Recently in North Wales I passed the closed ground of Bangor City which has not been used since they abruptly ended their fixtures not even halfway through last season. Bangor City had an illustrious past as one of Wales most successful sides and were renowned for their European nights. But all had not been well at the club, one of the oldest in the UK and one of the founder members of the Cymru Premier (Welsh National League).

Perhaps the beginning of the end was when they moved from their atmospheric Farrar Road ground, that they had used for nearly 100 years, when it was redeveloped as an Asda supermarket and they moved into a new purpose built stadium with views up and down the Menai Straits. The new ground with its provision for 1500 seats would enable Bangor to welcome European games should they qualify as they had always had to play at other North Wales grounds in the past due to their home ground not coming up to UEFA standards.

The club, one of the oldest in the UK, was founded in 1876 and was instrumental in being founder members of many of the premier leagues in Wales as well as the Northern Premier League in England. They took part in the inaugural Welsh Cup and won it on eight times including three back to back victories in 2008/2009/2010 and won the Welsh Premier League three times.

Their new ground was not without local controversy, The Nantporth Stadium (Bangor University Stadium) was built for Bangor Council and leased to the football club for I believe 30 years. It was finally opened in December 2012 having been started in 2008. The Auditor General of Wales review of the lease in December 2020 critisised the councils governance over the lease and recommended that in future there should be proper recording of all meetings where the public and the press are not present and that they should ensure the appropriate advice is taken prior to decision making.

After falling to near the bottom of the Cymru Premier in 2016 the club was sold to a Cheshire based consortium who promised strong investments into all aspects of the club. Members of the Vaughn family were involved in running the club. In April 2018 the Football Association of Wales Club Licensing Appeals Body decided to revoke Bangor’s Tier 1 and UEFA license due to not meeting financial criteria and the club were to be relegated to the second tier the following season. HMRC in June 2018 revoked a second winding up order for non payment of tax as it was paid late but their auditors resigned in October 2018.

In 2019 the FAW charged the club with varying offences which would have resulted in points deductions but the club were eventually successful in challenging all of these. By September of 2019 the owners of the club, VSN, sold their shares to an Italian based musician Domenico Serafino whose son was a Bangor City player.

Serafino brought in Pedro Pasculli as manager whose pedigree included a World Cup medal with Argentina. The Covid restricted season, 2019/20 was based on points per game played before the cessation of the league program and Bangor finished 5th in the second tier. The 2020/21 season was totally scraped due to Covid restrictions but in April the clubs Tier 1 license was refused due to the non provision of accounts and the issue of coaching qualifications. Another new head coach was hired but non payment of player wages was the latest problem and it became known that the same issue had arisen at an Italian club owned by Domenico Serafino, A.S. Sambenedettese that had been declared bankrupt and expelled from their league. The FAW called the club to a disciplinary hearing in October 2021 to put their case and ruled that all outstanding monies should be paid within 31 days. When this deadline passed the FAW fined Bangor City and deducted 3 points for each un played game until 18th February when the club informed them that they had withdrawn from the league. At the end of February a club that was recognised as Bangor City was offered for sale for £1.25 million.

Since then there has been no further published information but the majority of supporters have now switched allegiances to a newly formed fan-led club, Bangor 1876 FC. The new club have been elected to the third tier of Welsh football after finishing fourth in their league last year.

They are playing at the Treborth Ground of the University of Bangor and as they progress maybe one day they may play at Nantporth.

Wimbledon made it back to the English Football League and a ground in Plough Lane, Clapton will soon be back at The Old Spotted Dog ground and Bury F.C. have regained Gigg Lane so anything is possible.

Lets hope that Bangor will once again be involved in European football.

Of the 36 games I watched this last season I tasted the chips at 21 of them with 15 offering no chips at all. This year there is a tie for first place on 85, Kiveton Miners Welfare and Folkestone Invicta so I needed to make a value judgement on who the overall winner was. Folkestone’s fan zone and refreshment offering is one of the best that I have seen in Non League Football but I have given first place to Kiveton Miners Welfare. Where else would I have had great chips cooked for me and brought to me in my seat in the small stand at this Central Midlands League Premier North Division ground. Great service deserves the accolade.

This is the fourth season of this league with Shirebrook Town, twice and Ilkeston Town previous winners. I am having to review whether to have the chip league next year as a recent ‘Wellman’ check has shown up a rise in bad cholesterol and I m trying to remedy this by diet. Hopefully I will be successful and can continue this year. I failed to give Shirebrook and Ilkeston the chance to regain their crowns and intend to do this early in the newly awaited season if possible.

Another highlight of the chip year was going to ‘Fields’ in Esh Winning to try their chips cooked on a coal fired range. Although they don’t look very appetising in my photo they were just like I remember as a child. Coal fired chip shops will most probably not be with us much longer.

My trip to the 125th Anniversary of the Montagu Cup this year was a highlight, so too are my memories of Villa Park which this year is also celebrating it’s 125th anniversary. I first went there in 1969 when Villa were in the Second Division and stood on the then Witton End unimaginatively later to be called The North Stand when redeveloped. I was supporting Watford who duly won two nil but what struck me most was the Holte End which was like a cathedral to football.

I did not know that some years later I would return with my son for Villa’s opening game of the season to see them draw 1-1 with Southampton and would start a 15 year period standing and sitting on the Holte and other parts of the ground, some notable away trips and Wembley more than once. But forget the players games and results it was Villa Park that was the star. The ups and downs, wins and losses that created the volume which can be amazing when all is well.

The second game was in the North Stand for a League Cup game and on buying a scarf my son was hooked and I was committed. After this game we then stood on the Holte, paying on the gate and getting in early to make sure we were behind a barrier and away from the more frantic support at the back behind the goal. What was astonishing was that children stood on ‘devices’ bought into the ground by their chaperone. There were wooden boxes, kitchen steps and milk crates and I soon found that in the old Asda car park near the ground there was a supply of milk crates that were used for each game. When I look back I can’t believe that we like many others took into the game items to stand on that could have been used as serious weapons if thrown.

We progressed to a season ticket and were there for the last game in the old Holte before it was demolished and we booed like everyone else when they asked us to sing ‘you’ll never walk alone’. We were moved to the Witton Lane Stand for the start of the next season but in the close season we went to the ground to get some souvenir bricks from the old Holte that the demolition team were happy to give us.

As soon as they could we were moved back into the Holte and sat with an unfinished roof which meant that water was pouring down on us when it rained and we paddled around. A burger van was somehow moved into the back of the building site until it waspp finished. The new Holte was soon fully adopted by the fans and still emits the best support in the land.

The club moved on and the ground was redeveloped further with the Witton Lane side completed and then on to The Trinity Road (Main Stand) which again we went to see the demolition. On our walk up the road we passed the unloved Holte Hotel which stood in disrepair. In the gutter were two tiles and on the path another from the pathway in front of the entrance. We picked them up and kept the terracotta tiles and now that the building has been refurbished you can see three tiles are newer than the others. Walking on to the demolition site we chatted to the work team and they produced some of the mosaic small tiles that had been saved from the Lion that was the focus of the stand wall. They gave us some but said that they had kept the gold ones. What vandalism that this mosaic was not saved and I have often felt that Villa have lost their way since they threw out their illustrious ancestors architectural heritage and although they are now pushing back to the top I hope that the new stand redevelopment will erase the hurt with a new name, a new lion on the exterior cladding and a nod to the stained glass windows in the new hospitality suites.

My son moved on to playing football on a Saturday which I fully realised when I had tickets for Villa against Coventry for the last game of the season when we relegated them. The tickets were in the new Trinity Road Stand which we had not sat in but there was an empty seat next to me as he chose to play rather than watch. Times have changed and we try to go to a few games each year although it has now become more difficult with Villa’s recent brilliant revival.

I have great memories like so many others that have been involved in the 125 years and wish those in the future feel that same thrill that I have.