In the first half of a two part interview, club secretary Dafydd Hughes talks about the founding of our club and being part of the board. Part two will be online soon...

What was it that made you decide to be part of Bangor 1876?
The truth is that there was no Bangor 1876 when I first approached, and subsequently met, Andrew Howard of the FAW in January 2019 as a (then) director of Nantporth CIC on the basis of my concern at the hurdles being placed in the way of the 3G pitch being used by the community.

This coincided with a more general dissatisfaction amongst football supporters in the area which resulted in their representative body, the Supporters’ Association (SA), canvassing opinion as to the support for formalising its legal status and, eventually, the formation of a new football club.

During this period I undertook a lot of research into supporter ownership and the issues involved in taking over an existing club as opposed to establishing a new club. Given the circumstances, and the manner in which the situation developed last Spring, there was no real possibility of taking over the existing club, thus the only way in which a sustainable, transparent, and competitive community focused club could represent the city and its hinterland was to start anew.

What was it like being involved in the formation of the club last year?
The meetings which were arranged for supporters to discuss the merits of establishing a new club, and how any club might be organised and legally structured, were daunting as I was unsure as to the manner in which the steps which were being taken would be treated by fellow supporters.

Social media played its part and there was a lot of debate on various forums and via Facebook and Twitter. Einion Williams, who was the chairman of the almost dormant SA at the time, did a good job of steering the meetings and the time spent researching and preparing presentations, as well as the past experience of facing inquiries and public meetings, paid dividends as support grew.

The final meeting in the Penrhyn Hall at which Andy Walsh, previously of FC United of Manchester and now Head of Community Ownership, at the Football Supporters' Association, gave an address, resulted in the endorsement of the historic proposal to establish a new club. On one hand, this was the end of a process, but on the other we were but at the starting grid.

What is it like being the club secretary?
The Club is the public face of a Community Benefit Society which is very much like a co-op business and it is important that we remember we are now a business and not an unregulated unincorporated organisation. We have a Society Board, to which I was elected but my role as Club Secretary is not linked to my board membership nor is the role undertaken by Matt Johnson, who is the company secretary (but also runs the match-day shop of course!).

The role of Club Secretary would be regarded as dull and boring by some and there is no doubt that my previous work in local and central government has equipped me to deal with the range of administrative tasks coming my way. Not one day passes without something to deal with such as preparing cases for submission to the FAW; attending meetings; or the week to week tasks involved with arranging fixtures and ensuring that we comply with all sorts of regulations.

There’s also the business of ensuring that the Football Club runs smoothly with meetings of the Football Club Board to be arranged, transfers and registrations to be dealt with, organising volunteers for various tasks on a matchday, liaising with opponents, and ensuring a very close working relationship with the team management.

In the second part of this interview, Dafydd will give his thoughts on our first season, lockdown and the new season.