The future home of Bangor 1876 remains uncertain, should they gain promotion to the Cymru North, Tier 2 of the Welsh League system.
1876 are guaranteed to finish 2nd in the Adral League North West, and face a potential play-off game for promotion, assuming Denbigh Town win the league by avoiding defeat against bottom club Rhostyllen FC next Saturday (13 May).
A very well attended public meeting tonight at the Crosville Club was dominated by the issue of the club potentially playing at Nantporth next season.
Bangor 1876 want to play at Nantporth but the board are reported to be frustrated by the lack of progress in negotiations with the City Council, the owners of the Stadium, and their dialogue with Nantporth Community Interest Company (CIC), who currently run the stadium.
This issue has been bought into focus by a recent letter sent by the club’s main sponsor, Watkin Property Ventures, who have threatened to withdraw their generous sponsorship of the club whilst the current Nantporth CIC are in place outlining their concern at the historic “lack professional governance and financial management”.
The main text of the letter reads:
“To the Directors of Bangor 1876
We refer to our recent discussions regarding the need for Bangor 1876 to find an additional playing facility should, as expected, the club achieve promotion at the end of this playing season.
The most obvious venue, following promotion, would be to play at Nantporth but as it stands there is an incumbent tenant, CIC, that is in breach of their lease with the landlord, Bangor City Council. From public statements we have seen we understand the current debt between CIC and Bangor City Council is in excess of £60k.
Susan and I committed to offer Bangor 1876 financial support at inception of the club as we recognise the need for a football club in Bangor that supports the wider community. This was the original reported business plan of CIC, the current tenant at Nantporth, but from our understanding they have been unable to fulfil that obligation and in fact their apparent lack of professional governance and financial management is what led to the break away and the formation of Bangor 1876.
We understand that Bangor 1876 are now under pressure from the FAW to identify where they intend to play their home games next season. We understand that The Directors of Bangor 1876 have opened up a dialogue with CIC about using Nantporth for these home games, paying a fee per game to CIC and Bangor 1876 retaining the gate money. This, in an ideal situation, makes sense and keeps Bangor 1876’s overheads similar to those experienced at Treborth. Under normal circumstances we would fully support this proposal but we do not believe that these arrangements will benefit Bangor 1876 for anything but the very immediate short term.
Bangor 1876 will very quickly become indebted to CIC and in our opinion it is highly likely that The Directors of CIC will hold Bangor 1876 to ransom. In our opinion if arrangements are made between Bangor 1876 and CIC it will also make Bangor City Council’s position untenable as any action the Council may take to recover the debt and repossess Nantporth under the current lease arrangements could have consequences for Bangor 1876 and the wider community.
As we see it the most sensible solution for the wider football community in Bangor would be for CIC to agree a surrender of their lease with Bangor City Council and for Bangor City Council to agree a new lease with a new company formed to act on behalf of the community as was the original CIC business plan. The incumbent CIC Directors have had over 10 years to deliver and they have, from what we understand, consistently failed. Why will it be different this time? Why they want to continue and hold the community to ransom is very difficult to understand and it is for this reason that we regret to advise that Watkin Property Ventures are unwilling to continue our financial support of Bangor 1876 if they are involved with CIC as in our opinion it will not be for the medium or long term good of Bangor 1876 and the wider community.
We can confirm our ongoing financial commitment to Bangor 1876 Football Club and the wider mental health initiatives we are working on together provided that you do not “get back into bed” with the very people you left several years ago.
This may appear to be a hard line and I’m sure it will lead to a lot of initial disappointment from The Directors of Bangor 1876, the fans and wider community but in our opinion a stand has to be made now for the greater medium- and longer-term future of football in Bangor and the wider community.”
At the meeting it was clear that there is huge pressure to resolve this situation as soon as possible, so that preparations can be made for next season. It was suggested that fans, as concerned citizens, should put pressure on their city councillors to enter constructive dialogue with Nantporth CIC.
