PICTURE BY BANGOR CITY FC
IT’S NO SECRET to anyone that things have not been right for quite some time at Bangor City Football Club. And that trend of controversy continued this week with the news that the club has been summoned to a hearing over unpaid wages.
According to a Newyddion S4C investigation, unpaid debts have been discovered and both players and team officials have not been paid what they are owed.
As such, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) hearing is scheduled to take place on October 25.
The club’s director Domenico Serafino said the side had been “open and in close contact with the FAW” about the matter.
Colace moving on?
At last weekend’s game against Ruthin Town, which Bangor lost 2-1, manager Hugo Colace (below) was not present, with Methurin “Matt” Ovambe taking his place.
And with City boss Hugo Colace pictured at Fleetwood Town earlier this week, rumours are rife he will be leaving Bangor City for pastures new real soon.
As such, Ovambe (below) is now believed to be the new head coach of the club (it says that in his Twitter bio).
The Cameroonian has had quite the coaching career to date, working in Rotherham, Derby County, Italy, Rwanda and Brazil!
His first spell at Nantporth was in 2019/2020 as assistant to Argentine World Cup winner Pedro Pasculli. After Pasculli had to leave due to the Covid19 pandemic, Ovambe also moved on.
Deja Vu for Serafino and for City …
Over past weeks, an image has circulated on social media sites showing the club’s players and Hugo Colace together, holding a banner which says: “Even without wages our integrity is not broken”. A sad state of affairs indeed.
Newyddion S4C’s investigation also revealed that a club in Italy, also owned by Mr Serafino at the time, had folded at the end of last season after players and staff were not paid their wages.
The club also had five county court judgements outstanding against them, totalling £26,127, although three of these relate to matters before Mr Serafino took over.
He has blamed the pandemic and previous owners for inheriting “a very complicated situation”.
Of course, the troubles really began for the Citizens when the Vaughans, Stephen Sr and Jr, took control in 2016.
What was even more stunning was the fact that, after many a controversy in the past, Vaughan Sr. was supposedly banned from becoming a director of a football club.
A simple Google search of Vaughan’s history of being chairman at other football clubs in the English pyramid system would have sparked concern for anyone. During his time at Chester and Barrow, he was caught up in criminal investigations and financial troubles began to show as both clubs began to flounder and fail.
And the same could be said of their disastrous time in charge of clubs over in Malta too.
To add to the misery, Companies House has shown that Bangor City’s accounts are currently overdue.
Responding to the disciplinary hearing and financial situation, Mr Serafino stressed the impact of the pandemic, saying the club had continued to pay players throughout, although many clubs did not choose to do so.
He added: “Without breaching confidentiality, we are talking figures of £2,500 – £3000 a month for some professionals.”
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