Championes Championes Ole Ole Ole...

What an insane end to Chester FC's very first league campaign, but one that ends on a really high having secured the title following an unbelievable twist of events that no-one expected!

The build up to the big day was the feeling of confidence of going into the game at Garforth needing just a point but believing we'd get the three to make it 100 points.

The day itself started with the departing of the team bus from the Exacta Stadium at 10.15am, and many fans who were themselves jumping on the Hipkiss Express(es) were there in force already to wave the boys off!

We had a good laugh on the way, with the lads in great spirits, and every other car that went past the coach on the motorway seemed to have a Chester scarf in it, and many let us know they were Blues fans with the obligatory horn tooting!

The funniest thing on the way was watching Gary Jones engrossed in the royal wedding, apparently he's a bit of a royalist so was enjoying soaking the coverage on the tv - mind you half the team was too!

The coach then stopped for brekky at a Holiday Inn about 20 miles from Garforth where they all had a light breakfast before setting off again, and now the excitement started to begin in earnest.

We then approached the ground, and now the sight of Chester fans in their colours was there to greet us, and what a sight it was - it felt just like Cup Final Day when you see the coaches arrive at Wembley, well this was our Wembley for the day, and most probably the 44th Cup final of the season!

Straight into the ground then and time to sort out a few media duties before going outside and sampling the atmosphere - I was hoping to sample a pre match burger but that queue was too bloody long!!

So, went for a walk around the ground to speak to a few regulars, and catch up with people who I used to chat with so often, but through my role have hardly had time to do since the season started, so it was nice to catch up again.

It really was the longest wait for a match to start though, and a look at the watch showed it was only 2.15 - another 45 to go - sheesh, why is it taking so long???

Then, it was time to get into my seat in the half decent stand that a lot of the Blues fans were situated in, and get behind the lads for what we hoped would be the championship winning performance and result - well what the hell, just the result would do!

No further had we kicked off it seemed that the first 'tweet' came in from Frank Hughes at Skelmersdale telling us that they had gone 1 up - no problem I thought, was half expecting that, then came 2-0. Hmmm.

The news then came through that it was 2-1, so suddenly Ossett were producing a fightback to help us out, not that we needed it as we were doing okay, creating a few chances, but not looking in trouble.

Then just before half time Asp lobbed a nice ball through to Powelly, who turned on a sixpence (often used commentators line there!) to hammer it home and put us into the lead - his fourth goal in four games, not a bad record for a lad who seemed to be getting hammered for some of his earlier performances, a tad unfair I'd say considering he'd only played about twice!

So, in at half time 1 up, with the news that Skem had grabbed a third - no problem, we were winning and it would mean Garforth would have to score twice to stop us winning the league, it looked unlikely didn't it???

During the first half the PA announcer said that he'd keep us up to date with the score at Skem, but as soon as he blurted out the early goal for Skem, we told him to put a lid on it, as we didn't need the lads distracted by that all match - just as well really considering what followed in the 2nd half!!!

Half time, and a quick breather - glass of water, happy that we'd gone in 1 up and were just 45 minutes from glory, it was a nice feeling.

Out for the second half then, and ready to go, only the substitution for Garforth seemed to galvanise them, and soon enough tweets were coming through from Skem that it was 4-1, then 5-1, and all of a sudden Garforth drew level.

It got worse of course, when Skem knocked in a sixth goal, and the unthinkable happened...Garforth scored to put themselves 2-1 up, a great goal, but one that completely knocked the stuffing out of us.

Suddenly, we were up against it, and when the news that Skem had gone 7-1 up came in, I began fearing the worst, could our dreams be in tatters??

Up popped the news that Ossett had pulled one back, so 7-2, and so it was back to 2 goals required for Skem IF we lost our game, what we had to bear in mind though was of course that we could not afford to concede another goal AT ALL.

I took a quick look around and I don't think I've seen so many people looking at watches and mobile phones to try and get updates, then someone shouted that it was now 8-2 but all eyes were on Neil who had someone at the Skem ground, but before we could get any signal from Neil, it was then 'apparently' 8-3, the emotions were now horrendous, I felt physically sick at this point.

Peterborough 2000 - horrible

Neil then looked up and signalled that it was still 7-2, and couldn't understand where other scores were coming from, but I guess we'll just put it down to those bizarre but really unhelpful 'last day rumours' - I think we all remember what happened in 2000 when someone jumped up mistakenly believing that a goal had gone in at the Shrewsbury v Exeter game, and we were 'apparently' safe, so we HAD to find out what the real score was.

It was 2 minutes before the end of the game, and we made our way down to the tunnel, and our game was all of sudden coming to an end, and we'd fail to find that equalizer, with the lads clearly affected by what was going on at Skem.

Neil then signalled that there was 6 minutes of injury time at Skelmersdale, so we then knew our fate, if Skem scored another 2, it would mean play offs for us, this was just unbearable.

After a few minutes I walked over to Neil, to find out, my timing was great as he turned round and said 'We've done it' before the celebratory pitch invasion took place - I'm not the strongest of lads, but I just lifted Youngy in the air in sheer delight, as we had done it, clinched the title in amazing circumstances.

For you Richie!

It was all full on celebrations from that point, and after several hugging of players, and fans, it was back to the tunnel where 'calm-as-you-like' Pat Cluskey was handing out the 'We did it Rich' t-shirts, which we were desperately hoping we'd be able to wear in memory and tribute to Rich Wightman, and I swear it was Rich who played his part by getting us over the line, under a gorgeous blue sky on Friday!

The singing fan in me came out as I joined in with just about every song that was being sung, but I was absolutely shattered at the same time, with adrenalin keeping me going!

It wasn't long before the trophy was held aloft and that signalled the first achievement of our proud little club, with an amazing 2300 fans that had turned the M62 into a sea of blue and white, I don't think that estate in Garforth knew what had hit it!!

Just before getting on the coach it was time to grab a Championship winning burger, one I'd been craving for all match, but knowing if I'd have had one at half time, I probably would have been sick in that 2nd half, so now I could enjoy my favourite match food - none of this prawn sandwich stuff for me thanks!

The journey home was a quiet one personally as I just felt drained, but the lads at the back of the team bus were going for it good style, with plenty of signing going on.

One funny moment was Wildey asking if we had actually won the title as he'd heard that Skem had scored enough to win, we told him that the trophy wasn't going back now!!!

It was also broken to Wildey that he'd won the golden boot so that delighted him, and Chester's number 10 was in good form for the rest of the night!!!

Back to the ground, and time to film the homecoming, but from an inside the coach point of view rather than the fans outside seeing the bus coming in, and Big George was there with the trophy straight away to show it off to everyone - how good though, a Chester lad holding up a Chester FC championship trophy - sweet.

It was a great day, and then the official homecoming party, but I can't summon up the energy for that write up now, that will have to wait!!!

Well done you Blues!!!

The highs and lows of being a Chester fan!

Well it’s been a while since I last blogged, in fact 11 days, so plenty to catch up with on all things Chester FC.




Travelodge Durham - a bit busy last week!

  It was great to see Wildey take the goalscoring charts by storm recently, and obviously at Durham where he grabbed himself a hat trick, scoring all the goals in a 3-0 win on the artificial pitch with many making the trip to spend the weekend up in Durham!

Then onto Fylde on the Tuesday night where Wildey was rested, and many were expecting a very close game with Fylde, and that’s certainly how it started with Fylde going close on more than one occasion, but then the goal from Kyle Wilson started the ball rolling for us, and it wasn’t long before the second arrived when Iain Howard netted to effectively kill the game.

Then up popped Robbie Booth to score a third goal, and well deserved given Boothy’s form recently, and that was it, job done, in the Cup Semi Final, against either Curzon Ashton or Lancaster City – time will tell on that, but the fact remains we’re one win away from the final!

The following day I did an interview for Goal.com which will hopefully be published soon – great to see another media outlet getting interested in Chester FC – and we have a Chester fan in Gazz Pashley to thank for helping to set that up.

Then on Thursday, the day everyone wasn’t particularly looking forward to – the day when we would say farewell to Rich Wightman, and a half day at work was followed by the funeral at Caldy Valley Church which was packed out, and that was replicated at Blacon Crematorium where everyone had crammed in to the small venue for the service – even the Minister taking the service was astounded at the numbers turning up for Rich.

Then back to the Exacta Stadium for the Wake, and spirits were lifted throughout the afternoon with the family being extremely appreciative towards Chester fans, that was Rich’s life, and I’m sure will continue to be up there as he looks down from above.

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's Wildey!

So, after a draining day for all, back to the football, and on Saturday Rich’s family and friends – about 30 in all were there to see the Blues thump home 5 goals in an amazing second half period that saw yet another Wilde hat trick – it wouldn’t surprise me to see him run into a telephone box, do a few twists, and all of a sudden come out as the caped crusader!

Typically, I managed to miss his best goal of the afternoon having run into tell those still working behind the scenes that it was 2-0, all I heard was a massive roar before getting my vantage point, it was like one of those moments where you see your bus driving off in the distance just as you’ve turned the last corner for the bus stop!

It didn’t help that doorman Ed told me that it was one of his best goals, great – just great. Thank god for NATV’s highlights package hey?

Made sure Colin Murray was aware of the score, and he promptly replied by saying we need to keep hold of Wildey – now there’s an understatement of the year!

Following the match was of course ‘the queue’ for the Chorley tickets – having only been given 1200 tickets (1100 initially until we advised we would need more), there were 500 tickets going on general sale, and a queue that featured about 20 people in it just after 4pm soon grew to around 250 by 4.45pm, and by 5pm it had stretched to 450 – such was the demand for a ticket to the match at Victory park – let’s hope it’s us who are celebrating a ‘Victory’ at the ‘Park’ on Saturday.

I began counting the numbers in the queue to try and assure everyone that they would be okay for a ticket, but unfortunately I ended up getting into conversations with people, and that was it, lost my count so I’d have to start again!

Thankfully the queue never went beyond the 500 mark, and only 20 tickets were left to sell on Monday at the ground, which as expected were snapped up in 5 minutes!

Sausage & Chips - you just can't beat it!

 So, a great weekend was had with Chester winning by a 5-0 margin, sausage & chips on the way home before celebrating with a few glasses of wine – well more than a few, but still just managed to watch Match of the Day, albeit hanging on to whatever vision I had left after all that Pinot Grigio!

Yesterday was of course St Milner’s Day with Chester fans across the globe paying tribute to the man who rescued a point from the very large jaws of defeat at the Racecourse that night 16 years ago – I remember it well as I’d left my tickets on the dining room table such was the rush to get over to that place down the 483.

I remember the sinking feeling once I’d got the massive floodlights in range, but I had no alternative, I had to go back for them as I was not missing this game – so I flew down the 483 back to Chester – thankfully the police must all have been concentrating on other matters so they didn’t see me going at 116mph all the way back to Chester! (hope they aren’t reading this by the way!)

Anyway, made it back in time – just – and got to witness an incredible 90 minutes, where the Blues had 12 men to beat (that referee was just encouraging a riot wasn’t he with his decisions?) and whilst we didn’t beat Wrexham, that equalizer was like the greatest goal ever, and probably one of the most celebrated goals ever too!

Ooh Andy Milner, Ooh Andy Milner!

So, raised a glass to Andy Milner yesterday too!

Onto today, or tonight to be more precise and 3 points is the order of the day at Woodley Sports, who have been extremely welcoming so far, hopefully they’ll allow us to leave with maximum points tonight, although I don’t want any on the way home down the M56!

Come on you Blues!

Richie, Leigh, and Chorley!

Well what an emotional last few days it's been at Chester FC, with the sad passing of Rich, which I've already blogged on here.

Still smiling Richie lad!

It's been great to see Richie's mum the last few days and assure her that the club are going to do absolutely everything it can to pay tribute to the great man - we have a number of things planned, and we will of course have a minute's applause next Saturday (12th February) at the Exacta Stadium when we take on Clitheroe.

It's been very moving reading all the tributes that have been left for Rich both on Facebook and also at the Stadium gates where many have left flowers and scarves, and I'm sure there will be many more yet.

Turning back to footballing matters, and sadly Tuesday night we couldn't get that win for Rich, but we did manage not to lose a game that appeared to be heading that way up to the last 5 minutes after Leigh Genesis had scored with just 20 minutes left to play.

If only it were that light on Tuesday!

Getting to the ground was a challenge as I didn't have a sat nav to play with, so it was pure scribbled down instructions from Google Maps, and constant flicking the light on whilst driving to see where the hell I was supposed to be heading.

One embarrassing moment was when we were on the estate leading up to the ground, I pulled over as I saw two figures walking towards a house, having wound my window down I shouted "Oi hads, don't suppose you know the way to Crilly Park do you?" - imagine my shame when out of the shadows into the light appeared one of the 'lads' that was actually a young woman - ooops - should have gone to Spec Savers!

We didn't perform well at all on the night, and although the 'larger than life' goalkeeper Phil Priestley caught everything, we should have tested him more.

A few glancing headers went wide of the target when an inch the other way would have found the net, and Wildey tried his best to find a goal but it just wouldn't happen. Just when things were looking very very grim for the Blues, and with the light getting seemingly worse at the small ground, nice work between Iain Howard and Michael Wilde set up Chris Simm who made no mistake from 15 yards and we were back level again.

Up to that point I'd been standing on what must have been the coldest bit of concrete around, as I could hardly move when we scored - or was that in fear of jumping off the step into a massive pool of mud - I don't know!

So, we ended it 1-1, and kept our unbeaten record going and also the record of scoring in every League game this season so far too.

The next thing to happen was the Chorley saga, and the tickets were received for the away game at their place on February 19th - but all tickets were labelled up as £10 with no concessions.

Spotted in Lancashire, can you guess where?

This naturally didn't go down too well, and what made it worse is that Chorley became the only club this season to want to charge more for away fans than home fans, something clearly unacceptable in football.

If it wasn't bad enough to see kids being charged a tenner for entry, it was even worse to know that home fans would watch the match for £3 less and with better facilities than what Chester fans would get.

The Club made their feelings known on the matter, and we await to see whether the League agrees that this is unacceptable - there are rumours that a decision has been made and that Chorley will be made to sell all tickets at £7 - not just their own.

Chester FC travel to Durham this weekend, and the lads are staying over this weekend, so hopefully that will enable them to have a good go on the artificial pitch tonight before the main event tomorrow.

Let's hope for 3 points!

Come on City!

Farewell Richie lad...

Last night was undoubtedly a very, very sad night for Chester fans, as one of our true blues was taken from us and sent to spread the word about the Blues in a better place as one of our board members and friends, Richie Wightman sadly passed away.

I got to know Rich from my time on the board of City Fans United, and then of course at Chester FC, and instantly struck up a friendship that always carried many laughs, much mickey taking from both sides which always went down well, and got to know a cracking lad, who was Chester through and through.

I'm sure we all know someone the same, but I think it's fair to say Rich was one of a kind, who would openly speak his mind in front of anyone, and they would listen, for his opinion - however strong it was - counted.

Being disabled, Rich never let this be a barrier to him, and he would never see that as a problem either, it wouldn't stop him from anything and that is pure testament to his strength and character.

Rich has always suffered but never showed it to anyone, preferring instead to keep the banter going, and fair play to him he was always taking the mickey out of me too!

I think its fair to say that the board were absolutely devastated when we heard of Rich having renal failure last week, as it came totally out of the blue, and it was one of those shock moments for all, where nothing else mattered.

The next few days were touch and go, but then Rich appeared to be on the road to recovery, and even yesterday seeing him in hospital in good spirits cracking jokes, and taking delight in the fact that we'd built up a 7 point lead over our rivals, all seemed good.

But then the phone call that turned everything upside down, and left us all totally devastated when we heard he had lost his fight - and believe me it must have been a great fight - but I really believe that he had found a happy place before he decided to leave us.

All my sympathy goes to his family, who must be so proud of what he achieved, at the end of the day Rich was so instrumental in helping build Chester FC from scratch, and his dedication to ensureing disabled supporters got as much help as possible, he truly is a Chester legend, and he will be sadly, sadly missed.

Farewell Richie lad.

January hoodoo well and truly buried now

So, it was back to the Exacta Stadium on Saturday for our third game at home in a row, but plenty going on in the week building up to the game.

First off, we almost had a visit from the BBC on the cards again, with another presenter from BBC Radio 5 potentially coming down to see the Blues in action, however, this time we couldn't quite get that one secured so that will hopefully take place in the not distant future instead.

The Lord Mayor with Bill Oddie

Plenty of calls & e-mails this week with the Chester Chronicle & the Chester Leader as we were preparing for the visit of the Lord Mayor & Lady Mayoress on Saturday, the first time they would be visiting the Exacta Stadium, so we were naturally keen to impress.

On Thursday, a quick interview with the Chester Leader in my lunch hour at work, they were after an update on where we were, although it would have been nice for the person on the other end of the phone to at least know we were top of the league at the present time!

Midweek also saw us having to consider whether or not to deploy the pitch covers for the game on Saturday, and we studied the weather forecasts, and the decision was made to place the covers down as a precautionary measure on Friday, after the lads had trained the night before on the hallowed turf, and I'm reliably informed that around 20 people came down to the Exacta on Friday afternoon to help.

What we weren't expecting during midweek was the news that Chris Simm was made available for transfer, and Neil was in there like a shot to secure the services of the player who had impressed for our promotion rivals Chorley, and also for Conference side Southport, and so the news was broken on Wednesday night about our new signing - great news.

Question at that point was would he be eligible for Saturday, and that was of course confirmed the next day when the paperwork was complete and Chris would go straight into the squad to face Ossett Albion, probably not the news they wanted to hear!

Friday then, and time to tune into the Friday Night Football Show on Dee 106, and a quick text to Shane Pinnington to announce our thanks to the volunteers who had been down at the Stadium in the afternoon to lay down the covers.

Get well soon Richie lad!

During the show, Chris Pilsbury - fresh from his appearance on the Seals Podcast on Thursday night's recording - told of the situation with board member Richard Wightman. I think it's fair to say the board were in shock when we received an e-mail on Thursday morning advising that Rich was seriously ill in hospital, following a kidney failure - Rich has been a major part of the success of Chester FC, and he doesn't deserve any of the suffering that he is going through right now, and the sooner he is out of intensive care the better, and we hope to see Rich again very soon - all CFC fans I'm sure share that sentiment.

So, Saturday morning arrived then, and up at 8.30 to get some brekky and a shave before heading down to the Exacta - and thanks to being stuck behind a car going 20mph down Lache Lane, I didn't get there until about 9.40am, and straight into the ground to see that the cover removal operation was in full swing, so straight into it with everyone else, and an hour later all done, game on.

Back in the office with Barrie Hipkiss we shared a joke or two before taking a few calls from fans anxious to see if the game was still on, so pleased was I to give them the good news!

Delish!

So, before heading home, a quick stop at the burger van on Bumpers Lane for a Bacon & Sausage bap, and taking one home for the Mrs too, and my god, it was heavenly - as was the cuppa that Mrs B had made for me when I got home too!

Just an hour to spare then before getting ready and heading off back to the Exacta, and once there it was time to sort out the usual pre match stuff, and welcome the legend of the week, who this week was former Blue, Ian Edwards - and he was made up to be here again, accompanied by Bob Delgado, who had already received the legend treatment earlier in the season, so Ian & Bob were ushered straight up to the Legends Lounge.

One of the funniest moments was seeing Jane Hipkiss go weak at the knees, she won't thank me for this, but she had a proper crush on Ian Edwards when he played here previously, and she was like a kid in a sweet shop when Ian walked in!

Pre match I called into the club shop, and Michael Wilde was being shown the new Wilde Thing t-shirt, and I said to him at that point that I was expecting a hat trick from him today, and not to let us down - all in jest of course!

So, to the game then, and what a corker for us hey?

Wildey go and get a hat trick please?

We had hoped that we would be back on form at the Exacta, and it wasn't long before Wildey notched the first goal, before on the half hour mark he'd make it two - just - from the penalty spot.

Then a further goal from new signing Chris Simm - great to see him get on the scoresheet on his debut, and everyone went in at half time very happy.

So down to the tunnel with Ian Edwards then for the Seals Lottery draw for January, yes we were finally up to date with the draws - the only problem was whilst standing at the side by the tunnel, Julie was getting ready with the tickets in the bucket, only for a ball to come flying over hit by the Chester subs warming up, and yes, it hit the bucket, all the tickets ended up going everywhere and we had a job on our hands to get them all in the bucket again!

So, Ian was introduced to the crowd, with Jane Hipkiss safely tucked away - and it was great to see yet another legend getting a great reception by the Chester faithful.

On to the second half then, and I had to quickly nip back into the office, and as has so often happened this season I heard a roar, and the realisation sunk in that I'd not just missed another goal, but I'd missed Wildey's hat trick goal - so I'd have to wait until the highlights were out before I'd see it again - but at least Chester's number ten had delivered on my request for a hat trick from him!

Iain Howard then staked his own claim for man of the match by grabbing two goals, and to be fair if Wildey hadn't of got the hat trick, I think Iain would have secured the award after a great performance.



Forget Gullit, it's Total Football at Chester!

 That sixth goal was just something else though, and I maintain my view that if that goal had been scored in the Premier League or in an international game, then we'd be seeing countless re-runs of it, as it was just "total football" from the first pass to the moment Iain Howard lashed it into the corner of the net - what a great goal. I celebrated that much that I lost my footing and nearly ended up making a right tool of myself and flying down the steps by the Directors door, but just managed to hold on to my dignity!

6-0 then, and a great day for the Blues with no soft goal conceded today too which was great, and I'm sure Richie Whiteside shared that view - then once the man of the match award had been sorted , time to sink a pint and reflect on what a great feeling it was to be 8 points clear at the top.

So, another great weekend for the Blues then, and with our rivals games all being called off - what a great move investing in pitch covers has been - time to enjoy the gap we're opening up, with the old adage of points in the bag being better than games in hand.

One final thing for Saturday, was a quick text to Colin Murray to update him on our latest result, and he replied with "Magic, saw the result earlier" and there is some good news with Colin which I'll go into once the news is released very soon.

That's it for now, roll on Saturday - when hopefully we'll pick up more points at Garforth!

Improvements to Official site ongoing

Last night then the board meeting, which was a good three and a half hours, and many subjects raised and discussed, but as per usual some good debates, and some great ideas put forward to take on, watch this space - tell you what though, it wasn't half cold in The Blues Bar!

Well having had chance to take stock and look at the official site in greater depth this morning, a few amends were made to it prior to the old working day starting, and a chance to make it appear a little easier on the eye as far as the headings were concerned!

So, now we have CFC Stats, CFC Fan Zone, and Seals Lottery - hopefully most will know the fixtures, results, tables, players etc are all contained with that section now. Still, have e-mailed Pitchero to request a further change to a few different area of the website, so we'll see how we get on with that hey?

During the day today, we heard that the Newcastle Town game will now take place on Tuesday 30th November, so let's hope there are no crazy crashes on the motorway that night - for anyone who wonders why the coach went on the M56 in the first place, well it's because some players have to be picked up en-route, as they can't get down to the Exacta in time for the coach departure time. It's common place at this level but what isn't is the luxury of the coach, which was pretty decent to be fair.

Also, some more news that the Chester players along with Neil Young will be helping to switch the Chester Christmas lights on, let's hope that the weather is kind to them all - I think it was last year when it chucked it down, or was that the year before?

So, a couple of updates on the official site to do then, and after work a quick trip down to the ground, where filming was taking place for ITV, linked to Chester fan Ash Dolan, but I'll let him tell everyone about his moment, as he had the whole ground to himself with the TV cameras!

Looking ahead to tomorrow night, and the visit of Congleton, once again a Cup match, this time the Cheshire Senior Cup, and tomorrow night we have 18 businesses being guests of thebestofchester who have pulled together prospective fans & sponsors - more great potential for our growing club.

Interesting to find out from Neil today that Danny Meadowcroft is back for tomorrow night's game, one person who will be delighted is Rich Wightman, who sponsors him - hopefully he'll put in a great performance for Chester FC's very own sick note!

One match to watch out for tonight, Skelmersdale v Salford - come on City!!

That's it for tonight, time to shut the laptop down!