“They’ve got a brilliant membership group – they had the offer, read the offer and they chose to stay in the English system and good luck to them.
“They would certainly have enhanced our Cymru Premier.
“It was a unique opportunity because we go to 16 teams for 2026-27 and it was a one-off opportunity to make that offer to Merthyr Town.
“I was absolutely thrilled that the FAW could make that offer to Merthyr Town and fully respect their view that playing in the English system is better for them.”
The FAW had offered Merthyr a deal said to be worth up to £6m to join an expanded Welsh top-flight in 2026 and Mooney insisted there was also financial support available for clubs in the Cymru Leagues.
“We haven’t spoken about the offer at all so where the numbers come from that are out there are a different story,” Mooney said.
“We were very comfortable with our offer.
“We’ve got a huge plan for the Cymru Premier and we’ve already said we’re putting £6m into the league itself but that money’s always available.
“There’s millions and millions of pounds available over the next few years for clubs who want to improve their facilities.
“We’ve got loads of talks going on with Cymru Premier clubs across the country of really ambitious projects that are similar to the types of things we were talking about Merthyr.
“We’re really ambitious for Welsh football.”
