Happy New Year!

To all readers of the Chester City FC blog, all the very best for 2010, and enjoy the New Year celebrations wherever you may be!

Barrow game postponed due to heavy frost

Chester's last game of 2009 at home to Barrow has fallen foul of the weather.


An early pitch inspection confirmed that the playing surface was unplayable, and the game was called off, which means City will now go into the new year on minus points.

City beaten at Aggborough

Chester's miserable season continued today at Kidderminster where they were defeated 2-0 by a side currently without their Manager, who departed last week.


City fell behind on 16 minutes, as Gavin Caines struck from close range, and doubled their lead towards the end of the game when Duane Courtney finished off the Blues spirited display.

City did register efforts at goal throughout the game, but were left to rue their finishing, and end up going into the final game of the year against Barrow at the Deva on Monday, on -3 points, and 25 points from safety.

City ready to face Harriers at Aggborough

The Blues are next in action today, when they take their troubles to Aggborough, home of Kidderminster Harriers.


The Harriers have just lost their boss Mark Yates to Cheltenham, leaving a job to be filled, and one that Chester manager Jim Harvey has been linked with, and as Harvey has confirmed he is not on a contract at City, that move could become a reality, but more than likely after the game on Saturday.

City are without striker Nick Chadwick, who would have missed last weekend's game at Rushden, had it not been called off.

That Rushden game has been re-arranged for Tuesday 9th March, whilst the abandoned game against Eastbourne Borough will now take place a week later on Tuesday 16th March.

It's been a busy week, with no games!

In the last 10 days the drama has continued at Chester City, but with nothing happening on the field, following the cancellation of the Rushden game, thanks to the weather, although rather ironically, the players had refused to train all week thanks to non payment of wages.

They were actually threatening not to play the Rushden game on Saturday if they had not received their wages by Friday. As I understand it,. the youth team were paid their outstanding money towards the end of the week, although it's understood that the PFA were the ones making the payment, and not the club, so things haven't really changed from that point of view.

Well done to the PFA for looking after the youth of Chester City FC, it really does put the club to shame at present, especially as Stephen Vaughan boldly claimed that he could fund the club forever - apparently not Stephen, or at least you're not interested in funding the club forever - only your "other" interests remain funded.

I'm sure the situation at the Deva could be turned into a seriously good film, we've seen one already this year called "The Damned United", well this one could be called "The Shame of City", hold on, I can hear the phone ringing, maybe it's Steven Spielberg on the other end!

So, Chester head into the festive period sitiing on minus 3 points, and have failed to shake off the 25 points taken from them at the beginning of the season, can they get rid of the minuses before the turn of the year?

I've started now to turn my attentions to the Blue Square North, and see just what teams are to be found in that league, it has the likes of Telford, who rose from the ashes a few years ago, and I bet that they have not looked back since re-forming, something which Blues fans critical of any idea of a phoenix club should take note of.

It also has the likes of Droylsden, who Stephen Vaughan had links with of course, and many City players failing to make the grade at the Deva were sent there instead, well the two clubs could actually swap leagues in May.

A north west derby could also be on the cards as Northwich Victoria lie in this league too, and I'm sure many City fans would be happy with the short trek to the Vics.

There are about 12 away games that would be pretty localish, if you consider the outskirts of Manchester to be localish, so a good away following could be the order of the day.

So, that's it for now, in a really devastating year for City fans to endure, let's hope that the talk of new owners turns out to be true this time, and that Chester fans can get back their club in 2010, and also that the new owners get involved with CFU as together we can bring the club back to the football league.

Merry Christmas all, and hoping for a prosperous New Year!

City crash out of FA Trophy in latest low ebb

The last chance of a Cup run has well and truly deserted Chester City following their humiliating 1-0 defeat to Conference North side Fleetwood Town at the Deva Stadium.
Adam Warlow was the hero for the visitors, as the Fleetwood striker took advantage of a fumble from City keeper John Danby, to put the Lancashire side through to the next round, and leave Chester's season completely in tatters, and lose yet another source of income for the club in this wretched season.

Only 518 were in attendance at the Deva, with 110 from Fleetwood, meaning 408 Chester fans were watching tonight, a figure reminiscent of the 409 that attended the Moss Rose when Harry McNally was in charge against Bury, and worth remembering that Harry sadly passed away five years ago on Saturday 12th December - he would be absolutely fuming if he was here now witnessing what Chester fans are being put through.

Next up for City, is an away trip to Rushden & Diamonds next Saturday.

Blues get ready for visit of Fleetwood

Chester City are back in action tonight, as they put their Conference issues aside for a shot at FA Trophy glory, however, they’ll nee dto overcome a Fleetwood Town side first of all, in tonight’s re-arranged game.


The game was switched after the club asked the police to accommodate a switch due to a lack of stewards available, as Wrexham are at home on Saturday, and it’s often the case that stewards between the two clubs are shared.

City are likely to see the return of Assistant Manager, Tim Ryan, for tonight’s game, following his recovery from a virus – however, he will be a straight replacement for Kevin Roberts, who serves the first of his three match ban following last Saturday’s wrongful dismissal at home to Luton. Midfielder Adam Kay, may also be in contention for a place following his lay off thanks to a hamstring injury.

Neil Ashton, Michael Lea, and Rhys Meynell are all still missing through injury,

Fleetwood arrive at the Deva unimpressed that the game has been switched to the Friday night, claiming they will now receive a reduction in gate receipts, but had they refused to play on the Friday then they would have faced possible expulsion from the competition.

Town Manager, former Blackpool player Mickey Mellon, will be hoping his side can progress through to the next round at the expense of the Blues.

If the scores are level tonight, it’s likely the replay will take place on Thursday night at Highbury.

Blues kids grab draw against the Hatters

Chester's youngsters were thrown into battle against one of the pre season favourites for promotion back to the Football League, as they drew 0-0 at the Deva Stadium, and were extremely unlucky not to take all 3 points following a dreadful decision, not to award a penalty to City in the last minute.


James Owen was clearly brought down in the penalty area, however, the referee, who had a shocker of a game, refused to allow City a penalty, and denied the kids of Chester, a chance to grab a dramatic win.

Jack Rea was the star of the show in a great effort by the lads who had come through the now closed Centre of Excellence, closed by Stephen Vaughan following City's relegation from the Football League.

Rea, was everywhere on the pitch, and worked well with Jo Freeman, who was at right back, in a defence which contained Shaun Kelly who produced a mature performance at the heart of the defence.

The first indication of the officials' inept performance was the sending off of Kevin Roberts, who received a straight red, when it appeared he had made a perfectly good tackle on Matt Barnes-Homer- even the Luton forward was dismayed when he saw Roberts getting the red card.

There weren't many chances to be fair, and Chester certainly didn't look a player lighter, and so nearly stole it but for the refusal of a penalty late on.

Manager Jim Harvey, was delighted, "The lads have put everything in today, and should clearly have had a penalty, how he has not given that, I'll never know".

When asked about the events off the pitch this week, Harvey said "It's been a difficult week for the boys, something they should not have to be dealing with", an indication of the non payment of wages by the club.

Chester are next in action against Fleetwood in the FA Trophy, in a game that could be switched to Friday night on police advice.

City allowed to continue following League decision

The Football Conference and Football League have allowed Chester City to continue their season in the Blue Square Premier League, following the withdrawal of their expulsion threat following an agreement that sees Chester City pay £36,600 to the footballing authorities.


Chester had owed close to £100, 000 but were also owed money by the Football League, and that was the main reason for the delay in agreement, Chester wanted their money, but the League wanted a payment from Chester to be made to the club's footballing creditors.


Here's the statement made by the Football Conference:

The Football Conference Limited issues the following statement in relation to Chester City FC, as of 3rd December 2009….

The Football Conference and the Football League have been working together to reach a decision over the release of discretionary payments in favour of Chester City FC, thereby retaining the integrity of both competitions and enabling legal undertakings and orders were met by the Club.

As part of a commitment made by Chester City FC towards settling these matters, Chester City FC agreed to make up any potential shortfall between the funding due and football creditors. The Club has, therefore, lodged a payment of £36,600 with the Football Conference. Upon clearance of such payment and release of that funding, the threat of expulsion from membership will be withdrawn.

Brian Lee, Chairman of the Football Conference states: “Together with my fellow Directors and staff at the Football Conference; and with our other football partners, particularly the Football League and the PFA, everyone has worked tirelessly to save Chester City FC from expulsion. The Club’s recent history should send a warning signal to every club.

He added: “In anticipation a satisfactory conclusion will be reached, we are hopeful those who have supported the club through such difficult times, especially the fans on the terraces, appreciate the position we as a competition faced in dealing with this situation. We wish all those currently connected with Chester City FC will ensure the club deal promptly with all matters of financial prudence in the future and our combined efforts will not have been in vain.”

This now means that Chester City are back in action on Saturday, but the focus will surely be on owner Stephen vaughan Junior, on whether he is being influenced by his father, ex owner Stephen Vaughan.

Rumours are abound once again that the club has not paid its rent to the local council, and with wages due again in a couple of weeks time, the footballing authorities called be called in again before the year is out.

Blues go down to last minute defeat at Cambridge

Cambridge United completed the double over Chester City, but only just, following a last minute winner from striker Danny Crow, who headed past John Danby to claim the points for The U's.


Cambridge, led on the pitch by former Chester captain, Paul Carden, had struggled to get past a resilient City side, who had several chances in the first half, that really should have warranted more than the 0-0 scoreline at half time.

They were to pay for their misses too, as Robbie Wilmott's last minute cross found it's way to Crow who made no mistake and grabbed the points for the home side.

It means City now slide to 24 points from safety, with only 23 matches remaining, that's of course, if the club manage to avoid being kicked out of the League on Thursday.

City's fate to be decided on Thursday

The future of Chester City Football Club will be decided on Thursday - the same day as the scheduled Legends Night event that over 20 ex-City players are due to attend City Fans United's first social evening.
Chester were due to hear their fate last night after the Football Conference and Football League met in Birmingham, but no decision was arrived at, other than to delay a decision until Thursday, which in turn allows City to take to the pitch against Cambridge United on Tuesday night.
The Football Conference issued the following statement:

The Football Conference confirm that positive discussions have continued today between themselves, the Football League and Chester City FC concerning the Club’s continued membership and participation in the Blue Square Premier.

We are able to report that the Football League is playing an active role in endeavours to ensure the Club is able to meet its financial commitments regarding their legal undertaking to settle with creditors which formed part of their requirement for membership in 2009/10, and which also incorporates payment to creditors which the Club has with the Football Conference.

To enable the Football League to provide maximum assistance in drawing matters to a satisfactory conclusion, Tuesday evening’s match (1st December) between Cambridge United and Chester City will proceed as scheduled.

The Football Conference will then convene an emergency Board meeting on Thursday 3rd December to receive a report from the joint deliberations between all parties, before discussing what further action may be necessary in light of the information provided, Following that meeting the Football Conference will issue a further statement.

So, it's onto Thursday then, and the big announcement!

Police abandon Eastbourne match after Protests

Chester City's match against Eastbourne Borough at the Deva Stadium on Saturday, was interrupted and eventually abandoned following peaceful protests from Chester City fans angry at the way Stephen Vaughan has toyed around with Chester City Football Club.


The club are on the brink of being kicked out of the league, and possibly verging on closure due to the fact that monies are owed to the club's football creditors.

Chester had taken a 3-2 lead at the Deva before protesters made their way on to the pitch for a second time in the game, the first being in the opening half of the game.

Shouts of "Vaughan Out" were then prominent from the supporters, who quite clearly have had enough of the Liverpudlian Boxing promoter, and flags and banners were also unfurled on the pitch, before both stewards and police were forced to intervene.

Criticism of Cheshire Police was rife, following their decision to force the abandonment of the game based on the small protest, and in general failing to control a crowd of under 900.

City had taken the lead in the first ten minutes through an Anthony Barry belter from 20 yards, but was soon levelled up by a long range effort from Liam Enver-Marum.

Lloyd Ellams then put City 2-1 ahead, before Borough again equalized through Kayne McLaggon, and just when thoughts seemed to be turning towards more points being thrown away, Nick Chadwick popped up with a header to make it 3-2, before the second protest of the game got underway.

It remains to be seen what the authorities will do regarding the abandonement, but as this could have been the fans last chance to make their voices heard before Monday's crunch deadline, they can be forgiven for doing what they had to do, in a bid to raise the spotlight on Chester City Football Club - something they have succeeded with considering the story being covered nationally.

City go down to fourth straight defeat

It doesn't get any easier for City does it?
Four defeats in a row now after Stevenage Borough inflicted more pain and misery onto Chester fans, who are now believing the end is near.
City went down 2-0 at the Conference high flyers, thanks to goals from Yemi Odubade & Mark Roberts, and leaves Chester still searching for those 4 points that will take them back to "zero", but more importantly leaves City 22 points from safety.
Jimmy Harvey praised his men though, believing that Chester acquitted themselves well, and unfortunate not to get anything out of the game.
The fact remains though that City are so far behind, that most are giving up any hope of remaining a Blue Square Premier League team next season, as the games slip away.

Blues defeated at Tamworth but given Payment Extension

The Football Conference have given Chester City an extension to the deadline of Monday 16th November, to pay off their footballing creditors, which include Wrexham, Vauxhall Motors, and the PFA.


The club has now been given a further 2 weeks to find the cash, and that takes it to the 30th November, which is after the date that the Company Director ban on Stephen Vaughan kicks in.

This now means that Chester will have 2 games at home before the 30th November, which could raise the money from the home game takings.

All this comes after the Blues slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Tamworth.

Chester completed their third away game in a row with a second successive defeat, this time at Tamworth, following their defeat at York on Tuesday night.


Hopes were high of a Blues win knowing that Tamworth had lost their last 6 games, but the tables were turned, and the hosts took the lead thanks to a goal from Neil Mackenzie, which was levelled by Mark Beesley early into the second half.

City fell behind again though, to a goal from Simon Brown, signed yesterday, and the game was effectively over when Nick Wright finished the Blues off with a goal 15 minutes from time.

It leaves City on minus 4 points, and 19 points from safety in the Blue Square Premier League having now played 20 games.

City lose away record in defeat at York

Chester City lost their good record on the road, in a 3-2 defeat at Kit Kat Crescent, as York's Richard Brodie netted a hat trick to become the Blue Square Premier League joint top scorer on 17 goals.
It didn't take long for his first, just 33 seconds had passed when Brodie fired home from close range to put the Minstermen one up, and half an hour later, he grabbed his second from the penalty spot after Neil Ashton had dragged Brodie down.

City went in at half time two down, and came back out hoping for an early goal to get them back in the game, but it went the other way, as Brodie completed his hat trick just two minutes into the second half, slotting home past John Danby to make it 3-0.

At this point you'd have been forgiven for thinking that the game was over, but City sub Anthony Barry, on for midfielder James Owen, who was replaced mid way through the first half, smashed in a shot from 30 yards to give the Blues some hope.

Sadly they couldn't get another until the last minute of stoppage time, when defender Shaun Kelly nodded homs past ex-Wrexham goalkeeper Mike Ingham, but the final whistle went soon after, and Chester had been beaten 3-2.

Jimmy Harvey was understandably disappointed, "we didn't comepet in the first half, and looked weak through the middle", and was also unhappy at a penalty decision which wasn't given for City.

Harvey also admitted that 'concentration' was possibly an issue, but said that the changes in the side hadn't helped.

City are next in action on Saturday, away to Tamworth, who have fallen away since their excellent start this season, which included a 2-1 victory over City at the Deva Satadium earlier this season.

Chadwick double helps City to third successive League win

Chester recorded their third League win in a row as they beat Grays 3-1 at the Recreation Ground, and now jump to within four points of wiping out the 25 points deduction inflicted by the Football Conference at the beginning of the season.


City headed to Essex on the back of League wins over Gateshead & Wimbledon, and were clearly in the mood to notch a trio of wins.

The game at Grays was supposed to be the first of the season, but was of course delayed thanks to the Football Association not giving the Blues a licence to play football.

City started brightly, and took the lead through Michael Coulson, on loan from Barnsley, following a measured ball from Kevin Roberts.

Grays pegged Chester back though, just minutes later, as the giant Folawiyo Onibuje towered above the City defence to level the game up.

Thankfully it wasn't long before the Blues got their noses in front again, as just before half time, Nick Chadwick took full advantage of a slip by Grays keeper Preston Edwards, to knock the ball home, and put City ahead at the break.

The clincher came again from Nick Chadwick, who scored the all important third from inside the box following more great work from the ever lively Coulson, and the goal ensured Chester would take the points home on their long journey back home.

It's great to see that since the appointment of Jim Harvey, that City have gone on the attack agains teams, something which we all thought we'd see earlier on in the season, based on the 25 point deduction meaning a "we've nothing to lose" attitude.

City are back in action again tomorrow night in their second of three away games in a row, as they travel to York, who currently sit four points off the play off positions, and are in confident mood themselves having knocked Crewe out of the FA Cup at the weekend.

Let's keep all fingers crossed for a Blues win that would take them to within one point of the "zero" milestone.

City face Grays in big match for Blues

Tomorrow sees City begin the first of three away games on the bounce, with the trip to Grays, the match that should have been City's first game of the season.

It was of course postponed thanks to the mess up with the paperwork linked to the transfer from the old company to new following the Administration case.

Grays are one the clubs that are in the bottom four along with Chester, and are currently 19 points clear of the Blues, and City know that a win for City would not only haul them closer to Grays, but would also bring them possibly closer to the moving safety mark, which right now is 22 points, with Hayes & Yeading, and Gateshead being the main targets.

Chester go into the game on a high, having secured their first back to back league wins sequence in 99 games, unbelievable that it could go on that long, but the victory over Wimbledon at the Deva last week, proved that their is life in the Blues yet, and manager Jimmy Harvey seems to have put his own style of attacking football on the club now, something tat we all wanted earlier on in the season.

City are still facing injury worries though, with Anthony Barry receiving treatment at Tranmere Rovers, thanks to the Blues inexcusably not having a physio on the books following the resignation last week from their previous one, who is rumoured to have not been paid, hence the reason for quitting the club.

Michael Lea is also out injured, and Harvey is looking to fix him with somewhere to help bring him back to fitness.

Gregg Blundell will be hoping to add to his goal in last weekend's game over Wimbledon, as City will possibly go with three up front once again, which worked so well last week, Nick Chadwick and Michael Coulson are expected to start.

Let's hope for another win for the Blues, as that break even point of "Zero" points gets closer and closer, remember it's just seven points away now!

Blues see off the Wombles of Wimbledon

Chester City produced an impressive display to beat AFC Wimbledon 3-1 at the Deva Stadium to record their second successive league win for the first time in over 2 years.

City fielded three strikers to begin with and that gamble paid off with Nick Chadwick getting City off the mark on 10 minutes with a simple finish following good work from fellow striker, Michael Coulson.

Adam Kay then fired a low cross in from the right, which deflected off defender Steven Gregory and into the far corner to double Chester's lead just five minutes later.

City were on fire, and could have had more, but it was Wimbledon who hit back on the stroke of half time with a scrappy goal from John Main, following a twice taken free kick.

Chester fans were expecting the worst at the beginning of the second half, as Wimbledon chased an equalizer, but a mixture of poor finishing, and world class saves from John Danby, as well as a clearance off the line from Neil Ashton ensured City kept their lead intact.

Mark Beesley was then guilty of a terrible miss when substitute Gregg Blundell had gifted him the perfect chance, but Beesley - on loan from Cambridge - shot horribly wide.

Blundell then found himself in exactly the same position as Beesley, but this time made no mistake, and fired the Blues 3-1 ahead.

Wimbledon never gave up though, and continued to press, but City stood firm, and could even have had another one from a Clark Keltie shout which cannoned off the woodwork.

So, three points for the Blues, and Jimmy Harvey's men move to within 7 points of wiping out their 25 point deduction.

Next up for City, three away games, starting off at Grays, the game that should of course have been City's first of the season.

A pleasing day for City fans then, and all Blues fans across the land will be sitting back, enjoying a drink to celebrate the win over the Wombles.

Blues dumped out of FA Cup by Barrow

Chester City bowed out of the FA Cup in spectacular style on Tuesday night at the Deva Stadium, as Barrow turned in a performance that yielded four second half goals without reply.


In all honesty, it was no more than the visitors deserved, who looked hungrier for the First Round tie against Eastleigh, but at half time there was no indication that the scoreline was about to be so flattering.

City had a couple of chances in the first half, but were unable to take advantage, and were punished in to the second half, with a controversial decision for the first goal.

The referee deemed a touch back to Danby was classed as a back pass, when really it didn't look anything of the sort, but feelings were that the ref was balancing things up after two similar claims were waved away much to Barrow's annoyance.

From the resulting free kick, Andy Bond smashed home to send the 291 away fans mad, and they didn't have to wait long for the next one, as Kamara was brought down inside the penalty area and the referee pointed straight to the spot, from which Jason Walker made no mistake.

If we thought that was bad, worse was to follow as City totally crumbled just a minute later, as Andy Bond headed home to make it 3-0 in off the bar, to make it a miserable four minute spell that turned the game on its head.

Substitute Andy Cooke, then made it 4-0 to complete the rout, and send City spinning out of the FA Cup.

The fact that City miss out on funds from the FA Cup could prove fatal to it's survival hopes as Stephen Vaughan, will no doubt have been banking on that money to pay off the football creditors that are due monies under the Administration rules, and City have to face the Conference on November 16th, and face possible expulsion from the League.

Blues given extension to November 16th

Chester City Football Club have bought more time in it's bid to satisfy the demands of the Football Conference, and have had their request to extend the deadline to November 16th.


Here's the statement just released by the Football Conference (at 6.45pm, Monday 26th October):

The Football Conference has issued the following statement on the current situation at Chester City FC...

Following a notice issued to Chester City FC by the Football Conference on Monday, 19th October 2009 relating to the Club’s failure to comply with a compromise agreement containing the Club’s conditions of membership, and a subsequent statement referring to the non-payment of football creditors, a further statement is issued as follows:-

Discussions between the Football Conference, the Football League, the Professional Footballers Association and Chester City FC have taken place during the past seven days, and are on-going.

In the light of the wish of all parties to seek a satisfactory resolution the Football Conference has agreed to defer any decision on the Club’s future membership until Monday, 16th November 2009, enabling the Football League to discuss certain issues which have been referred to its Board of Directors.

All parties are working together in an attempt to preserve the future of Chester City FC. The club has, however, been duly informed that unless it complies in full with the conditions of membership it agreed with the Football Conference, the Competition will move to consider the club’s expulsion, in accordance with the said agreement with the Football Conference.

What's next then for the Blues?


Find out on November 16th!

City to face Eastleigh if they beat Barrow

Chester will face Blue Square South side Eastleigh in the FA Cup First Round, if they can knock out Barrow in Tuesday night's replay at the Deva Stadium.


Chester City failed to kill off fellow Conference team Barrow, and face a replay at the Deva Stadium, as the two sides drew 1-1 at Holker Street.

Defender Jonathan Flynn put City 1-0 up after just 16 minutes, but were pegged back thanks to ex-Blue, Paul Rutherford 20 minutes into the second half.

The replay will now take place on Tuesday night at the Deva.

City Fans United launches as Blues prepare for FA Cup tie at Barrow

It's been a busy last few days for followers of Chester City, as first, they have seen the club threatened with expulsion from the Conference, after the club had failed to pay its football creditors - with Stephen Vaughan claiming he is owed money first - and then just 24 hours later the new Chester fans group, City Fans United, was formally launched.

Today of course, the Blues face Barrow in the FA Cup, hoping to make it into the draw for the 1st Round Proper, and maybe face pulling the likes of Leeds.

First though they must conquer the club who were the last team to knock City out of the Cup at the 4th Qualifying Round stage, in a controversial tie that saw new Chester owner Steohen Vaughan sell his shares that he had in Barrow, to a local painter & decorator, only to then buy them back just a few days later!

Fingers crossed City can progress to the next stage.

Chester City ISA vote to join CFU

Last night, at the United Services Club, the Chester City Independent Supporters Association, voted to dissolve the ISA and join forces with the Supporters Trust, in the new City Fans United group.


This is the final step prior to the formal launch, which takes place on Thursday 22nd October, at the Divas Show Bar.

The vote was unaminous by those present at the USC, and Chairman, Pete Mitchell was saddened to close the group, but declared that "times have changed, and this move is necessary" to help the fans fight to keep the club alive.

Former ISA Chairmen, Mark Howell, Les Evans, George Rogers, joined Pete Mitchell on the final night of the Association that was started up at the Cross Keys pub 11 years ago.

Blues secure away win at last!

Chester City finally got their first win away from the Deva Stadium, as they overcame a Gateshead side that included former Blue, Daryl Clare.


City's two new signings, Michael Coulson & Jonny Flynn both started the game, and Coulson went close to scoring on his debut, whilst Flynn will be happy to get off the mark with a clean sheet in his first game.

City's goal came through recent signing, Mark Beesley, who scored just over 10 minutes into the second half.

Despite plenty of shots coming in from Gateshead, the Blues held on for the first away win of the season, and completed the double over the Conference new boys, having beaten them 2-1 at the Deva in September.

City now lie 21 points from safety, as two of the other bottom four teams lost, Forest Green going down 5-2 at histon, and Ebbsfleet lost 2-0 at Chester's FA Cup opponents Barrow.

Hayes & Yeading surprised everyone with a 3-0 home win over promotion hopefuls Cambridge, and pull level on points with Grays, who lost 2-1 at Wrexham.

City will now turn their attentions to the FA Cup with Jimmy Harvey's men in action at Barrow, in the 4th Qualifying Round, where there will hope to come back with a result different to that of 2001, where Chester lost 1-0 to the Holker Street side.

But for now, let's celebrate Chester's win, which stretches their unbeaten away run to 7 games, just wish they could reproduce that kind of sequence at the Deva!

City Fans United announce Launch Event

City Fans United, the name given to the new fans’ group for Chester City FC, will be holding its formal launch on 22nd October at 8 pm at Divas Showbar (formerly the Royal Mail Club) Station Road Chester.

The CFU launch night will be hosted by Radio 5 Live sports commentator Charlie Lambert.

Following recent public meetings, fans of Chester City Football Club have called for all of the fans’ groups to unite under one banner. The new unified fans group, City Fans United, has formed from the merger of the two largest fans’ groups, Chester City Supporters Trust and the Chester City Independent Supporters Association, with the full support of the other supporters’ groups. City Fans United is formally launching on 22nd October.

Chairman of the City Fans United working party, Michael Poole, says: “The CFU working party welcome the challenge of bringing all the fans together in this way. All of the fans need to speak with one voice to better represent the interest of the fans of Chester City Football Club and to help the club to move forward.”

Mr. Poole continued: “Our launch night will give people the opportunity to hear about City Fans United; its aims and objectives; the Junior Blues, our youth organisation, and most importantly it will give fans the opportunity to let City Fans United know what their priorities are. We will also be accepting membership applications on the night.

Everyone is welcome – in some respects this is the most important meeting of Chester City supporters for a decade and we would encourage everyone who has an interest in Chester City Football Club to attend.”

For Chester City fans reading this, it's your chance to make yourselves heard and help steer CFU in the future, so make sure you're there at the meeting on the 22nd October.

Chester travel to Barrow in FA Cup draw

Chester City have again attracted one of the harder draws in the FA Cup, this time facing a difficult away trip to AFC Barrow.

Barrow of course, were previously owned by Stephen Vaughan, and taken into liquidation by the current Chester owner, thanks to a shortfall of £200,000 which is a lot less than the projected loss of £660,000 that appeared on the profit & loss forecast of the Blues last week.

Barrow were removed from the Football Conference following Vaughan taking the step to liquidate them, and the history appears to be on the verge of repeating itself with Chester City.

It's not the first time of course that Chester have met Barrow in the FA Cup, the other occasion being after vaughan had bought Chester but still had shares in Barrow, and soon followed a quick transfer to a close friend, and local painter & decorator to avoid a conflict of interests.

Following the game, the shares were transferred back, showing what a dodgy character Vaughan actually was. However, a few days later following this controversial move, the new Barrow chairman Brian Keen bought back the shares off Vaughan, and the Holker Street outfit were finally rid of Vaughan.

So, the Blues must travel to Barrow once again, and will be perhaps more confident of getting a result away from home, where they have drawn their last six games, rather than at home where they have now lost six this season.

One thing is for sure, the majority of Holker Street will be against the Chester City owner.

Chester City 0 Rushden & Diamonds 1

Chester City lost their sixth home game of the season at the Deva Stadium on Saturday as Lee Tomlin's early strike for Rushden & Diamonds secured a valuable away win for the side chasing promotion to the Football League.

That of course, is in stark contrast to City's horrendous demise and probable relegation to the Blue Square North later this season.

City once again, failed to deliver at home, as they hardly came out of the blocks during a game dominated by poor refereeing, which saw two Chester players receive straight red cards.

City fell behind to Tomlin's 4th minute strike from the edge of the City area, and Gregg Blundell will be rueing more missed opportunities, having found himself in great positions in either half of the game, but failed to find a shot on target.

City did have efforts saved from a couple of chances, but just couldn't find a way past a stubborn and resolute Diamonds defence.

Their cause wasn't helped by the two sending offs, Glenn Rule was the first to see red, as he was accused quite rightly of stamping, just 15 minutes into the second half.

Worse was to follow after substitute Nick Chadwick, who had been dropped to the bench in favour of City debutant Mark Beesley, was guilty of a high foot on the Rushden keeper, although the referee's actions were deemed as harsh from most within the press area.

City were still in with a chance, but in all reality, the Blues didn't manage to get a decent effort on goal, and set pieces turned out to be rather poor, and just not good enough, in Jimmy Harvey's first game in charge.

Harvey, watching from the stands due to a touchline ban, of which this was the last game, considered Chester to be unlucky to take anything out of the game.

Rushden manager Justin Edinburgh, was however delighted with his sides win, despite claiming that the performance was one of their worst of the season, and that Chester were going into the game full of confidence - work that one out!!

The Blues have again let the fans down with another poor performance, and will have to hope that they can secure a win at Gateshead on Saturday

Local businessmen interested in buying Blues

A report in today's Daily Post suggests that three local businessmen are interested in buying Chester City, but have so far been unable to meet the current owner Stephen Vaughan.

One of the businessmen, who does not want to be named publicly said “Obviously I will not conduct negotiations via the media, but we have been trying to contact the club to arrange a meeting, however, we currently aren’t receiving any responses.


“The weekend reports of the projected financial loss are extremely concerning, and something needs to happen if the club is to survive.

“Hopefully we can get round a table with the owner in the next few days.”

Let's all hope for the sake of Chester City, that Stephen Vaughan finally sees some sense and meets the three, with the intention of walking away from the club that he has spectacularly wrecked systematically in the last few years.

Jimmy Harvey new Chester Manager

Jimmy Harvey has been confirmed as the new Chester City Manager, and takes the hot seat that has seen 10 others depart in less than 8 years, a shocking statistic if ever there was one!

Harvey comes in to the Deva, with Chester staring relegation to the Blue Square North in the face, and will have a job to steer the club to positive points, never mind safety in the league.

The Northern Irish born Harvey will be no stranger to Stephen Vaughan, as the two had a bust up during the time when Harvey was manager of Morecambe a few years back.

During his playing career, he made 3 appearances for Arsenal, before making over 270 appearances for Hereford in the 1980s, he even had a loan spell at rivals Wrexham, before moving on to Tranmere Rovers, where he fell just short of 200 appearances.

Harvey finished off his playing career at Morecambe, and he stayed their as Manager, leading them to a 3-2 win over City in the FA Cup, with a side that included the likes of Stuart Drummond. 11 years were spent at Christie Park, before leaving The Shrimpers with a bitter taste in his mouth, and moved on to Forest green Rovers, where he spent 3 years, before being sacked on the grounds of applying for another job.

So, with Harvey at the helm, what difference can he make to Chester's ailing season on the pitch, well very little if he is not backed up with finances by the Blues owners, the Vaughan Family, whichever members are in charge!

The first game for the new manager is at home to Rushden & Diamonds on Saturday, and it will be interesting to see if a Vaughan is in the line up, if there is, expect a mass walk out by supporters.

Hayes & Yeading 0 Chester City 0

The Blues wasted a great chance to get 3 points from this encounter, and completed a week which could have left their survival hopes in tatters as Chester had to settle for their sixth successive away draw at Hayes & Yeading.

To make matters worse, Tim Ryan's side were unable to take advantage of Hayes being not just one one player down, but two, with 16 minutes still to play in the game, but Chester found themselves on the back foot rather than pressing for a much needed victory.

The table does not paint a pretty picture now, what with City still 24 points away from safety, and 12 points from the first 14 games of the season is a poor poor showing, and the matches are drifting away from the Blues, with only a maximum of 96 points now available.

Anthony Barry had Chester's best chance but that smacked against the crossbar, and that was pretty much it, but it could have been worse, as City conceded a penalty on 30 minutes, after Kevin Roberts was adjudged to have fouled Sean Canham, who picked himself up but blazed over the bar to let City off the hook.

Five minutes later and the hosts were down to 10 men, thanks to Rambir Marwa's straight red card following a challenge on loanee Clark Keltie.

City should have taken a grip on the game here, and moreso when Scott Fitzgerald was booked for the second time in the game and received his marching orders, with still 16 minutes left on the clock.

But City were unable to conjure up a winner, and left Hayes & Yeading knowing that they had blown their chance to get to -11 points in the table.

Ryan gets ready to rally the troops!

In a week where Chester City fans have yet again been put through the pain of another defeat, and another sacking of a manager – the 11th in 7 years, and the club heading for a nightmare relegation season – the 3rd in the last decade, the players get ready for tomorrow’s match at Conference newcomers Hayes & Yeading.


Tim Ryan is in place as caretaker manager for tomorrow, and we will see just what impact he can have on the team, which under Mick Wadsworth achieved only 2 wins during his 94 day reign, and most of that was in the summer outside of Chester’s notorious start to this season.
City will be even more depleted for tomorrow’s game, as Ryan himself serves a suspension for accruing 5 yellow cards so soon in the season. Rhys Meynell could have stepped in to cover, but he suffered ankle ligament damage in his brief spell on the pitch against Forest Green the other night.
City are going to be stretched defensively of course, having seen Chris Lynch return to Burnley following the moment in the Wrexham derby where he sustained cruciate ligament damage and consequently missed the rest of the season.

Chester need goals and tomorrow they are likely to have Gregg Blundell alongside Nick Chadwick, but it’s in midfield where problems lie, as City lack creativity, something they have missed since the days of Alex Smith.

Let’s hope for a win tomorrow as Chester’s immediate target must be to get into single minus figures, something they are currently 5 points off doing.

Come on you blues!!

Wadsworth departs the Deva

The revolving door at the Deva Stadium continued in full swing today, as Mick Wadsworth became the latest in a long line of Managers to exit the club whilst working under Stephen Vaughan.

Wadsworth has only spent 94 days in the job, but that is enough for Vaughan, who has now parted company with 12 managers during his reign at the club, an absolutely shocking statistic, and one where Vaughan needs to question his own business acumen in the role as owner of Chester City FC, if indeed he is actually the owner of Chester City FC.

So, the club are heading for relegation, and now without a Manager once again, and a person totally lacking in business sense at the helm.

Oh it's such good fun being a Chester City fan.

Chester City 1 Forest Green 2

Well that was a load of garbage wasn't it?

Chester had the chance to offer themselves a semi-realistic chance of escaping the drop had they beaten a Forest Green side last night that had only just clinched their first victory of the season on Saturday.

But in true City style, they blew it thanks to a poor performance against their fellow strugglers, who on the back of this scoreline, move out of the bottom four, whilst Chester now languish 24 points from safety, and are certainly now heading towards Blue Square North football next season.

Mick Wadsworth was a frustrated man along with the rest of us last night, as Chester simply didn't turn up, amazing really considering how they battled in the draw at Wrexham on Sunday. This was another simply unacceptable showing from the Blues who deserved what they got in a shambolic first half performance, which gifted Forest Green all the space in the world to take a 2-0 lead.

You would have thought the lads would have known how much was riding on this result - maybe they thought the win would come their way with the minimum of effort, but whatever the case, they certainly under-estimated Forest Green.

The Gloucestershire outfit certainly started the busier of the two teams, and it was no surprise when Conal Platt gave them the lead with a well taken finish on 18 minutes, however, he was given all the time and space to pick his spot.

Sean Rigg then made it 2-0 eight minutes before half time with another fine effort, and that pretty much wrote City's chances off, and a crescendo of boos was heard from the home support, with another blast at half time form the unhappy 1000 City fans inside the Deva.

Kevin Roberts pulled one back for City just five minutes after the restart with a header from a corner, and hope was offered, but Gregg Blundell who came on as a substitute at half time had a chance as he chased down a ball in the penalty area, but his shot was saved by the Forest Green keeper.

That was pretty much that, and City failed to get level before the final whistle went, and the disgruntled Blues fans made their way home after yet another sorry home defeat.

Previous defeats at the Deva had been to top half sides, but this one was a game City had to win, and failed, and are now staring down the barrel of relegation.

City out to cut the Forest down

Chester City go in the search of 3 badly needed points tonight at home to Forest Green, at the Deva Stadium.

It’s a match that the Blues must win as they aim to reduce their deficit at the bottom of the Blue Square Premier League, and fresh from the draw at Wrexham on Saturday, confidence will hopefully be there as the Blues have shown that they are getting harder to beat, something they need to turn into wins though.

Forest Green arrive at the Deva having just secured their first win of the season at home to Grays on Saturday, and will be looking to improve on a record that has seen them pick up just 2 points in 6 away games, mind you one of those was at Oxford in a rare slip by the Conference leaders. That win against Grays followed 4 successive draws.

Forest Green took a thrashing at the start of the month at Cambridge, going down 7-0 and the Blues fans will hold dreams of a similar scoreline tonight, a highly unlikely one though, considering Chester are having issues scoring goals!

The Blues have lost 4 games at the Deva this season, although it could be argued that the standard of opposition in those defeats was pretty high, but one thing is certain, Chester must win this game tonight to give themselves a fighting chance of escaping the drop this season.

A win tonight and City will go to -11 points, and on to Saturday’s game at hayes & Yeading with confidence of getting into single figures.

As for City’s line up tonight, well Chris Lynch will obviously be missing following his injury in the Wrexham derby, Sean Kelly is expected to take his place, whilst in the middle, Clark Keitle will make his home debut following the loanee’s move from Rochdale, and up front there is debate over whether Gregg Blundell should start following his performance in the Wrexham game, Lloyd Ellams is on standby.

So, hopefully City will take the points tonight and City can begin to make a real challenge to escape the drop!

Wrexham 0 Chester City 0

Chester City maintained their away record, as they notched their fifth draw in a row away from the Deva, but it could have been oh so better as City missed a great opportunity to win at the Racecourse for the firts time in League football for 31 years.

Gregg Blundell contrived to miss a great chance in front of goal midway through the first half, as City pretty much dominated proceedings in the first 45 minutes of the game, but failed to take advantage, as the ball came right across the face of goal only for Blundell to side foot wide of an open goal.

City fans had given their side much backing from before the game as the 900 travelling fans got behind their side to try to back them to victory in another banter-filled local derby.

City had claims for a penalty waved away when a touch of shirt pulling was going on in the first half, as the referee decided against giving City a decision, in fact, he was quite consistent in that alright!!

Wrexham found themselves restricted to long range efforts, and raeely troubled Chester keeper John Danby, who had to be treated once again for a re-occurence of his shoulder injury.

The Blues lost Adam Lynch to a suspected cruciate injury, as he went to ground in the first 45 minutes, and had to be substituted.

City should have been 1-0 up after just 3 minutes of this encounter, as Gregg Blundell was penalised for what seemed a fair jump with the Wrexham goalkeeper, where the ball fell loose to Nick Chadwick who headed home to send the Blues fans into raptures until it was realised that the referee's whistle had gone already for a foul, which remains an unconvincing decision.

Wrexham though, did come forward in the second half, but despite a flurry of corners midway through the Second half, couldn't get past a resolute City defence, and towards the end of the game, it was Chester who were growing stronger once again, and were unlucky not to get a win from the game.

Trouble flared up outside the game, as the police made a mess of things, as both sets of fans squared up to each other, how would they cope if they had a serious crowd on their hands???

So this local derby - the only international league derby - ended in a goalless draw, but City will take heart from their performance, as they move onto -14 points, and next up is a home game on Tuesday at the Deva Stadium, against Forest Green.

City get ready for big derby

It's derby time once again as Chester & Wrexham face each other at the Racecourse Ground on Sunday, at Noon.

Chester are up against it of course, still 15 points from breaking even this season, and following Wrexham's 3-0 victory over Luton on Tuesday night, the task to get a positive result from this match seems all the more harder now.

But, the City faithful will make their way up the A483 on Sunday morning knowing that they will back the lads before, during, and hopefully after kick off.

There is talk that the players are not getting fully paid at the moment, which is shocking considering the club has only just come out of Administration, and surely goes to show that either Stephen Vaughan no longer has the funds to keep Chester City going, or even worse, is just plain refusing to put the money in, and not sell up, helping to see the club die on its feet.

But back on the pitch, we are set hopefully for a blood and thunder derby, City have to be up for this one, no doubt about it, we have seen some weak performances from the Blues this season, but they have to be strong in this one if they stand any chance of winning the game.

The last derby of course ended 2-2 at the Racecourse, with goals from Kevin Roberts - and what a beauty it was - and the other a powerful headed from ex Wrexham player Paul Linwood. How we could do with that kind of performance or result on Sunday.

News filtering through unofficially is that Chester are set to sign Rochdale midfielder Clarke Keltie, who if he signs is expected to go straight into the team on Sunday, as City look to bolster the area that is so badly missing talent.

Chester are expected to have over 500 fans backing them on Sunday, in what will surely be the lowest attended derby for some time, and is certainly the first non league derby between the two in their history, so at least some kind of history is made at the weekend, let's hope Chester get their first League win in 31 years at Wrexham.

Come on City!!

Salisbury City 1 Chester City 1

Chester's inability to net three points struck again, as they squandered a lead held against the run of play at the Ray Mac, against a Salisbury side that had also been deducted points this season.

Salisbury though had already managed to pick up 10 points prior to their 10 point deduction, and have since netted 5 points since the penalty, with this being the latest point gained.

City took the lead against the run of play just 11 minutes from time after Ben Wilkinson had struck his third goal of the season after being set up by Kevin Roberts.

The Blues though couldn't hold out, and just 3 minutes later Luke Roddick crossed and caused John Danby problems, and fell awkwardly, and Sean Clohessy knocked the ball home to level for Salisbury, whilst Danby had to receive treatment from the paramedics, and eventually left the field on a stretcher which means he is a doubt for Sunday's derby match at Wrexham.

Andrew Murphy came on and played the remaining minutes, in which Salisbury were denied a winner thanks to a flag going up for offside in the 95th and final minute of the game.

So, City are now down to -15 points, but it really could have been -13 with a better defensive mentality after the goal went in, but that's where Chester are, and whilst we've made it into double figures for this season's tally, City remain 22 points away from safety.

Chester City 0 Stevenage Borough 1

Chester once again failed to win their second successive game, no surprise as they haven't done that for over 90 games now!

Stevenage were too strong for City, and earned their win thanks to a 7th minute goal from Michael Bostwick, who volleyed home the winner, with a bit of the post and John Danby combining to send the ball into the back of the net.

Chester had no answer to Stevenage, and in fact the away side, who now move up to second in the Blue Square Premier League, hit the post just before half time.

City's best chance fell to Nick Chadwick, but his header was easily saved by keeper Chris Day, in what was a disappointing result once again for the Blues.

It means City are stuck on -16 in the table, and remain 23 points away from safety, but with one less game remaining of course.

The alarming aspect of this game, was not the result, but the fact that the numbers in the home crowd have dropped to 969, and fans who had attended in the Harry McNally Terrace ended up sitting down to watch the action, such is the lack of enthusiasm around the place right now.

So, Chester now have to pick themselves up once again, and get ready to face Salisbury tomorrow evening, before they then think of the local derby against Wrexham on Sunday, at the Racecourse.

City get ready for Stevenage test

Chester are in action tomorrow as they look to get their second successive win for the first time in over 90 games, but they'll have to beat a Stevenage side that are enjoying their BSP season so far.

Stevenage Borough have won their last 4 games, and have only been beaten once this campaign, losing at leaders Oxford United, so this will obviously be a massive test, and will show far Chester have come since Mick Wadsworth declared that his men were now match fit.

Borough are sitting third in the table on 18 points, a mere 34 points ahead of Chester's tally in the table, and came from 2-0 down at Mansfield to win 3-2, and have also seen off Eastbourne, Histon, and Rushden & Diamonds in the last 4 games.

So, a difficult game ahead for the Blues, hopefully they can build on the confidence from 4 matches in the last 5 where they have taken some kind of result, but it's certainly going to need everyone on top form if they are to make it 5 in 6.

As far as the team news is concerned, Tim Ryan, who is only 1 match away from a first suspension of the season, may still continue at left back, bit should surely be shifted to centre half, whilst Michael Lea should operate from the left, and Chris Lynch will play alongside Shaun Kelly in the middle of defence.

It's likely to be an unchanged line up in the middle, with Ben Wilkinson, Adam Kay, Kevin Roberts, and Neil Ashton being the four expected to start, although Anthony Barry could feature in there potentially, and up front Nick Chadwick will be hoping to add to his four goal tally so far, alongside Gregg Blundell, who will be looking to score in his third successive game.

The crowd will more than likely head back over the 1000 mark tomorrow with a few from Stevenage expected thanks to their current run.

Fingers crossed the Blues pick up the points.

Chester City 2 Gateshead 1

For the first time in god knows how long, I finally managed to see the Blues win at home!

Due to other events taking place, I've missed the previous wins at home to Histon, and the Boxing Day 2008 win, which up to about 10 days ago, was the last time we'd won at home!

So, the Blues managed victory over Gateshead, but it has to be said, it was a dire game, one which did not set the pulse racing one bit - well okay, maybe just one bit when Nick Chadwick headed in the winner!

The game started well for City, with Gregg Blundell scoring from the spot for his second successive game, this after he'd been brought down in the penalty area by defender Jamie Curtis, who saw red for the challenge on 19 minutes.

It was a ball over the top of the defence that saw Blundell run onto and memories came flooding back of the Matthew Gilks incident against Rochdale a few years ago that saw a season-ruining injury for the City striker, but this time he held his nerve and rounded the keeper before being brought down.

So, with Gateshead down to 10 men, the crowd werre expectant, but City couldn't get a second goal in the remaining 25minutes of the first half.

In the second half, the Blues could have lost it, a match with very little atmosphere, and Gateshead growing in confidence with City seemingly giving the ball away at every opportunity, and big striker Armand One causing havoc amongst the Chester defence.

It was no surprise in truth when Gateshead got back on level terms, just six minutes into the second half, Christoph Ascherl lofting a ball through to Mike MacKay who made no mistake from the edge of the six yard box.

Plenty of stick followed from the crowd, who were beginning to voice their displeasure at Manager, Mick Wadsworth, for failing to get a grip of the game.

John Danby was the hero in the last 20 minutes as he produced three vital reaction saves to keep Chester in the game, and in between Nick Chadwick got his head on a cross from Neil Ashton to send the ball looping over Jim Provett in the Gateshead goal.

So, thanks to Blundell, Chadwick, and especially John Danby, City registered their second home victory of the campaign, and the Blues move on to -16 points, now 23 points away from safety at the foot of the BSP.

Manager, Mick Wadsworth, was delighted with the points but acknowledged that it perhaps wasn't best he has seen from his side this season.

Next up for the Blues is a home game against Stevenage Borough on Saturday, where Chester will bid to win successive games for the first time in 90 matches.

Eastbourne Borough 1 Chester City 1

The disappointment continues for Chester fans after their side were unable to bring home the three points from the south coast.

City fell behind inside the first five minutes thanks to Kevin Roberts poor headed back pass which fell invitingly for Andy Atkin who made no mistake to put Eastbourne ahead.

The Blues levelled things up on the stroke of half time, as Gregg Blundell scored his first goal since re-signing for Chester, from the penalty spot after Neil Ashton had been brought down by Matt Crabb.

The Blues were unable to go and win the game, and in fact were under much pressure in the second half, that saw Borough strike the post a number of times.

It means then, that City are now on -19 points, but more importantly 26 points away from safety, and this is the run of games that appeared on paper to be a great chance to net points.

The next game up is Gateshead, at the Deva next Tuesday, which like most of our other games, is a must win.

Next up : Eastbourne Borough

The Blues tomorrow make the long distance to Eastbourne to see if they can get three points off the Borough.

Chester City are badly needing a win as they aim to hit their 70 points target for the season, of which right now, they have 5, which is nowhere near where we have to be.

Manager Mick Wadsworth, is likely to have a small reshuffle, and put Tim Ryan back into the centre half position, with Michael Lea heading back out to the left back position, being left footed, that would appear to be the most natural place for him to be!

Chris Lynch will no doubt partner Ryan, with the question hanging over Shaun Kelly, and whether he will be placed in the right back position, with Kevin Roberts able to fill that position, but he could find himself in midfield. Rhys Meynell could be a candidate for that right back position also.

Midfield should consist of Anthony Barry, with Ben Wilkinson & Neil Ashton and potentially Roberts, whilst up front I'd imagine we'll be seeing Gregg Blundell & Nick Chadwick, who seem to be developing a good link between them at present.

Hopefully City can get the win they need and start pushing this minus figure down to 17, which could prove to be lower, if the points deduction appeal that seems to be going through is won.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow then, Come on City!

Chester City 1 Tamworth 2

City crashed to another defeat last night as the joy from Saturday's 2-0 win was short lived as Tamworth took advantage of some sloppy defending to beat the Blues, and keep Chester rooted on -20 points.

It was Tamworth who looked the busier side in all honesty, and took a deserved lead when a pass that sliced open both Chris Lynch & Shaun Kelly fell kindly for Richard Tait who stretched out a leg and guided the ball past keeper John Danby, who really didn't need to come off his line in this instance.

Chester almost hit back immediately, when Anthony Barry fired in a shot turned round the post by the Tamworth keeper.

City should have levelled, when an effort struck the bar early in the second half, but no-one could follow up,and a drop ball was given just outside the six yard box.

The Blues fell further behind in the second half when Chris Smith had the easiest of goals to score having seen John Danby leave the ball for what he thought was going to be a goal kick, only for Tom Shaw to head back towards goal, Danby could only parry the ball back out to Smith who made no mistake from inside the 6 yard box.

City then rallied and had possibly their best spell of the game, but were guilty of missing chances for fun, one of those missed chances saw Anthony Barry screw well wide, before a misguided effort from Gregg Blundell fell kindly for Nick Chadwick who diverted the ball home to make it 2-1, and game on.

City threw everything forward, but never seemed like getting an outright chance to level matters up, that was until injury time, when substitute Adam Kay, chested a ball down inside the area, threw a dummy, but then blasted high over not just the bar, but the stand also, and City's chance to come away with a point was gone.

It was an expensive night booking wise, as Chester saw 6 players booked as Roberts, Blundell, Ellams, Lynch, Ryan, and Ashton all saw yellow.

Mick Wadsworth admitted afterwards that perhaps he was wrong to play Tim Ryan in the left back role, after being shifted to allow Shaun Kelly back in the centre half position.

In truth, a Draw was possibly what we deserved, but it's a defeat, and now City must regroup, and try to claim the points on their long trip south to Eastbourne Borough on Saturday.

Vaughan's on the move?

According to sources close to Stephen Vaughan, rumours are abound that Stephen Vaughan Junior has moved to Northwich Victoria on loan, the Vics are in the Blue Square North, and like Chester, started the season on minus points, so Vaughan will feel at home on that score.

Whether he is good enough for Northwich will remain to be seen, in my opinion he isn't good enough for Chester City, and hopefully this is the best thing that can happen to the midfielder, as being at City does nothing for his confidence, but maybe his level may be Blue Square North.

In my opinion, he does not offer Chester much in the way of creativity, has probably only enjoyed a small amount of good performances, and if he was honest with himself, he will probably agree with that.

James Vaughan could also be on the move, apparently mulling over offers from a number of other clubs. Vaughan of course was in Australia over the summer, but was drafted back in to the City side, much to the annoyance of many Blues fans, who certainly questioned their validity in both Vaughan's now being in the squad.

Rumours are also in place that both Stephen Vaughan Junior & James Vaughan, are the owners of the club at present which will come as a shock to many City fans.

Chester are in action tonight, as they attempt to follow up Saturday's win over Histon, by grabbing another 3 points, this time off Tamworth, who have started this season really well, so they will certainly be no pushovers.

Chester City 2 Histon 0

The Blues finally got their first victory of the season yesterday by beating Histon 2-0 at the Deva Stadium.

Kevin Roberts & Nick Chadwick both headed home goals as City defeated a Histon side that were backed by 26 supporters in the away enclosure.

The Blues had to wait until the 44th minute to get in front, when a corner was swung over and Roberts met it at the far post to score his first of the season.

Before the match it was announced in the team line ups that both Stephen & James Vaughan would play in the side together, this was certainly a talking point amongst the Blues fans, who questioned the authority of manager Mick Wadsworth, believing that he had been forced to play both sons of the Chairman.

Stephen Vaughan was substituted, and this seemed to have a positive effect as City quickly added a second goal to kill off the game, when Gregg Blundell swung over a cross for Nick Chadwick to get his head on.

That was that, and the three points were City's in a less than convincing performance, but certainly tasted better than a draw or defeat, and brings City to -20 in the league table now, and 25 points away from safety, being the total haul of points from the fifth bottom placed team.

Chester now face Tamworth at the Deva on Tuesday night, in a bid to get the total to -17, let's hope they can record a second successive victory for the first time in over 80 games.

You can view the highlights of the game here

City Fans United gets going!

City Fans United, the new fans group designed to make Chester Fans groups unite under the same umbrella, has officially got going.

Chester City ISA & Chester City Supporters Trust have got together, and thrashed out their future hopes, meaning one supporters group, City Fans United.

The name has been decided, the working party also decided, to get lift off for the new group, which starts their action of getting new members to sign up this Saturday.

Lots of initiatives will be coming Chester Fans way very soon, where CFU intend to get the Chester support back on track, and prepare for any eventual move to maybe one day buying into the Club, and offer a better stewardship in future years.

Already the supporters who are voting with their feet right now have vowed to pay their £15 entrance money into the coffers to still show their support for the club, but not the owner, which under the current circumstances is fair enough.

Chester City fans have suffered the disastrous administration filled summer, but do not want to turn their backs on the club, many will still attend of course, but others will not go simply whilst Stephen Vaughan is at the helm.

Chester Fans United is here, and here to stay, now the Group are calling for Fans to get involved, and register as members.

The CFU website will soon be launched, and will be a breath of fresh air to the Club's fanbase.

For the time being please feel free to send your ideas via the comments below, and they will be forwarded to the group, of which I am part of at the outset, to take forward, and put into place.

The Future Starts Now.

City get ready for Histon as Fabian leaves

Tomorrow, Chester will aim to net their first home win since Boxing Day 2008, yes it really has been that long since the Deva faithful witnessed their last home win.

It's Histon who stand in the way of that feat, and they'll be no easy pushovers, Histon being a big strong team who will no doubt cause an aerial threat to City's small team.

They haven't started as well as last season, where they chased play off glory, but they will certainly be difficult to play against, hopefully the lads can do the business and get some much needed points.

This is a BIG month for the Blues, as they have 4 out of the next 6 games at home, Histon, Tamworth, Gateshead & Stevenage, with the away games being at Eastbourne, before finishing off the month away to Wrexham in the first ever non league derby against the Goats.

So, can City now get on a run going into that game? Let's hope so.

Fingers crossed that we can do it.

Gregg Blundell may be given his first start since his return to injury, however it may be too soon for a return to action for Shaun Kelly. Anthony Barry is also in contention for a comeback.

One player who won't be coming back, is Fabian Yantorno, who has left by mutual consent, following the cancellation of his contract, the club have said that this is down to his injury problems - time will no doubt tell on that one.

Anyway come on you blues tomorrow!

Argentinian plays in friendly defeat

Chester City yesterday played out a 1-0 friendly defeat at Macclesfield Town, and included Argentinian trialist Andreas Andro, who Mick Wadsworth is currently running the rule over.

The left sided midfielder has been recommended by Fabian Yantorno, who is due to return to Uruguay in a bid to get fit to play for City, following a bad reaction to an injury, during the friendly game against Crewe two weeks ago.

City also included Gregg Blundell & Shaun Kelly who are making their return sto action following injuries, as well as Anthony Barry, who was in the side also, after limping off in Chester's first game of the season against Cambridge after just five minutes.

The Blues now have a chance to get some points on the board, as they now have a run of 4 matches out of the next 5, at home. The first of which is against Histon at the Deva on Saturday.

Altrincham 1 Chester City 1

The Blues managed to net their second point of the season so far, as they came from behind to draw 1-1 at Altrincham.

It was Altrincham that started the ball rolling after 22 minutes when Colin Little headed home from ex Chester defender Matt Doughty's cross.

Ben Wikinson grabbed his second goal of the season when he was picked out by Kevin Roberts, to level the game up.

Tim Ryan & Ben Wilkinson were booked for City.

Chester really should have taken the initiative at this point and secured all 3 points, but failed to do so, and as such have only moved to -23 points in the League table.

City remain 28 points from safety, and next up are two home games, Histon on Saturday, followed by Tamworth a week tonight.

Chester's season really started in earnest yesterday following those nightmare opening 4 games, where we had to face 4 teams in the top 8, including the three favourites to go up this season.

Now the battle starts, with winnable games (on paper at least) heading up to the first Wrexham derby match in non league football takes place.

Mick Wadsworth & Daryl Clare Interviews

Please find them attached on this link, couldn't resist it with Deadly Daryl...

http://www.natv.co.uk/

Chester City 0 Mansfield Town 1

Chester City remain rooted to the table on minus 24 points after they went down to an early goal at home to Mansfield Town today.

Rob Duffy's 2nd minute strike was enough to give the Stags the win that puts them into 2nd place in the Blue Square Premier League.

City's closest effort came from Lewis Alessandra, who smashed a shot against the post as the woodwork got in City's way for the second week running.

In truth, City could not find a way past Mansfield's stubborn, and strong defence, and despite the introduction of Gregg Blundell, could not get level.

There were also bookings for Nick Chadwick & Chris Lynch for City today.

It's four games now, and three defeats, with just the solitary point at Luton to show for the efforts, however the early fixtures have not been kind to the Blues, and many including myself will see the start of the season for real on Monday, when City make the short distance to Altrincham.

If the Blues can get a win from that game, they will then take on Histon & Gateshead at the Deva in successive games, and maybe, just maybe, they can get some kind of run going.

So defeat again then for the Blues, let's hope our fortunes change on Monday.

Mystery surrounds Yantorno departure

Fabian Yantorno is to return to Uruguay in a bid to get fit - at least that's the news that the club have put out about the signing that Mick Wadsworth would light up the Blue Square premier League.

Several rumours are doing the rounds that Yantorno has in fact not received international clearance to play for the club, and also one that believes the Uruguayan has not been paid.

Wadsworth has said that the striker "needs his knee clearing out" and that he struggled after the Crewe game, in which he only played the last fifteen minutes, so disappointment then for City fans who had hoped to see him do some damage to the Conference teams, and not his own knee!

It's also a blow for City as he is likely to be away for 6-8 weeks according to the club.

Who'll have the Stag Party tomorrow then?

So, Chester have their second home game of the season tomorrow, and will bid to win their first game of their delayed season, which has seen them gain 1 point from 3 games.

City will no doubt have to stick with the same players that played last Saturday in the goalless draw at Luton Town, but will hopefully have gained a bit of confidence form that game.

It looks unlikely that both Gregg Blundell & Fabian Yantorno will be included, as they continue their comeback from injuries, but hopefully they will be in contention in the next couple of weeks.

As for Mansfield, they have been fairly free scoring so far, having won 4 of their opening 5 games, that defeat being at Luton. In those games however, they have netted 13 goals, with Rob Duffy, Kyle Perry, and Jake Speight all chipping with 3 goals apiece, and ex Chester striker Daryl Clare has also got in on the act too, grabbing 2 goals so far, they being penalties in the 4-1 win over Barrow.

Hopefully Chester will earn their first win of the season, as they continue to get match fit. The Blues are expected to start with Nick Chadwick & Lewis Alessandra starting up front.

Blues lose friendly, but Blundell back

Chester City lost their behind closed doors friendly against Crewe Alexandra 3-2 yesterday, although will be pleased that striker Gregg Blundell was back amongst the goals following his 20 minute appearance.

However, Manager Mick Wadsworth, still believes the striker is 3-4 games away from a return to action, which begs the question, why does it always seem to take longer for players at Chester to return from injury than any other club???

Blundell was alongside fellow injury victim Fabian Yantorno, who made a 5 minute appearance in the defeat, and hopefully he will see more action in future games, certainly Chester need him in the first team sooner rather than later.

City also fielded a South American striker, apparently recommended by Yantorno, and is believed to be from Argentina, although rumours of Lionel Messi have been quashed by City Officials, an insider said "We couldn't guarantee Messi a place in the starting eleven, so we had to turn down his application".

Glenn Rule & Shaun Kelly picked up injuries in the game, which is worrying as the Blues are of course back in action on Saturday at home to Mansfield, hopefully they are not too serious.

Blundell & Yantorno set to return

Gregg Blundell & Fabian Yantorno will take a further step towards their first team return tomorrow night, when they entertain Crewe in a behind closed doors friendly.

Blundell has been out injured since signing for City, whilst Yantorno pulled up just after signing, meaning both players missed the start of the season.

The Blues are desperate to increase their options up front, and the return of both Blundell & Yantorno would certainly boost that situation. Currently Nick Chadwick & Lloyd Ellams have been running the front line for City.

Shaun Kelly, is also set to return in the friendly at the Deva tomorrow, and Chester could certainly do with the centre half returning to bolster a defence that despite conceding 8 goals in its first two games, managed a clean sheet at Luton.

Manager Mick Wadsworth is now urging Chester to gain "consistency" which he believes is the key, and that the standard has now been set following the performance at Kenilworth Road.

Chester City have been drawn against Nantwich Town in the Qualifying Round of the FA Youth Cup, the game will take place on Wednesday 9th September, which is a day after the first team take on Tamworth at the Deva Stadium.

Blues earn point at Luton in 0-0 draw

It's great to report tonight that Chester City are off the mark, and now sit on -24 points in the Blue Square Premier League table following their 0-0 draw at Luton Town, who before the game were joint leaders of the League.

City included defender Chris Lynch & midfielder Adam Kay in their line up after signing from Burnley yesterday.

The Blues almost snatched the lead when Nick Chadwick headed against the cross bar in the first half, but withstood pressure in the second half to take a point at Kenilworth Road.

Ben Wilkinson & Chris Lynch were both booked for the Blues, but other than that a good day for the City, which sees us get off the mark, hopefully we can now put in a strong performance next Saturday at home to Mansfield Town, who will include Chester legend, Daryl Clare.

www.chestercitytv.co.uk launched!

Today, I launched a brand new website, ChesterCityTV, a site that you can view all kinds of CCFC footage - from the 1970's right up to the 2000's!

It's a site that I have created to capture all of the Chester City footage in a central location, and one which will hopefully take off as time goes by!

Please feel free to check out the site, and pass on to any friends or other Chester supporters that you know of - I really want to make this work!!!

www.chestercitytv.co.uk

Please also list your comments below once you have visited the site, as I value any kind of feedback.

Mannix & Harris Sacked

Chester City have terminated the contracts of both David Mannix & Jay Harris, who were involved in betting scandals last season.

The two former Accrington Stanley players have been given their marching orders, and will now face a battle to find other clubs to play for in the future once they have served their bans from the game.

Hopefully this means that Chester will now be able to strengthen the squad in key areas now, with 2 midfield places available in their absence.

City have signed centre back Chris Lynch and midfielder Adam Kay from Burnley arriving at the Deva in the new days also. Lynch, who is in his first year as a professional, stands at 6ft 3 and could fit in defence quite easily at present, considering it has shipped in 8 goals in it's first 2 games of the season, whilst Kay is in his second year in the game, and spent a spell at Accrington Stanley last season.

The two are expected to go straight into the squad that faces Luton Town at Kenilworth Road tomorrow afternoon.

Elsewhere, Chester have re-arranged their home game against Gateshead Town to Tuesday 15th September.

Oldham's Lewis Alessandra to rejoin Chester

Lewis Alessandra looks set to join Chester City once again on a month's loan from Oldham Athletic.

The Latics 20 year old striker initially joined City during the much fabled pre season campaign, and banged in two quality goals against Droylsden, and the behind closed doors friendly against Premier League newcomers Burnley, however Alessandra returned to Boundary Park following the unrest at the Deva Stadium.

The striker is expected to re-join City today and will more than likely partner Nick Chadwick up front for Chester's daunting trip to Luton on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Mick Wadsworth has failed in his attempts to land Australian midfielder Erik Paartalu, who has decided to remain at his current club Greenock Morton, which just highlights the problem that Wadsworth has in luring players to a club that has been deducted 25 points and lost its first two games.

The addition of Alessandra though is an exciting one however, and hopefully if things work out, the loan period can be extended.

It will be interesting to see if the Football Association class this as their second loan of the season, or whether it falls into the same as the first as Oldham originally pulled back the striker.

Oxford United 4 Chester City 0

Life just got a step worse at the Kassam Stadium tonight, as the Blues went down to another heavy defeat, this time being thumped 4-0 away to Oxford United.

For the second successive game, a forward on the opposing side notched a hat trick against a City defence which has now shipped 8 goals in its first two matches.

James Constable was the major difference between the sides tonight, as City crumbled to a second half hat trick from the United striker, whilst Matt Green scored the other goal, as Chester's hopes of taking anything out of this game disappeared 12 minutes after half time.

The Blues managed to frustrate Oxford United in the opening 45 minutes, and hopes were high amongst the City faithful that maybe a point, or even more, could be gained from the game.

But, just after half time those hopes were dashed as James Constable opened the scoring, and despite the introduction of midfielder James Owen (on for centre half Lloyd Ellams), Matt Green made it 2-0 just 10 minutes later. Constable then struck his second goal 6 minutes from time, and crowned his night by grabbing the hat trick on 90 minutes.

So, that was that as far as City's night was concerned - a big well done to the 131 Chester fans that braved the trip to Oxfordshire tonight - they deserve some credit for that!

Next up for City, it's Luton away, one look at the table shows that they are joint leaders, it just doesn't get any better does it??

After that, Mansfield Town at home, and the return of Daryl Clare, who scored twice tonight in their home game against Barrow.

Chester City 2 Cambridge United 4

Chester City finally kicked off their Blue Square Premier League season today, but sadly went down 4-2 at home to Cambridge Utd.

Ex Chester striker Chris Holroyd came back to haunt the Blues with a well taken hat trick, despite Chester taking a 2-0 lead.

Unbelievably, Chester opened the scoring within the first 20 seconds, through new signing Ben Wilkinson, son of ex Leeds & England manager, Howard Wilkinson.

Ex Everton striker Nick Chadwick netted the second goal on 19 minutes having come on as sub for the injured Anthony Barry, having seized on a poor back pass from ex City defender Wayne Hatswell, and Chadwick, who had only signed on for a year on Friday afternoon, shaped himself, and finished off nicely to give the Blues a 2 goal cushion.

It wasn't enough however, as the tide turned just before half time, when Cambridge were awarded a straight forward penalty, and Holroyd smashed it home, then just a minute later midfielder Robbie Willmott struck a deflected free kick past John Danby in the Chester goal to make it 2-2 in first half stoppage time.

In the second half, Cambridge took control, and Holroyd was again on the mark after 74 minutes with a fine bicycle kick following a perfect cross from former Tranmere winger Andy Parkinson.

Holroyd completed his hat trick, with a tap in on 89 minutes, which condemned City to their opening day defeat to the U's.

So, the first match is out of the way, but plenty of positives to take from the game, as City dominated the first half, but thanks to a lack of concentration, ended up going in level when it should have been 2-0 at half time.

Elsewhere on the pitch, Neil Ashton, signed from Shrewsbury, looked half decent, and up front Lloyd Ellams put in a good performance.

So, it's Oxford away next on Tuesday night.

City are back in!

The Football Association have granted Chester City the licence to play football!

The news has just broken that the FA insisted that the Conference had broken it's own rules by getting Chester City to accept a further 15 point deduction, and that is why affiliation was not forthcoming.

It now means that the Blues will play Cambridge United on Saturday at the Deva Stadium, in what should have been City's third game of the new campaign.

There is now relief all round, but now the battle to find a suitable owner begins for the bulk of Chester fans.

Chester fans to show they care

Tonight at the Deva Stadium, Chester City fans are expected to show up in their numbers in a bid to show the national media that they want the FA to give Chester City the chance to play football.

Currently the club has not been granted affiliation to the FA, and time is desperately against the club now if they are to avoid being thrown out of the Conference, and even worse..folding.

Blues fans will be making their case heard tonight at the Deva in front of several media men that have been invited to the ground by a Chester City fan, who like others, is desperate to see her club given the all important go ahead from the FA, who are due to meet with the Football Conference tomorrow.

It's a big week for Blues fans, and some of which kicked off their protests last night at the Deva Stadium, in a bid to make their feelings about current owner Stephen Vaughan known.

Hopefully tonight, the media will take note of City's plight, and try to influence the FA to allow the Blues to take part in this season's Blue Square Premier League.

Now Gateshead game is off

The Football Association have now forced Chester City to cancel their game at home to Gateshead Town tomorrow night.

The Football Conference were also under orders to ensure that the game was postponed, as the FA have yet to grant the Blues affiliation to their organisation.

Earlier in the day, the Football Conference clubs had voted unanimously in favour of letting Chester City take part in the Blues Square Premier League, but this seems to have been just a flimsy exercise that the FA hoped one club would say "No" and the matter would be settled, Chester City would not be allowed in.

Thankfully not one BSP club wants to kill off Chester City, and the FA are beginning to come in for more criticism as they constantly refuse to say exactly what the stumbling blocks are.

So, the saga rumbles on again, and now Chester must wait until Thursday for the Conference & the FA to meet in what is scheduled to be the meeting to end the issue.

City's next game is at home to Cambridge on Saturday.

The club have issued a rather large statement, with Stephen Vaughan building himself up to be something he'snot - a hero. The statement is here.