Bangor City F.C.

Football club infobox | clubname = Bangor City


fullname = Clwb Pêl Droed Dinas Bangor Bangor City Football Club
nickname = The Citizens
founded = 1876 (as Bangor F.C.)
ground = Farrar Road Bangor Gwynedd
capacity = 1,500 (700 seated)
chairman = flagicon|Wales Craig Halpin / Ken Jones
manager = flagicon|England Neville Powell
league = Welsh Premier League
season = 2007–08
position = Welsh Premier League, 5th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=0000FF|body1=0000FF|rightarm1=0000FF|shorts1=0000FF|socks1=0000FF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFCC00|body2=FFCC00|rightarm2=FFCC00|shorts2=FFCC00|socks2=FFCC00

Bangor City F.C. is a football team, playing in the Welsh Premier League.

The club was founded in 1876 as Bangor, and took its present name in 1923, and plays at the Farrar Road Stadium, Bangor, where their ground accommodates 1,500 spectators (700 seated). [ [http://www.bangorcityfc.com/index.php?p=e333d95c.0.2.1 Bangor City Football Club - Clwb Peldroed Dinas Bangor ] ]

The teams' first choice strip is Royal blue shirts, Royal blue shorts and Royal blue socks. The second choice strip is Light yellow shirts, shorts and socks, all with a Royal blue trim.

History

Bangor City F.C. is one of Wales' older football clubs, and has an illustrious history of competition in Europe. They were founder members of the North Wales Coast League in 1893, the Welsh National League in 1921, the North Wales Combination in 1930, the Welsh League (North) in 1935, the Northern Premier League in 1968, the Alliance Premier League (now Football Conference) in 1979, and in 1992 the League of Wales.

In the 1961/62 season, Bangor City won the Welsh Cup, and consequently were entered in the European Cup Winners' Cup for the first time. In the first round, Bangor were drawn against the Italian Cup winners, Napoli, at the time one of Europe's greatest football teams. A thrashing was confidently expected. In the first leg, played at Farrar Road, unexpectedly 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. Under modern rules, Bangor would have progressed under the "away goals" rule, but at the time the tie was drawn 3-3 and a playoff had to be played, at Arsenal F.C.'s Highbury Stadium, in London (this was the first ECWC tie played at Highbury), and this time AS Napoli won 2-1, scoring the winner seven minutes from the end of the match, to put an end to Bangor's dreams for the moment.

On 12th May, 1984 Bangor became the first Welsh club to play at Wembley since Cardiff in 1927, when they reached the FA Trophy final against Northwich Victoria. The match finished 1-1, with local boy Paul Whelan scoring for Bangor. The replay was played in Stoke's Victoria Ground, and despite a goal from another Bangor lad (Phil Lunn), Bangor lost 2-1 in the last minute.

In 1985 Bangor City were back in the ECWC, in the first round drawn against the Norwegian 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 they were drawn against the mighty Spanish side Atlético Madrid. Atlético were expected to win easily, but in the event the first leg in Bangor was only won 2-0; in the return leg in Madrid, Bangor won much admiration with a dogged defence which only allowed Atlético one more goal, and Bangor saved an Atlético penalty kick.

In 1994 as League of Wales Champions, Bangor City entered the UEFA Cup. They were drawn against the Icelandic champions, IA Akranes, and were seriously hampered by UEFA's ruling that a team could only contain three foreigners - many of Bangor's team were English, and despite some creative genealogy it was not possible to field a full-strength Welsh side. Akranes won the leg in Bangor by 2-1 (the match was played in the close season when Bangor hadn't played a competitive match in three months), while Bangor lost the match in Iceland by 2-0.

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. Lodz were an extremely powerful side, having beaten Liverpool F.C., Juventus F.C. and Manchester United F.C. in earlier campaigns, and quite simply outclassed Bangor City, winning 4-0 in Bangor and 1-0 in Lodz.

In 1998 Bangor were back in the Cup Winners' Cup, and were drawn against the Finnish side FC Haka. Unfortunately between winning the Welsh Cup and playing Haka, the manager and most of the team had left, so new manager John Hulse had the impossible task of putting together a completely new side, a week before the start of the Welsh football season (and three-quarters of the way through the Finnish football season). Unsurprisingly Bangor were well beaten, 2-0 at home, and 1-0 in Finland.

In 2005, the club was also duped into thinking they had signed the next Italian football legend, Alessandro Zarelli, who turned out to be a conman. [cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/4326350.stm?SectionID=1014&ArticleID=1595920 |title=Alert over Italian soccer 'star' |publisher=BBC News |date=2005-10-10 |accessdate=2008-04-09] [cite news |url=http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/sport/Sarreli-turns-out-to-be.1595920.jp |title=Sarreli turns out to be Italian conman |publisher=Fife Today |date=2006-06-29 |accessdate=2008-04-09]

Home

Bangor City have played at Farrar Road since 1920, and the 2008/09 season will be their last at that ground. A new stadium at Nantporth on the outskirts of the City is in the process of being built. It will initially have 800 seats.

Honours

League of Wales Champions (2):1993-94, 1994-95

Welsh Cup Winners (6):1888-89, 1895-96, 1961-62, 1997-98, 1999-2000, 2007-2008

League of Wales Cup runners-up:1993-94, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1999-00, 2002-03

FA Trophy runner-up:1983-1984

Northern Premier League Champions:1981-82

Northern Premier League Cup Winners:1968-69

North Wales Coast League champions:1895-96, 1899-1900, 1903-04, 1904-05, 1905-06, 1907-08, 1918-19

N.Wales Coast Challenge Cup winners:1926-27, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1937-38, 1946-47, 1951-52, 1957-58, 1964-65, 1967-68, 1992-93, 1998-99, 2004-05

European Cup Winners’ Cup entrants:1962-63, 1985-86, 1998-99

UEFA Cup entrants:1994-95, 1995-96, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2008-09

Intertoto Cup entrants:2003, 2005

European record

*European Cup Winners Cup:

1962-63 - 1st Round

Playoff: flagicon|Wales Bangor City 1 - 2 Napoli flagicon|Italy @ Highbury, London

1985-86 - 1st Round

2nd Round

1998-99 - Qualifying Round

*UEFA Cup:

1994-95 - Preliminary Round

1995-96 - Preliminary Round

2000-01 - Qualifying Round

2002-03 - Qualifying Round

2008-09 - 1st Qualifying Round

*Intertoto Cup:

2003 - 1st Round

2005 - 1st Round

Biggest victories and losses

*Biggest win: Not recorded
*Biggest defeat: 0-12 v. Everton Reserves in the 1930s.
*Biggest League of Wales win: 9-0 v. Haverfordwest County in 1994.
*Biggest League of Wales defeat: 0-6 v. Holywell Town in 1992; 0-6 v. Cwmbran Town in 2000

Current squad

Notable former players

*flagicon|Wales Clayton Blackmore
*flagicon|Ireland Peter Corr
*flagicon|Wales Marc Lloyd-Williams
*flagicon|Wales Steve O'Shaughnessy
*flagicon|England Lee Martin
*flagicon|England Mark Palios
*flagicon|England Ray Stubbs
*flagicon|IRL Eamon O'Keefe
*flagicon|Wales Neville Southall
*flagicon|Wales Dai Davies
*flagicon|Northern Ireland John McClelland

References

External links

* [http://www.bangorcityfc.com Bangor City home page]
* [http://homepages.tesco.net/~BCSA/Titles/Maintitle.htm The Independent Bangor City Football Club Historical Website]
* [http://www.the-citizens-choice.co.uk The Citizens Choice]