Promotion Party & Parade draws a line under the season

What an amazing time Chester fans had last weekend, with the City Fans United Promotion Party last Friday night, followed by the Town Hall Civic Reception on Saturday which included the first open top bus tour since the 1970s featuring a winning Chester side on the top deck, complete with Championship trophy!

Friday was quite an eventful day to say the least, I'd been in touch with Daryl Clare as I'd invited him as CFU's guest for the evening together with his family. It was 12 months to the very date that Daryl had last been over for the Chester FC Re-Lanch at the Guild Hall, so what better opportunity for him to come over and see what had been achieved in that space of time.

I'd kept Daryl in the loop on how things were going as well as keeping up to date on how his career was going with Alfreton, who enjoyed promotion to the Conference this season. Daryl was certainly keen to come over and join in with our celebrations.

Oops, wrong Travelodge - nice one Jeff!

So, Daryl was booked into the hotel, and thought I'd give him the directions to the hotel, but completely forget that there were two hotels of the same chain in the City Centre, and yes, I'd given him the wrong hotel directions, so I got the call at just after 6pm on the Friday night with Daryl already walking through town from Pepper Street down past the Grosvenor Museum - the woman at Travelodge by the amphitheatre had told them it was only 10 minutes walk - what she didn't tell them was the best way to get to the Travelodge up by the Fountains roundabout!

I offered to go and pick him up, but as I was in the Saxo, it would have been a bit tricky to fit 2 adults, 3 kids, a buggy and a case in the car - Daz had already parked his car up in the car park by the other Travelodge so had decided to leave it in there overnight.

He declined the lift as he was happy for them all to have a walk up the road to the roundabout, but then I received a call back from him telling me little Courtney's CD was still in the car, so like a fireman running to his fire engine, here I was running to the Saxo - all ready for the Racecourse, but it was time for a slight diversion, so off I went picked him up and drove back to the car park, had a great chat along the way, whilst feeling a complete knob for giving him the wrong hotel directions!

Anyway, back to the hotel, dropped off, and then I made my way to the Racecourse for the do, had a good chat with Jonathan Legard who was hosting the evening, and began to relax, speaking to various supporters there on the night, and I'd decided that that's how I'd approach the evening, by catching up with many fans who I'd not had the chance to do a few weeks ago at the Club Awards evening.

It was a great night, with the CFU Player of the Year award going to Michael Wilde, the Away Travel Player of the Year going to George Horan, and the Best Dressed Award going to Gary Powell!!!

It was also great to see the Chairman of the Evo-Stik League along with the League Operations Manager attending the do to present Wildey with his Golden Boot Award, and with it a great speech by the Chairman who announced that we should never have been placed in that League, and that was greeted by an ovation by the Chester fans at the venue.

Courtney Clare - a star in the making!

Then we were tresated to a rendition of Danny Boy from the talented Courtney Clare, another reason why Daryl had brought the family over with him. Little Courtney has already wowed many with her singing, and the Pavillion Suite was certainly brought to a halt to listen to the 8 year old sing, and what a reception she got at the end of her song, a standing ovation!

Another song was to follow, and we really believe that she could go far, although I'm not sure where that voice came from, it certainly didn't come from her dad, although I joked with him the other day that he should get up and sing at the next do!

The rest of the evening saw a great quiz, where Michael Wilde showed us an impression of Iain Howard, and George Horan did the same for Carl Ruffer!

Then we had an amazing auction that saw Trevor Storton's shirt being auctioned for over £500 - amazing, and the very first yellow away kit for next season being bought for £210 - nice one Chris!

That topped off the evening, and I had to head home at that point, but the following morning was amazing too, and having got up early made my way down to the Exacta Stadium for the start of the bus tour. We were expecting the players to pack out the top of the bus, but a few late withdrawals meant that there were a few spaces left, so I took my place at the back of the bus, and when we got going from the Stadium, we passed a handful of people down Bumpers Lane, whilst the police then raced off to the traffic lights to stop the traffic, and let the bus make its way round onto Sealand Road - I think we were all rather cautious as the bus turned a corner, holding on tight!!

Mind the Bridge!

The bus eventually made its way up Canal Street which saw the first real load of fans waiting for us with flags, before we then turned on to Northgate Street to see the bridge above packed with people taking photos, and then passing that we then saw the crowds in the distance - we'd all wondered if it would be a half decent turnout, but I think its fair to say we were all left gobsmacked when we saw just how many people had made their way to the Town Hall - we felt like a Premier League team that had just won the title, or the FA Cup, as all you could see was a swarm of blue and white everywhere!

What a great sight!

The bus bypassed the Town Hall, before embarking on a trip down Werburgh Street, and one lady heading out of her workplace for an early brekky it would seem, shouted "Not being funny but who are ya?" in a big scouse accent, I shouted back "We're Chester!" with arms open wide. She then responded, "Ah, I'm not from round here", to which I sarcastically shouted back "You can tell!" given the strong accent, and lack of knowledge about the club!

Anyway, heading round Eastgate Row you could see the tourists thinking WTF?? But it was great that on Races Day we could give the City something different to celebrate, and when we made our way back up the cobbles on Northgate Street, people were hanging out of windows above shops to greet us, all that was missing was the ticker tape!!!

I'd been filming most of this as it was something I wanted to keep forever, and so glad I did, as it gave the different angle of the bus tour from the top deck, rather than the countless many videos taken from within the crowds.

The bus came to a halt and the players were quite rightly given a magnificent welcome by the crowd, and a few interviews were carried out - whilst I took the opportunity of grabbing the trophy and thrusting it in the air in celebration - have it!!!

So, in to the reception we went inside the town hall, where a couple of nice speeches were given by the Mayoress and also Mike Jones, and it really hammered home just how much we'd pleased the community with the efforts on and off the pitch this season and long may it continue.

The morning ended with the though, bugger I've got to get back to the Exacta now to pick the car up, and so I took the No 10A to Connahs Quay via Sealand Road, not quite as glamorous as being on the top of the bus, but a great chance to reflect on what had been an amazing day in the growing history of Chester Football Club!

A day for news stories!

Yesterday was certainly a busy day as far as the news stories was concerned on the official site, as there seemed to be more and more content coming available each hour!

The first news came in during the morning when it was confirmed that Jimmy McCarthy had signed for Chester, and interesting to read a few old news stories about Jimmy on the BBC website, one of which stated that he had been plucked from the pub league before heading to Crewe from Kidsgrove - let's hope that Neil has signed 'probably the best striker in the world' then!

Then, time for the post match analysis from Neil Young following the game at Ossett on saturday, and as always Neil was happy to talk about the game, picking out the various points for discussion from the game, and also looking ahead to the Sutton Coldfield game tonight, so time to load that up to the site.

Next up, an afternoon release as more good news came out of the club, with a new initiative that offers the chance to get youngsters from the local community into the club to have the chance to gain themselves national sporting qualifications - great to see this kind of news coming out of our football club, and also great to see Danny Jones involved again too.

So, left work at 4pm, and once home time to prepare for last night's City Fans United meeting, which was set to include the exciting SGM part(!), but before the meeting more news to deliver as the details of the new footy show on Dee 106.3 which will take place every Friday night at 6pm for an hour - myself and Chris Pilsbury will be joining Chester fan Shane Pinnington in the studio for the first edition this week, mind you if Chris rambles on for long, they'll have the adverts on before you know it!

Once the meeting had ended last night, we found out that Chorley had been beaten at Warrington which knocks one of their games in hand on us out of the way, the W's are certainly having an impact on Chorley's season, with the dropped points at Wakefield on Saturday, followed by last night's defeat to the Wire, and next away game for them is Witton, who do seem to have lost form themselves since we beat them in that crazy crazy end to a match at Wincham Park.

The Blues then can stretch their lead at the top to 9 points if we beat Skem on Saturday, and that would be a huge blow to our title rivals, but obviously we'll be keeping an eye on Curzon Ashton who have about 17 games in hand on us it seems - when do they ever play their games???

Looking forward to tonight's Cup match against Sutton Coldfield, who are making the journey up from the midlands tonight, with it being a Cup game, always a chance to relax and who knows, I may just end up on the Harry Mac again tonight at some point to watch the game from a different angle.

C'mon you Blues!

Awards, Scottish Pipers, Skem, and Perry Groves!

Well last time I blogged on Friday, I was all set to join Jim & Mark to receive the 'Team of the Year' 2010 award in the Your Champions awards evening being staged at the Crowne Plaza - and that's exactly what we did!

Arrival at 6.45pm in what seemed a very glitzy affair, with a Scottish piper standing outside doing his stuff - why the piper? Well Scottish Power were sponsoring the event - it took a while to click!

Inside to get all badged up - and despite being labelled as City Fans Ltd (had we changed our name last minute?) it was off to the bar to go and get the first drink of the evening - a bottle of Corona for £3.80, ouch. It was looking like an expensive evening ahead.

Fear not, as once ushered inside to the main hall, six bottles of wine were on the table, 3 red, 3 white. Now this was supposed to be enough for the 9 people seated at each table, however we were fortunate as there were only 7 people on our table, so almost 1 bottle per person - again, ouch.

Anyway, a lovely 3 course meal accompanied by the wine, and once the main course (beef in a red wine covering - yep, more wine!) was done it was time to get on to the awards. City Fans United had of course been selected as the Team of the Year, but each winner was placed into a Regional 'Final' where there were six teams nominated for the regional award, and Mark, Jim and myself all agreed that we didn't want to win the regional, as there were so many deserving charity or sad stories attached to their nominations, and whilst the achievements of City Fans United shouldn't be overlooked, we really weren't in the same boat as Clare House, or a team of 2 people who had raised a huge amount of money following the death of a close one.

This was a night of celebration of course, and we received our momento, which was a glass piece encased in a huge black box, and walking round town afterwards, it felt like I was an encyclopedia salesman!

A couple of pints in The Cottage, and then back home, for another bottle of wine, which I have to say took me past that line, and I certainly paid for it on Saturday morning!

I couldn't get to the Ossett game on Saturday, but had the Twitter account set up to send me details of the game, and I'd also done the same for the Chorley & AFC Fylde games - I wish I hadn't now as I didn't really need to know that Chorley had won a throw or corner every ten minutes, I guess the only surprise was that they hadn't won a penalty!

Anyway, it was great to see the goals flying in from Ossett via text, and the icing on the cake came when Michael Wilde netted his 16th of a very productive season so far - that man is a ledge!

Have to say, the table looked extremely nice after the final scores were in, and well done Wakefield for coming back at Chorley to ensure that we went 6 points clear at the top. Then the news came in from Skelmersdale where the last I'd heard was that they were one up, when in fact they'd rattled in 8 goals in the second half, what happened Cammell Laird?

It sets up Saturday's clash against Skem very nicely, and it should be a cracker - warmed up of course by the comments from their chairman Frank Hughes, who claimed that "a defunct club should not be rewarded for failure" - it does seem bizarre that the select few should choose to avoid the real story behind Chester FC - i.e. bloody hard work from all involved.

It seems that a few are upset that we could potentially take a promotion place that could have been theirs, well we aren't taking anything for granted, and will fight for that Champions title this season, and at the end of the day, I'm sure they won't be complaining when the tills are ringing when Chester come to visit.

So, extra spice for that game on Saturday, and we're hoping to see a big crowd for this one, can we match the Chorley attendance? It's entirely possible. We've heard that Skem have a couple of coaches booked for this one, so maybe with those driving they can bring a few by car too, and we can enjoy another great atmosphere as the Exacta Factor takes hold again.

The drive in the media to focus on this game is certainly going to be stepped up this week, as we are due to hear Neil Young on Radio Merseyside tomorrow night on Alan Jackson's show, whilst I'll be on the phone to Radio City & City Talk to get them to boost the coverage for this one.

Chester's own Dee 106.3 have been picked on by some, but they are stepping it up now too, and this Friday night sees the debut of a new show, which will be a regular slot for all Chester fans to tune into as every Friday between 6-7pm they'll be previewing the Saturday game, with guests and interviews, and also taking fans questions too. I'm lucky enough to be amongst the guests for the first airing of the programme on Friday.

Some updates for the website yesterday as a few stories were breaking, the half season prices which have been announced, and a great opportunity for those without Season tickets to get their family members to buy them one as a Christmas present!

Aside from the usual, I'll also be working with NATV to bring a special DVD out for Christmas, which will be an extended highlights package of the Trafford game, with lots of additional goodies on the DVD too, which should be out around the first week of December, so something to look forward to there!

Finally, one thing that made me laugh as we were walking around town on Friday night, I received a text from Perry Groves, who had noted the League table, and told us that they would sort the Open Top Bus if we win promotion, and Pat Nevin would be the guide!

I got a text from Colin Murray on Saturday afternoon too after the Ossett win telling me that Perry is certainly big on the Chester stats, confirmed by one of the texts received on Friday night which informed me of the facts such as our average crowd, leading scorer, and how many points clear we were!

Colin will hopefully be coming up to the Exacta again soon, but it needs to be a midweek game, and there is also the possibility of him doing his Friday night show live from the Blues Bar too - something we hope will come off in early 2011 - watch this space.

Okay, that's it for today, expecting another busy day today, so on with it....

A great day for Chester FC & CFU

Yesterday was a good day for Chester fans, as City Fans United, the group responsible for bringing Chester FC back to life were recognised as the Team of the Year in the Your Champions 2010 Awards run jointly by Scottish Power and the Trinity Mirror Cheshire group.

For everyone concerned with City Fans United, this is a well deserved accolade, as 2700 people have each done their own bit to help Chester FC become what it is today - a club that can be proud of itself, and one that is going places.

The news filtered through yesterday morning, and was greeted with joy, and tonight along with fellow CFU and Chester FC board members Mark Howell & Jim Green, I'll be collecting the award on behalf of the membership - we'll have to go for an FA Cup lifting style with the award being passed down the line before being raised aloft ha ha!

It is a great way to celebrate the achievements by all as we move into the second year of City Fans United's existence, and what a first year it has been, with the collapse of the old club, several challenges to face in bringing Chester FC to life, the celebrations surrounding the award of the lease (what were those Danes thinking???), and of course the run outs at Colwyn Bay, Warrington, and the home games against Aberystwyth and Trafford - great occasions.

Also yesterday, in blustery conditions, Chester FC helped switch on the Christmas lights in Chester, and great to see the players attending the event, which again is all part of the "getting out there" in the community - just glad they didn't go up the Chronicle Wheel, as they might not have got down considering that wind last night, in fact I thought it was quite amusing on the Chron (what a great paper they have been for CFU & CFC by the way) website they had a story saying "the ride would not face problems with high winds" and then hours later the wheel was out of bounds due to the "high winds" - make your mind up!

As I said, the Chron have been super supportive of our efforts, which is more than can be said for the Chester Leader which continues to spout rubbish from the mouth of one former owner without any criticism of what he did to the football club, and the image of Chester.

"Shower of Fools" - where was the questioning on that comment? Answer: Nowhere to be seen. That was a great opportunity to fight back verballly against the murderer of Chester City FC. In fact the whole interview was once again full of contradictions, yet nothing challenged by the Leader.

It's time for them to grow some and really go to town on just what damage that family inflicted on the club it has reported on for years. All we're asking for is some support from the paper, that is of course part of the North Wales Newspaper group - so there's the challenge Chester Leader, get behind us and our great plans for the future rather than just reporting the obvious.

On to today then, and another busy one, and an interesting one for me, as I'm doing a presentation at a business meeting being held at Chester FC today, and was beavering away on powerpoint yesterday to prepare for it. That all takes place this afternoon, and great to see local businesses making use of the Exacta Stadium for meetings, it all bodes well for the future.

Now I'm no public speaker, and despite doing countless interviews during the last year, I still get nervous doing them, but once I start talking football, and in particluar Chester FC, it's hard to stop me!

Following the presentation, it's back to work, but then just a few hours later, time to pick up that Your Champions award, so looking forward to today's calendar of events!

That'll do for now then, and hopefully three more points for the Blues tomorrow at Ossett - to those reading this, have a great weekend!

Fans cast their vote for new club

Well here we go, a brand new blog, and one in which I hope keeps everyone up to date with what's going on at what will be - thanks to the fans - Chester Football Club.

I don't know what it is, but it certainly has a romantic sound to it saying Chester Football Club, and I'm sure the same goes for many fans who grew up supporting Chester, rather than Chester City FC.

I used to have a scarf which simply had "Chester" on it, and that was one of my prized possessions, sadly I gave it - along with many other Chester goodies - to a pub in Chester a few years back, as it was run by fans, but sadly they moved on and all my stuff was gone forever, but you have to move on and not look back moping around.

The same can be said for our situation, as when Chester City FC went under, the fans group City Fans United were accused of being "ellbent on destroying the club" when the reality is the club had already been destroyed thanks to the actions of one family, and all we wanted was to remove that side of it, but sadly it seems we couldn't have one without the other.

The family have always had the chance to hand the club over to the supporters for a realistic amount, but this was never offered by the regime, aside from the chance to buy it for a pound, but with £750,000 to clear in debt, so that was never going to happen.

The best thing was that City Fans United had prepared for the day when the club would be liquidated, we all knew it was going to happen, it was just a case of when and not if.

So, on March 10th, the club was officially liquidated with no defence being made by the Vaughan family at the High Court, which mirrored the lack of defence at the Conference hearing where the club were kicked out by their fellow members.

Here we are then, as CFU continue to make strides towards achieving their aim of ensuring football in Chester continues, the fans have recently had the chance to name the club, and Chester Football Club turned out to be the winning name, with 70% of the vote, which attracted over 1250 supporters.

The next step is to hopefully receive the lease to the Deva Stadium from the Council, and then the job of bringing the football club back to life officially begins, but for now, it's a bit of a witing game, although the CFU are firming up their business plan which will hopefully prove to be key to winning the right to the lease.

April 19th is the deadline for all lease applications to be received by the Council, but the fact that only one Reformation application will be dealt with by the FA - and that was made by CFU - means that the strongest bid appears to be with City Fans United at this point.

Keep tuning into this blog as time goes along, as it will be updated constantly, with latest news from the Deva.