Football's back at the Exacta!

After what seems an eternity, football eventually re-appeared at the Exacta Stadium on Tuesday night with a visit from an extremely strong Tranmere Rovers side.

Exacta looking good again

It was great to get back in to the swing of things, although with all the planning and meetings taken place in the summer so far, it doesn't actually feel like we've stopped or had a break, but everyone - including me - felt the excitement of seeing the lads and in particular the new signings, on the lavish green grass at the Exacta.

They didn't let us down either with a good performance that saw them take the game to Rovers, remembering that Tranmere were four leagues higher than us, and what a goal from Wes Baynes to clinch the win...stunning!

The preparations for pre-season have been going on for a while of course, and we have been trying to secure a pre-season friendly against Premier League opposition, but so far have been unsuccessful with most as they just don't seem to be able to fit us in to their hectic schedules - talks are still ongoing with a couple of them, but they may not come off this year, there is still a small possibility of it happening though, so I won't write it off completely.

We have of course got many home games in our pre-season line up and that will of course benefit the players - in particular the new lads - as they'll be able to get used to match conditions on the fantastic surface at the Exacta, again great credit to Gary Kent & CDHT for helping out there - it certainly looked good the other night.

BiG Lupus - a bit hot!

Off the field we've been very busy still at the club, and appearances at various fetes and events such as Chester Events, Blacon/Hapsford/Lache fetes, and many more to come - all promoting the Club and City Fans United/Junior Blues - it's all very important to keep that up - although I think BiG Lupus may have shed several stones in the last few weeks with the heat, in fact I think he may go onto the opposite of the Atkins Diet to build him up a little bit again!

It was great to see Andy Donaldson & BiG Storage sponsoring BiG Lupus again, Andy has certainly put his money where his mouth is since we reformed, and is a great credit to the Chester Business Community.

There have been a few changes around too based on fans comments, we have taken on board suggestions to have beer available inside the ground during matches, and we were hoping to start trialling that on Tuesday against Tranmere, but thanks to a delivery that never turned up, we were unable to start it, but it should be fine for the match against Fleetwood on the 23rd, which incidentally is our Chester FC Community Day, in which we hope to have the Army, Fire & Rescue, Police, and the North West Ambulance Service amongst others exhibiting in the Car Park, whilst there will be the chance to have a go at the Soccer Speed Shot, something to test your footie skills out on, and also the Chester FC Youth will be giving you the chance to take part in a penalty shoot out before you head into the Exacta. It all gets underway at 10am on the 23rd.

So, back to Tuesday, and I must admit it felt good putting the blue & white tie on again, the first time since the Town Hall celebration at the back end of May, but here we go again, maybe the start of another memorable season - let's hope so.

Can you hear me Cleggy?

The plan for the match day entertainment is always low key on the pre-season friendlies, and all we had planned for the half time sequence was the draw for 2 tickets to the Manor House Stables Box at Chester Racecourse, and that was going to be drawn by Tom Dascombe, successful trainer, but there was no plan for me to even talk at half time, but just as I was leaving the house I got a phone call from Jim Harvey asking if he could bring along 2 former Chester City players to the game, so naturally I said if we can get them on the pitch for a quick interview then yes!

And so, they did - to their credit, they looked as nervous as hell, so I kept the questions brief, as I said I wasn't planning to speak at all, but that all changed!

The sound system has long been a bug bear, and there were plenty of faults with it pre match - largely due to the fact that there had been so many Community games played in May, and plenty will I'm sure have fiddled with sound level buttons, which left Cleggy all over the place when he opened up, and plenty of microphone screeches, so for anyone blaming him, please think again, it really wasn't his fault!

What made it even harder for him was the fact that a team sheet had been provided, but when the substitutes were being made, the numbers didn't correspond with the actual players, and some didn't even have a number at all, which as you can imagine threw him into total confusion, as it would with anyone else, we were talking whilst one sub was taking place, and I jokingly suggested that we should get the Tranmere fans to sing the name of the player coming on, thankfully we didn't do that!

Although when the Chester substitution happened, and he changed the name about five times, I went in to the PA room and gave him the Alan Sugar look, and said, "Cleggy, it's with regret, you're fired!" - all jokingly of course, as the job he does is very good, and not just about talking in that room, he gets a lot of requests thrown at him in a short space of time, plus it's boiling in that little room!

So back to the game again, and I thought we did well in the first half, more than matching Tranmere, and putting some good moves together, and particularly liked the free kick that caught them cold, but sadly Powelly couldn't get it past their keeper, and the chance had gone.

Baynes...Boom!

Wildey was doing his usual role in shrugging off the defenders and making his way into the box and was unlucky not to score, but score was something Wes Baynes did, and what a way to score too, picking up a loose ball from 25 yards out before hammering one into the top corner, a great way to introduce yourself to the Chester fans, and especially after coming to the Blues from the dark side too, perfect way to start.

Tranmere had a couple of chance but bar the late flurry you always felt that we were in control of the game, and when the final whistle went, Les Parry came up to wish us all well, fair play he's a nice bloke, and of course was the first person to agree to a friendly last season when I was with him on Colin Murray's live show in Liverpool University.

Following the match, there were a few jobs to do, and great to see the Lounge was full of potential sponsors for next season, and a very successful night was had up there and many put themselves down for match sponsorship for the new season, and I'm sure Pat will reveal just how much in Saturday's programme, but there was certainly a large smile on his face!

Well that will do it for now, as got to get ready for work, but just time to refer to a nice little piece in the latest issue of When Saturday Comes, where they have a feature of fan owned clubs, and a nice picture of the open top bus in May.

More good publicity!

Young's Barmy Blue 'n' White Army!

Well last night was another night of frustration as Chester had to settle for a draw against the in-form team in the League, and what a first half we had too, as AFC Fylde showed us what they’re capable of with some very swift attacking early on.

Wildey - back on target

It was good to see us respond in the right fashion though with cracking goals from Michael Wilde – good to see him back on the scoresheet again, and then Bradley Barnes grabbing a cracker of a goal too, sadly though we were undone before the break and that was that as far as the scoring was concerned.

It was great to receive a call from Jim Harvey yesterday prior to the game who really enjoys coming back to watch Chester, the last two times I didn’t know he was coming so yesterday gave me the chance to get him down on the pitch as I know he’d not really had the chance to thank the fans for the brilliant support he received during the turbulent times of the SV era around 12 months ago.

A few things had to be boxed off before the game, such as the preparation for the PA, photographers, and of course BiG Lupus, who continues to have his picture taken with the kids, which is great to see at each home game – think he may have got a bit wet last night out there though!

Good to see the mascots enjoying themselves too, with two kids enjoying the Exacta Experience last night, and I must have passed them 100 times whilst they were on their tour of the ground with Lily last night as I did my impression of a human yo-yo with stuff to sort out prior to the game, but they certainly looked to be enjoying the tour, and amongst them was Ian Bedford, former Chester Chronicle Sports Editor – it’s been a while since I saw Ian, and good to hear that he’s a West Stand-er too for our home games.



The real Ashley Williams!

 One of the funny things to happen yesterday was the picture of Ashley Williams that I put on the website, or at least I thought it was Ashley Williams until I received a call from Neil Young whilst on lunch in town yesterday telling me it wasn't Ashley that was in that picture – it was Jamie Reed of Bangor City, he hopefully enjoyed his brief stint on the official website – it was removed as soon as I was in position to remove it!

So, onto the game, and it was certainly a topsy-turvy game and the first half was spent up by the Directors door doing that nodding motion with every header that the boys were heading on the pitch towards goal, and of course wild celebrations with both goals going in only to see a bit of wall slapping when they made it 2-2.

I decided to head off to the Harry Mac Terrace for the second half to join in with the singers behind the goal – it’s what I used to love doing so a chance to get the vocal chords going again!

The lads in there were great, and lots of banter to be had too and the “I am a Chester fan, I am a Cestrian...” song made its debut and will hopefully be repeated for a good while yet – come on lads, don’t let me down!

Young's barmy blue n white army

For the record, here’s the lyrics:

I am a Chester fan,
I am a Cestrian,

Youngy’s barmy Blue n White army,

Chester FC top of the league*,

And I’m proud to beeee Chester FC!


*possible Plan B in case we get knocked off the top “We are the boys in Blue and White”


Also, a bit of encouragement was given to the Main Stand & the West Stand to give us a song of their own, and they did so too – good on them. The fans really got behind the side last night, and I’m sure that was appreciated by those playing in blue and white on the Exacta pitch.

So, the fans in good voice, we’ve kept Fylde at arm’s length in the table, we’re still top and unbeaten in 2011, it’s not all bad is it, but it would be nice if we could break that January hoodoo on Saturday against Wakefield!

Come on you Blues!