Bangor City F.C.


Bangor City Football Club is a Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They currently play in the Cymru North on the second level of the Welsh football league system, and host games at Nantporth.
Founded in 1876, Bangor City have been founder members of the North Wales Coast League, the Welsh National League, the North Wales Combination, the Welsh National League, the Northern Premier League, the Alliance Premier League and the League of Wales, as well as playing in the inaugural Welsh Cup. The team has won the Welsh Cup eight times and the Welsh Premier League three, as well as taking part in European competitions.
The club's home colours have traditionally been royal blue shirts, royal blue shorts and royal blue socks, although over the years home colours have varied to include royal blue and yellow and scarlet and Royal blue.

History

Pre-League of Wales era (1876–1992)

Bangor City F.C. is one of Wales' older football clubs, and has played in European football, the English pyramid system and the Cymru Premier.
Bangor was a founding member of the North Wales Coast League in 1893, the Welsh National League in 1921, the North Wales Combination in 1930, the Welsh League in 1935, the Northern Premier League in 1968, the Alliance Premier League in 1979, and in 1992 the League of Wales.
In the 1961–62 season, Bangor City won the Welsh Cup, and consequently entered in the European Cup Winners' Cup for the first time. In the first round, Bangor was drawn against the Italian Cup winners, Napoli. In the first leg, played at Farrar Road, Bangor won 2–0; three weeks later, in front of a crowd of 80,000 in Naples, the result was 3–1 in Napoli's favour. A playoff had to be played, at Arsenal's Highbury Stadium, in London and AS Napoli won 2–1.
At the end of 1977–78 when Southport was relegated from the English Football League Fourth Division, Bangor City, Boston United and Wigan Athletic were considered for promotion instead. Due to Wigan Athletic having installed crush barriers, Bangor missed out on promotion.
In 1979–80 Bangor City was invited to compete in the Alliance Premier League, which would become the English game's de facto fifth division.
On 12 May 1984 Bangor became the first Welsh club to play at Wembley since Cardiff in 1927, when reaching the FA Trophy final against Northwich Victoria. The match finished 1–1. The replay was played in Stoke's Victoria Ground and Bangor lost 2–1.
In 1985 Bangor City was back in the ECWC, in the first round drawn against the Norwegian Football Cup winners, Fredrikstad. The first leg in Norway was a 1–1 draw, while the return leg in Bangor was a 0–0 draw, resulting in Bangor progressing to the second round, where the club was drawn against the Spanish side Atlético Madrid. The first leg in Bangor was won 2–0 by Atlético. In the return leg in Madrid, Bangor lost 1–0.
The captain of Bangor that season was midfielder Mark Palios, who later became chief executive of the English Football Association during 2004–05.

Early League of Wales years (1992–2007)

In 1994 as League of Wales Champions, Bangor City entered the UEFA Cup. They were drawn against the Icelandic champions, IA Akranes. Akranes won the tie 4–1.
In 1995 Bangor City retained the League of Wales championship and this time drew the Polish champions Widzew Łódź in the preliminary round of the UEFA Cup. Łódź triumphed over Bangor City, winning 4–0 in Bangor and 1–0 in Łódź.
In 1998 Bangor were back in the Cup Winners' Cup, having won the Welsh Cup under the management of Graeme Sharp. Between winning the Welsh Cup and playing their opponents, FC Haka, the manager and most of the team had left, so new manager John King had to put together a completely new side, a week before the start of the Welsh football season. Bangor were beaten 3–0 on aggregate.
In 2006 the club made it to the Welsh Cup final where they were beaten by Rhyl 2–0 at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground.

Powell years (2007–2016)

The club won back the Welsh Cup in 2008 defeating Llanelli 4–2 after extra time at Latham Park, Newtown. Victory in the Welsh Cup meant that Bangor had again qualified for Europe and in the following seasons Uefa cup they were drawn to face FC Midtjylland of Denmark. The tie saw Bangor beaten 10–1 on aggregate.
Bangor ended the 2008–09 season with yet more silverware as they retained the Welsh Cup by defeating Aberystwyth Town 2–0 in a match held at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli.
The 2008–09 Welsh Cup success meant that Bangor participated in the inaugural Europa League competition at the start of the 2009–10 season. They were drawn to face Honka Espoo in the second qualifying round and were eliminated at the first hurdle losing 3–0 on aggregate.
Bangor made it three Welsh Cup wins in a row in 2009–10 with a 3–2 success against Port Talbot in the Welsh Cup Final, again held at Llanelli.
In the 2010–11 Europa League campaign, Bangor City were drawn against Honka Espoo. They overcame the Finnish side in the Europa League second qualifying round with a 3–2 aggregate scoreline. Bangor succumbed to Portuguese side Marítimo in the third qualifying round. Marítimo won 10–3 on aggregate.
The 2010–11 season marked a significant change in the set-up of the Welsh Premiership, with Bangor one of the 12 sides contesting the championship. They won their opening 15 games of the season, eventually winning their first league title in 16 years on the final day of the season. This was achieved by beating TNS, 1–0.
By winning their competitive league, they were involved in the 2011–12 Champions League campaign. Bangor City were against HJK Helsinki in the second qualifying round but lost 3–0 at home. In the away fixture, Bangor City were beaten 10–0 in the game and 13–0 on aggregate. Bangor finished second in 2011–12's Welsh Premiership, keeping in contention for the title until the final game of the season, a decider against TNS who won the league.
In July 2012 Bangor City forward Les Davies made the 32-man longlist for UEFA's best player in Europe award.
2012–13 began with a 0–0 home draw against Moldovan side FC Zimbru Chisnau in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League, first qualifying round. The Citizens lost the away leg 2–1 to bow out. City finishing third in the league, losing the Welsh Cup Final 3–1 after extra time to Prestatyn Town and then being defeated days later in the European playoffs by Bala Town.
Bangor finished fourth in 2013–14. The team did qualify for 2014–15 Europa League but lost 8–0 on aggregate to Icelandic side Stjarnan. It heralded a slide during which the side was in real danger of relegation for much of the season. The team stayed up in tenth position. 2015–16 was another struggle for the blues, who ended up in ninth place.
In June 2016 it was announced that a Cheshire-based consortium was to take over, promising large investment in the team, plus ground improvements.
On 25 July 2016 Neville Powell was sacked, according to a statement released by the club.

The Vaughan era (2016-2019)

In August 2016 Andy Legg was appointed manager of the club. His departure in November 2016 due to his inability to commit to a full-time contract paved the way for Ian Dawes. However, with Welsh Premiership licensing rules stating that every club's head coach/manager must have, or be in the process of attaining, the UEFA Pro Coaching Licence and in the absence of such a qualification, Dawes was gone by March 2017. Gary Taylor-Fletcher then became player-manager. The Club qualified via the playoffs for the Europa League under Fletcher’s guidance with a 1-0 win at Nantporth against Cardiff Met.
In May 2017, Kevin Nicholson was named as manager with Gary Taylor-Fletcher as assistant. Nicholson holds the UEFA Pro licence. The Club qualified automatically for the Europa League for the second successive season, finishing second under Nicholson’s guidance as well as being beaten in the semi-final of the Welsh Cup.
In 2016 a company called VSM, which became the main shirt sponsors of the club, took over the club. Although convicted criminal Stephen Vaughan Sr. was present at the launch of the new ownership, the new chairman Ivor Jenkins insisted that Vaughan – who is banned from being a company director – was not involved with running the club. Fellow criminal
and ex-professional, Stephen Vaughan Jr., was later appointed as Director of Football and a coach at the club.
On 26 April 2018 the FAW Club Licensing Appeals Body decided to revoke the club's Tier [|1] and UEFA license due to not meeting financial criteria meaning that they would automatically drop down to the second level of Welsh football the next season, despite a second-placed finish in the Welsh Premier League, and would not be able to compete for a place in the following season's Europa League.
In June 2018 Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs issued up a second winding up petition against the club. This was later dismissed as the tax owed had been paid, albeit late.
In October 2018 the club' auditors, the accountancy firm Salisbury resigned, with a public letter citing 11 points of concern in relation to how the club's owners were managing the club's financial affairs. These concerns included gaps in the clubs' accounts, missing financial documents and around a lack adequate documentation received in relation to cash shares totalling £258,000. The BBC reported that "Those concerns relate to the transfer of 25,800 shares to the company Vaughan Sports Management Ltd, a move which gave the firm significant control of the club".
In March 2019, Vaughan Jnr returned to the club as Chairman, having formerly been both Director of Football and interim Manager at the club.
In May 2019 the club were found in breach of various league and FAW regulations by the Football Association of Wales, fined and docked 42 points from their 2018–19 Cymru Alliance points total. The club had until 29 May 2019 to appeal against these findings. Should the appeal be unsuccessful the club will be relegated to Tier 3 of the Welsh league structure for the 2019–20 season. The club was also left facing a transfer embargo until 31 December 2019 and was facing a third winding up order from HMRC over further unpaid tax. The club and the FAW confirmed that an appeal had been lodged. The FAW confirmed on 5 June that the club were unable to appeal against the FAW Panel's decision to place a transfer embargo on the club as the deadline for an appeal had lapsed - and as such the club was suspended from registering any professional players with immediate effect up to and including 31 December 2019. The appeal date was set for the 18 June where the original points deduction was nullified. The FAW confirmed that at the meeting the appeal panel took the decision to adjourn the hearing until 24 June 2019, at which point the panel would be reconvened to consider the appeal submitted by the club. The appeal found the club guilty of most of the original charges and issued revised penalties including a reduced 21-point deduction, which meant the club remained in the second tier on goal difference.
In June 2019 it was reported that the club had avoided the winding up order by paying the outstanding debt in full. However on 5 August of that year Bangor were suspended from playing competitive matches pending an arbitration hearing on 16 August following allegations that they fielded an ineligible player the previous season. On 16 August 2019, Bangor City won their appeal against the FAW in Birmingham and were reinstated the 21 points that were originally deducted from them in the 2018–19 Cymru Alliance season, a campaign they finished in fourth spot.
In September 2019 the club announced that VSM had sold their shares in the football to a Italian-based consortium headed up by Argentine musician Domenico Serafino.

New start under Domenico Serafino

Italian musician and producer Domenico Serafino took over the club on 2 September 2019. His son Francesco Serafino, a Bangor player, had appealed to him to rescue the club.
Serafino brought in Argentine World Cup winner Pedro Pasculli as the new manager of the team and he was given the task of helping Bangor back into the top flight. His first win was a 2-1 victory over Rhyl in November. Pasculli had been a roommate of Diego Maradona at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Bangor used the January 2020, transfer window to bring in new players including former Barnsley FC Player Of The Year Hugo Colace.
In April 2020, Serafino made a £5,000 donation to local hospital Ysbyty Gwynedd to help it fight the outbreak of coronavirus.

Stadium

Maes-y-Dref (1876–1919)

When the club was first founded, Bangor played their home games on a small field called Maes-y-Dref in the Hirael area of the City. However, visiting teams often protested about the condition of the playing area and the cramped conditions. Despite this Bangor remained at their Maes-y-Dref ground until being evicted to make way for allotments in 1919. Residential housing now stands on the site.

Farrar Road (1919–2011)

Needing to fulfill their home fixtures in the league the club used the Bangor Cricket Club ground at Farrar Road. The Farrar Road ground served as home to the club for many years afterwards and has hosted two Welsh Senior Cup Finals, in 1928 and 1953. The ground has also hosted various other domestic finals and tournaments over the years. Bangor played their last match at Farrar Road, a 5–3 win over Prestatyn Town, on 27 December 2011 before moving to Nantporth. An Asda supermarket now stands on the site.

Nantporth (2012–)

The new stadium is away from the city centre, at the University's former Nantporth playing field near the Menai Strait. The stadium was completed in January 2012, the first game took place on 24 January, where Bangor hosted local neighbours Caernarfon Wanderers, the score ended 6–1 to the Citizens. In July 2012 Nantporth played host to Bangor City's first European game at Bangor for 14 years; 1022 people attended to watch Bangor City take on FC Zimbru of Moldova. Starting in 2012–13 the ground became known officially as "The Book People Stadium" after a three-year deal with the literary company. The new ground hosted its first competitive international on 13 August 2013 as Wales U21 lost 5–1 to Finland U21, the first U21 international held in Bangor since 1983. Nantporth has hosted various other Welsh youth and schools matches and also gone on to host more Wales U21 games. In August 2015 Bangor University announced that a new partnership had been agreed with the club, announcing the new name of the ground as Bangor University Stadium.

Colours

Kit evolution

Kit manufacturers and sponsors

Support

Supporters' Association

Formed in 2001, the Bangor City Football Club Supporters' Association is independent of the club itself but its representatives are members of the management board, giving the fans a voice in the running of Bangor City. The association has been responsible for raising almost £70,000 for the club since its inception and regularly arranges travel for fans to away matches. BCFCSA membership is open to all supporters of Bangor City.
In April 2019 the Supporters Association voted overwhelmingly to create a breakaway club in order to protect football in the city from the Vaughan's. They stated, “We want fans to reconnect with each other and restore the pride and feeling of being a supporter of our historic club. The new club is a creative and positive solution for an ever-changing and precarious situation. We are not disowning Bangor City FC or its history, the club is OURS, it belongs to the fans and local community. “Owners” will come and go but the people remain. Keep the faith.”
The new club, named Bangor 1876, were accepted into the Gwynedd League for the 2019/20 season.

Rivalries

Bangor City's main rivalries are with Caernarfon Town and Rhyl.

Biggest attendances

Bangor City has youth sides at U7, U8, U9, U10, U11, U12, U13, U14, U15, U16 and U19 level. The U19 side compete in the Welsh Premier U19 League.

Current squad

Club officials

Management board

PositionName
ManagerHugo Colace
Assistant managerPaolo Mancini
First-team CoachMatthurin Olivier Ovambe
Goalkeeper CoachPaolo Mancini
TherapistLuke Bailey

European record

SeasonCompetitionRoundOpponentHomeAwayAggregate
1962–63European Cup Winners' CupPR Napoli2–01–33–31
1985–86UEFA Cup Winners' Cup1R Fredrikstad0–01–11–1
1985–86UEFA Cup Winners' Cup2R Atlético Madrid0–20–10–3
1994–95UEFA CupPR ÍA Akranes1–20–21–4
1995–96UEFA CupPR Widzew Łódź0–40–10–5
1998–99UEFA Cup Winners' CupQR FC Haka0–20–10–3
2000–01UEFA CupQR Halmstads BK0–70–40–11
2002–03UEFA CupQR Smederevo1–00–21–2
2003UEFA Intertoto Cup1R Gloria Bistriţa0–12–52–6
2005UEFA Intertoto Cup1R Dinaburg FC1–20–21–4
2008–09UEFA Cup1Q FC Midtjylland1–60–41–10
2009–10UEFA Europa League2Q Honka Espoo0–10–20–3
2010–11UEFA Europa League2Q Honka Espoo2–11–13–2
2010–11UEFA Europa League3Q Marítimo1–22–83–10
2011–12UEFA Champions League2Q HJK Helsinki0–30–100–13
2012–13UEFA Europa League1Q Zimbru Chișinău0–01–21–2
2014–15UEFA Europa League1Q Stjarnan0–40–40–8
2017–18UEFA Europa League1Q Lyngby0–30–10–4

;Notes

League

Since the formation of the League of Wales in 1992.
SeasonLeaguePositionPldWDLGFGAGDPtsWelsh CupLeague Cup
1992–93League of Wales5th38197127758+1964Fourth roundFirst round
1993–94League of Wales1st3826578226+5683Semi-finalsRunners-up
1994–95League of Wales1st3827749626+7088Quarter-finalsQuarter-finals
1995–96League of Wales4th40216137265+769Third roundFirst round
1996–97League of Wales8th40205158262+2065Third roundRunners-up
1997–98League of Wales6th38208107254+1868WinnersRunners-up
1998–99League of Wales11th32116154449–539Third roundSemi-finals
1999–2000League of Wales9th34153165661–548WinnersRunners-up
2000–01League of Wales14th34107175684–2837Quarter-finalsFirst round
2001–02League of Wales3rd3421678338+4569Runners-upQuarter-finals
2002–03Welsh Premier League3rd3422577534+4171Quarter-finalsRunners-up
2003–04Welsh Premier League6th32166107247+2554Second roundSemi-finals
2004–05Welsh Premier League3rd3420777344+2967Fourth roundFirst round
2005–06Welsh Premier League9th34143175154–345Runners-upFirst round
2006–07Welsh Premier League9th32146125547+848Third roundFirst round
2007–08Welsh Premier League5th34151096231+3155WinnersSemi-finals
2008–09Welsh Premier League6th34167115840+1855WinnersRunners-up
2009–10Welsh Premier League5th3419697545+3063WinnersFirst round
2010–11Welsh Premier League1st3222468044+3670Runners-upSemi-finals
2011–12Welsh Premier League2nd3222377245+2769Third roundSecond round
2012–13Welsh Premier League3rd3214996553+1251Runners-upSecond round
2013–14Welsh Premier League4th32146124750–348Fourth roundFirst round
2014–15Welsh Premier League10th3298154862–1435Quarter-finalsThird round
2015–16Welsh Premier League9th32136134952–345Third roundFirst round
2016–17Welsh Premier League4th32164125355–252Quarter-finalsThird round
2017–18Welsh Premier League2nd32193104932+1760Semi-finalsSecond round
2018–19Cymru Alliance4th30163116848+2051Fourth roundFirst round

Biggest victories and losses

DatesNameNotes
1876–28Unknown-
1928–?? Sydney Beaumont-
1932–35 Len Davies-
1935–36 Harry Hadley-
1937–39 David PrattManager until the outbreak of World War II
1948–52 George Richardson-
1952–57 Roland Depear-
1957–67 T. G. Jones-
1967–70 Mick McGrath-
1970 Ken Barnes-
1970–72 John Doherty-
1972–74 Alex SmithPlayer-manager
1974–75 Dick Jones-
1975 Barry AshworthCaretaker player-manager
1975–76 Roy Rees-
1976–78 Dave Elliott-
1978–79 Stuart MasonPlayer-manager
1979–80 Stan Storton-
1980–81 Colin Hawkins-
1981–84 Dave Elliott-
1984–86 John Mahoney-
1986–?? John Aspinall-
19??–?? Kevin Mooney-
19??–89 Brian Owen-
1989–92 John Mahoney-
1992 Ernie Walley-
1992–93 Paul Rowlands-
1993–96 Nigel Adkins-
1996 Bryan Griffiths-
1996–97 Kevin Langley-
1997–98 Graeme Sharp-
1998 Johnny King-
1998–99 Lee Williams-
1999–2001 Meirion Appleton-
2001–05 Peter Davenport-
2005–06 Mel JonesCaretaker manager
2006 Clayton Blackmore-
2006–07 Steve Bleasdale-
July 2007–25 July 2016 Neville Powell-
1 August 2016–22 November 2016 Andy Legg-
24 November 2016–29 March 2017 Ian Dawes-
29 March 2017–22 May 2017 Gary Taylor-FletcherCaretaker player-manager
22 May 2017–May 2018 Kevin Nicholson-
May 2018–19 October 2018 Craig Harrison-
19 October 2018–25 November 2018 Stephen James VaughanCaretaker
27 November 2018–7 May 2019 Gary Taylor-Fletcher-
5 July 2019–5 June 2020 Pedro Pasculli-
5 June 2020–present Hugo Colace-

Notable former players