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BANGOR CITY : It was reported in late April that Bangor City's Farrar Road ground had been acquired by Liverpool-based developers. Under the deal with the club's landlords, the local city council, a new community stadium will be built on an out-of-town site, yet to be identified, and the Farrar Road site will become a shopping complex. The agreement has a lifetime of four years.There has been speculation for years about the future of the town centre site, with the ground gradually falling into serious disrepair. At one time the football club was in a dispute with the council over rent arrears and although this season their financial management has been sounder, there have been persistent comments on the suitability of the crumbling ground to host top level football. Bangor's town clerk has admitted that it would cost millions to upgrade it to the standard desired, while the club's own chairman described the ground as "a total disgrace". In the past Farrar Road (pictured in magazine) has hosted many prestigious games in Europe and in the Welsh Cup, FA Cup and FA Trophy, but it now falls short of UEFA requirements. City were forced to play their UEFA Cup fixture with Halmstads at Wrexham's Racecourse last August. Although no plans for the new stadium have been revealed, hopes have been expressed that it will have improved access and parking, and might even meet UEFA's minimum requirement of a 3,000 all-seated capacity. CARMARTHEN TOWN: As soon as the last game of the season was completed at Richmond Park, redevelopment was due to take place at the Priory Street end of Carmarthen's ground, with a new stand due to boost the seated and covered capacity. With Town qualifying for the InterToto Cup tournament, starting in June, an alternative venue has to be found for their home fixture with a Swedish club. Llanelli's Stebonheath Park was the favoured option at the time of writing. CWMBRAN TOWN : The League of Wales side were refused permission by the authorities to temporarily use Pontypool Park (pictured in magazine), the home of Pontypool RFC for the last two months of the season due to the state of the playing surface. They had hoped to use the large venue whilst the Cwmbran Stadium underwent a major rebuild. UWIC INTER CARDIFF: With the club relegated from the League of Wales
at the end of the 2000-2001 season as expected, officials confirmed that they
would not be hiring Cardiff Athletic Stadium at Leckwith for CC Sports Welsh
League fixtures next season. The UWIC club's former base at Cyncoed will again
be used, with the club hoping to enjoy better support from the student community
on the Cyncoed campus than they have at the remote Athletics Stadium, on the
opposite side of town. |