大象传媒

Bangor City face expulsion from Cymru North if fines are not paid

  • Published
Bangor City's Nantporth Stadium
Image caption,

Bangor City moved to their Nantporth Stadium from Farrar Road in 2012

Three-time Welsh champions Bangor City have been given seven days to pay outstanding fines or face expulsion from the Cymru North league.

Bangor are suspended from "all football-related activity" for failure to pay wages owed to players and staff.

As a result the club has not been able to fulfil five fixtures and has incurred fines.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) has given the Citizens until 19 February to pay or face expulsion.

The club have also been warned that even if the fines are paid, any future non-fulfilment of fixtures this season "would result in immediate expulsion".

The FAW confirmed in January that Bangor had not applied for a Tier Two or Tier Three licence for the 2022-23 season amid continued uncertainty over its future.

Bangor was banned in November 2021 after failing to pay nearly 拢53,000 in wages owed to players and staff, including former manager Hugo Colace.

An FAW disciplinary panel ruled that "all outstanding monies" had to be paid within 31 days from 29 October.

It failed to meet that deadline, sparking the suspension and the FAW confirmed the ban would remain in place until the club complied with the ruling.

It has been a difficult few years for the eight-time Welsh Cup winners.

Bangor 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.

They 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.

Bangor City FC Supporters Association (BCFCSA) voted in favour of forming a new club as an "insurance policy" in May 2019.

Fans were concerned with how the club was being run by the previous owners and Bangor 1876 were formed and now play in the fourth tier North Wales Coast West Premier Division.

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

A Newyddion S4C investigation in October 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.

The investigation also revealed that a club in Italy, also owned by Mr Serafino at the time, had folded at the end of the 2020-21 season after players and staff were not paid their wages.