Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Well it's been a while since I blogged - it's just been crazily busy recently so not really had the chance to do much, so 2012 will be different on that score that's for sure - it's been a brilliant 12 months with the Championship win and the team currently top of the Evo-Stik Premier League - what an amazing feat that the lads have achieved.
It's been a very busy time off the pitch too, with much work being done behind the scenes too, and special praise must go out to all the volunteers who are each doing their own bit to help drive the club forward - I'm sure each and every one of those volunteers really enjoy what they are doing to help, and that is how we all feel too, so again together as one.

One of my favourite moments of 2011

Being a Chester fan has never been easy, and its definitely been challenging at times, but the 10's (as in the 80s, 90s etc) has certainly got off to a great start, and that 40 year cycle of Chester FC continues to trend, in the 1930's the club entered the football league, in the 1970's the Club enjoyed it's best ever spell, and now in the 2010's we are enjoying the Club being reborn, and treating us all to some great away days, and results to go with them.

Next week of course it's the Boxing Day match at Northwich, and I can't remember getting this excited since that Boxing Day trip to Preston North End when we were chasing promotion from the old Division 3 (the one after it used to be Division 4 of course!), and that day we took 2500 fans to Deepdale, with the home stewards and police shocked that we'd brought so many. I think only the trip to Blackburn could put that one in the shade, and what an atmosphere that turned out to be, and I'm sure the one at Northwich will be a cracker (no pun intended), and the sound of 'Yellows Yellows' will be ringing away arund the ground.

Much has been made of the Northwich chairman, and their interesting way of ticketing arrangements, and we will only know on Boxing Day if what they decided on was a mistake or not, certainly their 'poke' at Chester was unwarranted, and every other Club has agreed to the commission rate on tickets sold from the Exacta - it's just standard practice - but for some it obviously isn't. They want slave labour.

This last week has been interesting too on the media side of things, with a request for me to do an interview with the Ebbsfleet Podcast to help preview the big game in the FA Trophy in January. The podcast is I think aimed at those exiled from Ebbsfleet, or those who have bought a piece of 'My Football Club' that live in the US - either way, it was a nice little interview and I tried to push home just what Chester fans had been through in the last few years, well decades I should say!

That interview is due to air sometime next week I believe.

9 Gold Rings - Classic Ash!

Last night was the Chester FC Christmas Party, and it was a really good night once again at Chester Racecourse, and a chance to take the mickey out of a few of the players via the Christmas Quiz - seeing them attempting to guess the Christmas song titles via a Give Us a Clue type game was classic!

Well that's about it today, I could go on, but it's my last day at work and I now have to get ready before 12 years at MBNA comes to an end, so to all Chetser fans, have a brilliant Christmas & New Year, and let's get those singing voices ready for Northwich on Boxing Day - COYB!

By the way The Jestrian, what a top blog, and amazingly one of my favourite Christmas bites is a box of Jaffa Cakes!

Merry Christmas!