“I already feel like I belong here and that makes me enjoy it”, interview with Bangor City manager Hugo Colace

Argentine Hugo Colace is currently flourishing in management, guiding Bangor City to some eye-catching victories in pre-season such as success over two of the biggest sides within the Welsh football pyramid in TNS and Connah’s Quay Nomads.

For the second time, Prost international caught up with the former Barnsley midfielder who offered an insight into the challenges of management in the midst of a global pandemic and the project ahead in North Wales.

Until recently The Citizens had been preparing for the restart of the JD Cymru North season, as they looked to make a return to the top-flight of Welsh football however a recent announcement has scarpered this plan as the pandemic continues to hit the lower-levels of Welsh Football.

While preparing for the return of the now curtailed season, Bangor City have played some challenging friendlies and victories over the aforementioned TNS and Connah’s Quay Nomads amongst others reveal the credentials for the future of this exciting team, who boast remarkable squad depth. Colace explained the importance of these victories and the pre-season as a whole which has built a real cohesion around the side from Gwynedd.

“Now they’ve canceled the championship, but it was still important because for eight months we could build better players and better people.”

In our previous interview, Colace revealed he received the proposal of President Sefarino to become the manager of Bangor City he discussed what prompted his move into management.

“Being a coach was because I felt I could pass on my learning and my experiences to make better players.”

Part of the strategy at Bangor has been to recruit players from countries like Italy, Argentina and Brazil amongst their ranks are a handful of high-profile players such as Juan Garcia and Mello, who have played in the top divisions of Polish and Argentinian Football respectively. Colace revealed how he and President Sefarino have persuaded these players to make the move to Wales.

“The mentality is always going to be that the project I propose to you is beneficial to everyone and I’m sure of that.”

It has been almost two years since Colace arrived at Bangor initially as a player, before making the step-up to the role as Manager last year, the 37-year-old says he’s enjoying his time in North Wales.

“I already feel like I belong here and that makes me enjoy it.”

“I just started in this new (chapeter of my) career as a coach and I would like to stay in Bangor “To achieve mine and the team’s goals.”

A well-travelled player during his career, Colace played under a variety of different managers, each with different styles of play. When asked which manager he had learned from most in his career he wouldn’t single one out, this shows how much respect he has for his former coaches.

“Playing in 10 countries made me strong and I’ve learned in every place “I wouldn’t be able to choose just one (manager) that I learned the most from”.

A great character, it’s clear that Colace is very optimistic about the project ahead with Bangor City and has the motivation and determination to help the Citizens return to the top-flight of Welsh Football in the near future.

The project being built-in Gwynedd is a really exciting one and once the pandemic stops halting their progress, they will have the opportunity to reveal their credentials. Their recent pre-season success over TNS and Connah’s Quay has made a real statement of intent however and offered a forecast into the future of this exciting team, who have an intelligent and progressive coach at the fore in former Barnsley fan-favourite Hugo Colace.

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