Welsh success, Newport County's Justin Edinburgh won the Conference Premier Manager of the Month award after his side's promotion back into the Football League.

COLWYN BAY season tickets for next season in the Conference North are now on sale at the club office at Llanelian Road, and will include a number of benefits.
Prices are £200 for adults (£30 cheaper than last season), and £105 for concessions, while the club is offering FREE season tickets to Under 16s.
Season tickets will be valid for all pre-season friendly games as well as all home league games.
Holders will receive priority on all-ticket high profile matches and will receive 10per cent discount on club shop purchases over £10.
FA Cup and FA Trophy games are not included, but season ticket holders will have priority if tickets are issued for those games (ie: Stockport County and Telford).
Payment can be made in person at the Colwyn Bay FC office (open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm) or by post to Colwyn Bay FC, Llanelian Road, Old Colwyn, Conwy LL29 8UN (cheques payable to Colwyn Bay Football Club).
The club have also reduced the match day entrance fee for adults next season by £1 to £10. Concessions will be £6 and children Under 16 £3.

CHELSEA have confirmed Saturday July 27th as the date for their pre-season game at Colwyn Bay (3pm kick off).
Seagulls player-boss Frank Sinclair, who has agreed to a new one year contract with the Seagulls, said his former club will be bringing a team mainly of Under-21 players who are on the fringe of the first team squad, and some who have already had first team experience.
"Chelsea have some very good young players coming through and this will be a good test for us and for them as a lot of them usually only play against lads of their own age," he said.
The manager has a number of other pre-season friendlies lined-up but has nothing else confirmed as yet.
He expects to start pre-season training around five weeks before the Chelsea game and added: "We are going to have a lot of new faces and I will need a few weeks to get over my ideas on how I want to us play.
"I have already been speaking to players, including members of the current squad, and will have a better idea of how the new squad will shape up after I've had a meeting with the board next week."

THE club are looking for volunteers to man a stall at the Colwyn Bay Prom Xtra (May 18 and 19) and help with a children's penalty shoot out competition. Anyone willing to give up a couple of hours can email Matt Sampson at the club on matt@colwynbayfc.co.uk or ring him on 01492 514680.

FRANK SINCLAIR said it all as he reflected on Colwyn Bay's sixth win in six games today to secure Conference North survival - "We have achieved the unachievable."
John McKenna's glancing header on 32 minutes from Shelton Payne's corner, saw the Seagulls bring down the curtain on a roller coaster season with a 1-0 win over Gloucester City and complete an extraordinary run-in with six wins in 15 days.
Payne went close to adding a second goal and the visitors were lucky when a Sinclair free kick deflected onto a post and out for a corner off a defender.
Gloucester finished the game strongly and Danny Andrew saw a free kick rebound off the crossbar, but with Sinclair again outstanding at the back, the Bay held on for the victory.
In the end they finish five points clear of the relegation positions, with Corby Town the unlucky side to finish in the bottom three along side Droylsden and Hinckley.
The team were short of their best on a nervy last day, but they got the job done and deserved all the plaudits and celebrations afterwards.
"I am really proud of what we've achieved," said Sinclair. "I took on a monster job but I knew we had enough ability in the dressing room to get ourselves out of trouble and the players have been unbelievable.
"I have had fantastic help from Gus (assistant manager Gus Williams) and Dan Nolan (physio) and I have to give great credit to the board of directors who have bent over backwards to help me. We couldn't have done it without the effort they and everybody else involved has put in."
Today was probably Sinclair's last game as a player, after a career which has seen him collect Wembley winners medals with Chelsea and Leicester City, and he added: "I couldn't have ended on a happier day.
"It is an emotional day for me, I've had a great career but the feeling of pride I have inside over what we've done here in the last few weeks is up there with all the achievements I had with Chelsea.
"Now we are looking to build on this next season - and I certainly hope I don't have to put my boots on again. I am 42 this year and management is now the next stage for me.
"I am having to start from scratch again, but football is in my veins and it is what I live for ever since I was a 16-year-old starting out at Chelsea.
"I want to manage in the Premiership one day, but I am going nowhere yet. I want to learn my trade here and hopefully help bring some money into the football club so we can improve the team and the stadium and get more people wanting to come and watch and follow Colwyn Bay.
"I've got some hard work to do in the summer, but I have already started making calls and seeing whose available and have an idea of who I want to bring in.
"By keeping the backbone of the current squad and introducing some new players I want to be challenging for the play-offs and a place in Conference Premier if we can next season. That may sound ambitious, but I am an ambitious person."
Sinclair, of course, has ben hugely influential on the field in the last six games and he knows that is something he has to try and replace.
"I've got a couple of ideas about players who I think can come in and do the job that I've been doing and be leaders on the field, but we've got to have quality as well. That won't be easy to do, but I'll be doing by damnedest to try."
He has already had agreement from Chelsea to send an under-21 team up for a pre-season friendly and said: "I'm working on trying to get other good football clubs here so we can have some attractive games that will bring in the crowds."
Colwyn Bay: Sanna, Smyth, Lea, Meadowcroft, Sinclair, McKenna, Evans (Lampkin 90 mins), Payne, Crowther, Ellison (Ennis 81mins), Joyce. Subs: Taylor, McLachlan, Moore.
Attendance: 633.
In the end of season presentations, Rob Hopley won both the Manager's Player of the Season award and top goalscoring trophy, while Chris Sanna was the Supporters' Player of the Season and Tom Smyth. who came back from mid-season knee surgery to pla a huge part in the fnal run-in, took the Directors' Special award.
Sanna had another exceptionally consistent season and was brilliant in the last six games despite suffering with a groin injury.
Every member of the squad also received a bottle of champagne.
Chairman Bob Paton praised Frank Sinclair's efforts and backed him to make progress with the side next season.
"I always believed we would get out of trouble, even after the Droylsden game when others had given up the ghost. Frank always believed as well - and he is going nowehere. We will finish the season debt free and my only hope is that the gate we had today (633) can be repeated a lot more often next season so we can really progress as a club."

COLWYN BAY player-boss Frank Sinclair says he wants Saturday to be a day of celebration as the Seagulls' survival battle goes down to the last game of the season at home to Gloucester City (3pm kick).
They need only a point to be sure of safety after their amazing run of five wins in 10 days - but it is going to be a tense afternoon as they look to finally get over the line.
In many ways Saturday is every bit as big as the play-off victory against FC United of Manchester two years ago, as staying in the Conference North could be worth as much as £40,000 in additional funding.
Histon's 1-1 draw at Solihull Moors on Tuesday night means the Cambridge side have moved out of the bottom three above Corby Town on goal difference and both sides are three points behind Colwyn Bay going into the final day.
If either Histon (away to Bradford Park Avenue) or Corby (at home to Gainsborough) fail to win on Saturday then Colwyn Bay are safe whatever happens against Gloucester - but after five wins in 10 days to set up the Great Escape, the players will be eager to finish the season on a high with a sixth straight win.
Top scorer Rob Hopley is missing through suspension but Sinclair reports everybody else should be available for selection.
"We had a very light recovery training session on Thursday night and everyone is okay, but I am going to have another night to think about how we set up before I decide on the team," said Sinclair.
"But all the lads are up for it. We have worked so hard to get ourselves in the position we are in and it is so important now we finish the job off against Gloucester and secure our place in the league next season."
The players have done the club and the town proud in the last couple of weeks and deserve as many people as possible to come and join the party, with a lot of the fans of both sides coming in fancy dress, and help cheer the team to victory.
But this also a big game for Gloucester City manager Dave Mehew as it will be his 250th in charge of the Tigers - becoming only the fifth manager in the club's history to reach that milestone.
He is very keen to celebrate the occasion with a victory that should secure a top 10 finish for his side, who have already reached their highest points total in the Conference North.
Their injury ravaged squad, however, go into the game on the back of four straight defeats and of the 10 first team squad players currently out through injury, only defensive midfielder Jack Harris is reported to have a fighting chance of playing.
That means 45-year-old Mehew will again have to call on youth team graduates like midfielders Sam Turl and Keiran Tracey, as well as himself, to make up the numbers.
"Its been a difficult end of season with all the injuries," he said this week. "At the moment we're in relegation form and Colwyn Bay is our last chance to improve that. Our aim is to finish in the top 10 and if we win at Colwyn Bay we will do that."
Sinclair and his players will surely have the bit between their teeth to make sure that doesn't happen!
The game will be followed by Colwyn Bay's end of season presentations in the clubhouse at 5.30pm.
Colwyn Bay: (from) Sanna, Smyth, Lea, Sinclair, Meadowcroft, Crowther, McKenna, Payne, Ellison, Evans, Joyce, Byrne, Ennis, Taylor, Davey. Lampkin, Moore.

COLWYN BAY have today withdrawn from the North Wales Coast FA Challenge Cup and will NOT now play Prestatyn in the semi-final scheduled for tomorrow night.
The club felt playing a sixth game in 12 days was asking too much of their small squad and with a number of players carrying knocks, they need time to recover before Saturday's very important final league game at home to Gloucester City.
A club statement released today read: "A decision was taken last night after the game at Bradford Park Avenue that in the interest of the team management and players, that playing 6 games in 12 days was asking too much from our small squad of players, therefore we should withdraw from the NWCFA Challenge Cup competition with immediate effect.
"This gives the Management and Team a few extra days to rest and prepare for Saturday's very important final Blue Square Conference North game."

Histon's 1-1 draw at Solihull tonight showed the club made the sensible decision to pull out of the Coast Cup. It is crucial now for Colwyn Bay to get at least a point against Goucester to secure their Conference North status.

TWO second half goals made it five wins in 10 days for Colwyn Bay as they won 2-1 at Bradford Park Avenue to make Conference North safety almost certain.
If Histon lose at Solihull on Tuesday, then the Seagulls can definitely celebrate what has been the most amazing great escape, but even if they avoid defeat, it would need a couple of freak results next Saturday to deny Colwyn Bay their place in the division next season.
Two weeks ago after the Droylsden defeat they looked dead and buried, but the situation has been rescued by a fantastic run of results.
Neither keeper was extended in a goalless first half at Bradford, although it needed two headed clearances off the line by John McKenna to prevent the home side taking the lead from a corner.
Shelton Payne tried two or three runs down the left, but got little joy against Bradford right back Michael Duckworth, although he did bring home keeper John Lamb to his knees with driven free kick into the goalmouth.
The only other half chance for Colwyn Bay came from their only corner of the half, but Rob Hopley's header was a long way off target.
The deadlock, however, was broken eight minutes into the second as Colwyn Bay took the lead.
Mike Lea's long ball beat the Bradford defence and Rob Hopley ran onto it to cleverly clip it over keeper John Lamb into the far corner of the net.
A storming run by Payne then opened up another great chance, but he fired over the bar with Hopley free to his right.
From the goalkick Bradford were unlucky not to equalise when Paul Walker's shot hit the inside of Chris Sanna's right hand post and bounced across the face of the goal before being cleared.
But Colwyn Bay made the most of that escape by scoring a second goal on 67 minutes.
Bradford failed to deal with a long throw and when the ball fell to Payne, he drove a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Bradford pulled a goal back on 78 minutes through Ross Dally when the visitors failed to clear a cross from the left, but Colwyn Bay defended solidly in the closing minutes to secure the points.
Colwyn Bay: Sanna, Smyth (Taylor 68mins), Lea, Sinclair, Meadowcroft, Crowther, McKenna, Payne (Evcans 70mins), Hopley, Ellison, Joyce (Ennis 72mins),. Subs not used: McLachlan and Moore.
Player-boss Frank Sinclair again praised the team for capping what has been an unbelievable run-in to the season.
"To a man the boys have superb," he said. "The workrate they have put over the last five games has been different class. We have deserved the wins by our workrate and the goals we have scored."
Sinclair, himself, has made an enormous difference to the defence since his return from suspension.
"We've been organised at the back," he agreed "The performance of the back four and the four in front of us have been really important, and it has allowed the likes of Shelton Payne, Rob Hopley and Jay Ellison to express themselves at the other end of the pitch and they have done that.
"Now I want Saturday (against Gloucester in the final game) to be a big celebration.
"Its been a hard job considering we were seven points adrift of safety when I took over, but we have worked hard to change the mentality of the players and turn them into winners again by pumping confidence and determination into them - and they have responded magnificently."
Can I just make it clear that reports that Jamie Crowther was sent off after 28 minutes for dissent are totally wrong. I don't know where that came from and Jamie is naturally fuming about it. He was booked for a foul tackle, but most certainly was NOT sent off.