Bangor City sack head coach Hugo Colace after 'internal investigation'

Image caption, Bangor were demoted from the Welsh top flight at the end of the 2017-18 season

Bangor City have confirmed that Hugo Colace has been sacked as head coach.

The ex-Argentina Under-20 player, 37, was appointed in June 2020 but Maturin Ovambe took charge for Bangor's Cymru North loss to Ruthin on 2 October.

Bangor faced a Football Association of Wales (FAW) disciplinary hearing this week over unpaid wages.

"Bangor City has decided to terminate the contract of head coach Hugo Colace following an internal investigation," read a club statement.

"The conduct of Mr Colace has fallen below the standards that the club would have expected by failing to put the club first and his activities with third parties that have been uncovered.

"This comes along with the performances of the team that have not reached the standards required and a worrying disciplinary record."

Bangor's FAW disciplinary hearing over players' and team officials' wages not being paid took place on Monday, 25 October. The verdict is currently being ratified and the decision is expected to be released on Friday, 29 October.

Over past weeks, an image has circulated on social media showing the club's players and Colace together, holding a banner which says: "Even without wages our integrity is not broken."

A previous Bangor statement quoted club president Domenico Serafino, who pointed to financial difficulties being caused by the cessation of football during the coronavirus pandemic, a former business partner withdrawing financial support, and a wage bill "more akin to teams in the Welsh top flight (Cymru Premier)".

"With some payments outstanding, players and coaching staff have instead chosen to take legal action to recover every single penny from a season when they didn't play football," Serafino said.

"The club has at the same time had to face historic debts from previous ownership that has so far cost several hundred thousand pounds.

"Most of these debts were hidden and so not identifiable immediately on takeover."

The three-time Welsh champions were demoted from the Cymru Premier - then called the Welsh Premier League - at the end of the 2017-18 season after being refused a domestic licence.

The Citizens were only spared relegation to Welsh football's third tier the following season after a 42-point deduction for alleged breaches of FAW rules was halved on appeal.

That season also saw the club stave off a High Court winding up order for the third time in 12 months.

In September 2019, Italian Serafino was appointed Bangor City FC's sole director.

A recent Newyddion S4C investigation found the club also had five county court judgements outstanding against them, totalling 拢26,127, although three of these relate to matters before Serafino took over.

Bangor have four wins and three draws from 12 league matches so far this season and sit ninth in the Cymru North table.