A New Era....

Hmmm, my first blog here at Surreal Football...... What do I write, where do I start? Passionate about football, passionate about my football team.... I'll give you the lowdown, yeah thats right!

Were you ever dragged to your first ever football match? I was! My family was a strange one, my Grandad was a Crewe Alex supporter, whereas my dad was a Chester City supporter! For some reason even though I had never been to a football match in my life, I sided with Crewe Alex. Still to this day I still dont know why, much to my old mans annoyance. At the time Chester were in Division 2 (what we know now as nPower League One) and Crewe were a division below! My dad said to me "Son, next weekend I'm taking you to watch Chester....", "But Dad.........", I replied.... "No buts, you are coming, you mum is out with your little sister next weekend, you are coming!" Reluctantly I agreed to go, the following Saturday, the big day arrived, my first football match! October 1992, a game against Stoke City! Can't remember much from then, apart from Darren Ryan scored for Chester and the game finished 1-1..... But, even from that young age, I was hooked! Hundreds and Hundreds of games followed!
There have been highs and a lot of lows supporting Chester. 1990, the old Sealand Road stadium was sold behind the fans backs. Chester were forced to play there home games in Macclesfield, a town 45 miles from Chester. After playing there for 2 years, Chester returned to the City, with the 6,000 capacity Deva Stadium completed in time for the 1992/93 season.
The place is cursed I tell ya. Sure, we have been promoted twice since moving there (in 1993/94 and in 2003/2004 when we won the Conference Championship), but there have been many a bad time. The worst coming in March 2010 when Chester City FC died.
For years and years, us Chester fans have suffered through terrible owners. Mark Guterman, Terry Smith and Stephen Vaughan using our club as a toy.
The story of Vaughan is a strange one. The mad yank Terry Smith had taken us from Mid Table in Division 3, to bottom of the Conference in just 2 years. Fans boycotted until a Liverpool based boxing Promoter, Stephen Vaughan bought the Club off Smith. Rejoice, we had been saved!
It all started so well, 2001/02 saw Vaughan appoint Mark Wright as manager and this was the start of exciting times for the Club. Wright guided us to safety in the Conference in 2001/02. A huge rebuiliding took place of the squad and in 2002/03 we made the play-offs! We lost the semi-finals though to Doncaster Rovers in a penalty Shoot-out (and look where they are now....)
The following season though, we were Champions! Daryl Clare and Darryn Stamp were our heroes as they chipped in with over 50 goals between themselves as we won the title! Memories of that 1-0 win against Scarborough which saw us win the League still make me smile....
But what changed? We were back in the Football League, the good days were back at CCFC, or so we thought.
The eve of our return to the Football League, Mark Wright resigned as manager. The reason? He was sleeping with one of the wifes of a player, Wayne Hatswell. Shook the club this did... This started in a real managerial merry go round, and we struggled and struggled....... Wright left, in came Ray Matthias, then Ian Rush, he was sacked, in came Keith Curle, then Wright came back oddly, then he left again, in came Bobby Williamson, he left, and then Wright was back in charge again. Mark Wright, the same bloke who got us promoted back into the League, then guided us to relegation back to where we were..... Oh, it got a lot worse!
Remember Luton being deducted 30 points??? We were deducted 25 when we were relegated due to financial irregularities. Then came the news that the players were not getting paid. We hadnt reached 0 points by February, the fans boycotted and then the players, in a show of protest failed to travel for a League game against Forest Green. This resulted in Chester being suspended from the League for breaking several rules. A EGM was called at Nene Park in February to try and sort the crisis out, but our Caring Chairman didnt even bother to turn up. The Conference officials had no other option but to expel us from the League. So, with no income and a Chairman that didn't seem to care less, with mounting debts, we were wound up in March 2010. It took just 30 seconds for the judge is kill the 125 year old club. A very, very sad day.
But in all bad times, there is always a positive and the next 4 months saw an amazing change.
The fans set up there own group, The CFU (City Fans United) and set about creating a phoenix Club. The first hurdle would be to secure the Deva Stadium, to enable us to play our home games, if the council said no, the project is a non-starter. A Danish consortium also wanted to form a club, much to the fans dismay. The CFU got the keys to the Deva in May, and now the hard work could really begin! A new name for the club was announced. Simply known as Chester FC! Then came the new Club Crest, a smart update of the old Fox design. Then came the appointment of the management team and then the assembling of a sqaud!
Chester FC were accepted into the Northern League Division One (North Section) and the City was buzzing again, Chester were back!
A long pre-season followed with some memorable results, including a 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic and a 3-3 draw against FC United (another Fans Owned Club, set up by Supporters of Manchester United who were angry by the Glazers take over of the club)
Then the first League game arrived! A 1-1 draw against Warrington Town! An amazing night that was had by all Chester fans, who outnumbered the home fans by 12 to 1!
It's been all change, an amazing rollercoaster ride, just think, if I hadn't been dragged to that first game in 1992, I wouldn't have given two hoots! Cheers Dad!