Chester City Football Club was an association football team from Chester, England, that played in several different leagues between 1885 and 2010. The club played its home games at Sealand Road from 1906 to 1991 and moved to the Deva Stadium in 1992 after playing two seasons of home games at Macclesfield Town's Moss Rose. Chester held cross-border derby matches with Welsh club Wrexham.
The club was founded in August 1885 as Chester F.C. and entered The Combination five years later. They won the Combination title in 1908–09 and were admitted into the Lancashire Combination in 1910, gaining promotion out of Division Two in 1910–11. They entered the Cheshire County League in 1919 and were crowned champions three times: 1921–22, 1925–26 and 1926–27. Chester were elected into the Football League in 1931 and remained in the Third Division North until they were placed in the Fourth Division in 1958. Promoted in 1974–75, they were relegated in 1982 and were renamed Chester City the following year. City were promoted out of the Fourth Division in 1985–86 and regained their third tier status in 1993–94 after being relegated the previous season.
Chester City were relegated out of the Football League in 2000, but managed to regain their Football League status after winning the Conference title in 2003–04. Relegated back into non-League football in 2009, Chester City was placed into administration. HM Revenue and Customs served a demand of £29,000 winding-up order on the club in January 2010. The Conference National subsequently suspended Chester, which had been put up for sale, for breaching its financial rules and for cancelling matches. A month after the winding-up order was served, the club was expelled from the league, with all its results for that season expunged and future fixtures cancelled. In March 2010, Chester was formally wound up after unsuccessfully trying to join the Welsh Premier League. With the official winding-up of Chester City, supporters immediately began organising the formation of a new phoenix club. The resulting new club, Chester F.C., was officially established in May 2010.
Contents
History
Formation and early years
Chester F.C. was founded in 1885 as an amalgamation of Chester Rovers and Old King's Scholars F.C. and initially played their home games at Faulkner Street.
After a few years of playing only friendly and occasional cup matches, Chester joined The Combination League in 1890. In 1898, the club moved to The Old Showground, but were forced to depart a year later when the ground was demolished to make way for housing, leaving the club temporarily disbanded. In 1901, however, they moved to Whipcord Lane. Their stay was once again only brief, as they left in 1906. Their new stadium on Sealand Road, known as The Stadium, became their long-term home and provided them with their first league success, as they won the Combination League in 1909. In 1910, Chester moved to the Lancashire Combination League and stayed there until after World War I, when they became founding members of the Cheshire County League. Charlie Hewitt was appointed manager in 1930, and in 1931, Chester was elected into the Football League, replacing Nelson
1930s to 1970s
Throughout the 1930s, Chester never finished outside of the top ten in Division Three North. During this time, Chester recorded their biggest win in the FA Cup, beating Fulham 5–0 in 1933, and in 1936, they recorded their highest league victory; beating York City 12–0.
This era also saw Chester win the Welsh Cup for the second time after beating growing rivals Wrexham at Sealand Road in May 1933 and successive Third Division North Cup wins. Unfortunately, the side was to be split up by the outbreak of the Second World War. Although the 1946–47 brought a third-place finish and another Welsh Cup triumph, grim times lay ahead. No top half placings would be achieved until the lower divisions were merged in 1958, when Chester were placed in the Fourth Division. They would still have to wait another six years until they finished in the top half of the league.
Chester's fortunes began to take a turn for the better after the surprise appointment of South African Peter Hauser as manager in 1963, who put Chester in contention for promotion from the Fourth Division. In 1964–65, all five forwards managed 20 goals – a unique achievement – as Chester scored 119 in the league, though they missed out on promotion.
Apart from missing out on promotion by just a point in 1970–71, the next few years were largely uneventful. Chester kicked off the 1974–75 season as the only Football League team to have never won promotion. They finally overcame this by finishing fourth in Division Four and pipping Lincoln City to promotion by the narrowest of goal averages. Ken Roberts had the honour of being the first Chester manager to win promotion in the Football League, although most of the credit went to coach Brian Green, who for his efforts was presented the Coach of the Year award by the League Trainers' and Coaches' Association. He went on to lead the Australian national team.
That season also saw Chester reach the Football League Cup semi-finals. After beating Walsall, Blackpool and Preston North End, Chester hosted Football League champions Leeds United in round four. Two goals from John James and one from Trevor Storton gave Chester a 3–0 win that is regarded as one of the greatest shocks in the competition's history. In the next round, a goal from James meant Newcastle United were defeated in a home replay to set up a semi–final tie with Aston Villa. Brian Little's late goal in the second leg at Villa Park sealed a 5–4 win for eventual cup winners Villa.
Chester City
After Rush departed, the goals dried up for Chester and they were back at the bottom by 1982. Two years later, they finished bottom of the entire Football League, but were comfortably re-elected. By this point, the club was known as Chester City, having added the suffix in 1983. A future star playing for Chester during this time was full back Lee Dixon, who went on to win several major honours with Arsenal and was capped 22 times by England.
Due to the signing of players including Milton Graham, John Kelly and Stuart Rimmer, and astute management of Harry McNally, Chester returned to the Third Division in 1986. Three years later, they narrowly missed out on a play-off spot as McNally worked miracles on a limited budget, but further bad times lay ahead. In 1990, Chester moved out of their Sealand Road home and temporarily shared Macclesfield's Moss Rose ground. Despite regularly attracting tiny crowds, Chester defied the odds to avoid relegation from Division Three in both 1990–91 and 1991–92. They returned to the city, moving to the new Deva Stadium in 1992 in the renamed Division Two after a Football League restructure. The first competitive match at the Deva Stadium took place on 25 August 1992 against Stockport County, with the visitors running out 2–1 victors. The following Saturday featured the first League game at the new home of Chester City, which saw the Blues overcome Burnley 3–0. The Deva Stadium is notable for being right on the England–Wales border: the pitch is in Wales, but the entrance and part of the club offices are in England.
Chester suffered a landslide relegation in their first season back in Chester, before winning promotion as Division Three runners-up. The unexpected resignation of manager Graham Barrow and the departure of several key players in the season of 1994 left Chester with a depleted squad, and they were relegated back to Division Three in 1995. They would stay there for five years, suffering a play-off semi-final defeat to Swansea City in 1997.
Financial problems and demise
Under owner Mark Guterman, Chester entered administration in October 1998. The club consolidated their position in Third Division under Kevin Ratcliffe in 1998–99 and were bought by the American sportsman Terry Smith in July 1999. Ratcliffe resigned the following month and Smith took over as manager, overseeing just four league wins in as many months in charge. Ian Atkins was brought in as manager, but Chester lost their 69-year Football League status on 6 May 2000 on goal difference after losing to Peterborough United.
The first season in the Football Conference saw Chester finish 8th, but the campaign was overshadowed by continuing off-field problems. By the summer of 2001, Chester were in grave danger of going out of business and the appointment of the owner's friend Gordon Hill as manager was very unpopular with fans. The arrival of new chairman Stephen Vaughan in September 2001 saw Mark Wright appointed as manager and Chester avoided relegation in 2002. A year later, they qualified for the Conference play-offs, but missed out on promotion by losing a penalty shoot-out to Doncaster Rovers.
Starting the 2003–04 season as favourites to win the Football Conference, Chester suffered just four defeats during the campaign, winning the title and promotion back to the Football League with a 1–0 victory over Scarborough in the penultimate match of the season. It was the club's first national league title.
The day before the start of the 2004–05 season Mark Wright resigned. Ray Mathias was left as the caretaker charge and by the end of August, Chester were bottom of the League. New manager Ian Rush helped the club avoid relegation, but was criticised by opposing managers for using "long ball" tactics. Rush resigned in April 2005 after chairman Stephen Vaughan dismissed assistant manager Mark Aizlewood without Rush's knowledge.
In April 2005, Keith Curle took over. A series of poor results saw Chester fall from fourth to bottom in Football League Two. Mark Wright surprisingly returned to the club and a run of five successive wins late in the season secured another campaign in the Football League. The 2006–07 season was most notable for the club's reinstatement in the FA Cup after Bury, who had beaten Chester 3–1 in a second round replay, were thrown out for fielding an ineligible player, Stephen Turnbull. Wright was sacked in April 2007, being replaced by Scotsman Bobby Williamson. Williamson was sacked as manager in March 2008, after Chester had won only one of their last fourteen games. Club coach Simon Davies replaced him after a spell as caretaker manager. Survival was clinched in the penultimate game of the season after a 0–0 draw with Stockport County. They ended their season at 22nd, their lowest position at the time since returning to the Football League in 2004–05.
Colours and badge
Chester's original colours were red and white, and these colours were used until the club temporarily disbanded in 1899. The colours were changed to green and white, in 1901 when the club moved to Whipcord Lane. Various combinations were used until the outbreak of the First World War; these included green shirts and white shorts, green and white stripes and green and white halves. In 1919, the colours changed again, with their new dark green shirts earning Chester the nickname the Ivies. 1920 saw another change of colours, this time to black and white, which earned Chester the nickname Magpies. Black and White remained the colours until 1930, when they were changed to blue and white stripes. For the next thirty years, the colours remained unchanged, with the exception of the 1952–53 season, when Chester adopted white shirts and black shorts.
The colours were changed yet again in the 1959–60 season, when it became green shirts and socks with gold trim and white shorts. In 1962, Chester reverted to blue and white stripes, albeit with a much thinner blue stripe, and blue shorts instead of the previous black ones. The 1968–69 season saw Chester change to an all-sky blue kit, which remained for four years. In the 1972–73 season, the club again reverted to blue and white stripes, and in 1974, the seals badge appeared on the kit for the first time. A shirt sponsorship first appeared on Chester's kit in the 1982–83 season. The blue and white and seals badge disappeared in the 1983–84 season, as the renamed Chester City F.C. changed to blue shirts and white shorts. The shirt became predominately blue in the 1988–89 season for the final season at Sealand Road. The first season at the Deva Stadium saw the colours change to a blue shirt with white speckles. The colours returned to blue and white stripes the following season. From 1995, the club appeared in blue and white stripes of varying thickness and shades.
In the 1958–59 season, the city's coat of arms was augmented onto the shirt. During the early to mid-1960s, the supporters association badge was used. From 1974–75 to 1982–83, the club used the seals badge. The design was picked from a competition held by a local newspaper, with the winner coming from the school of art in Handbridge. The club's final crest was an adaptation of the City of Chester crest.
Reserve and youth teams
Chester's reserve team played in the Central League Division One West until 2007–08, but after that point only staged friendly matches.
The club's youth set-up was enjoying its most fruitful spell since the late 1990s, with several products having graduated to the senior ranks. The youth team competed in the Youth Alliance North West Conference, while they were hoping to emulate their achievements in 2006–07 of reaching the FA Youth Cup fourth round, when they surprisingly knocked out Tottenham Hotspur.
Chester's Centre of Excellence was officially closed down at the start of the 2009–2010 season, due to the club's relegation to the Conference National, although most players remained at the club, with several, such as James Owen, Jack Rea and Lloyd Ellams playing in the senior side in the club's final season.
Managerial history
Source:
Rivals
Chester had a long-running rivalry with Wrexham. The clubs were just 12 miles apart, but separated by the border between England and Wales. Wrexham edged the English–Welsh derby with 30 victories to Chester's 26 in Football League meetings. Between 1986 and 2005, the sides were in the same division in one season (1994–95), but they were then Football League Two opponents in the three campaigns from 2005–06 to 2007–08. In 2009–10, the sides clashed again in the Conference National after Chester followed Wrexham out of the Football League, resulting in a 0–0 draw before the club was recently dissolved.
Tranmere Rovers and Crewe Alexandra were traditionally strong rivals, but Chester had not met either in a league game since the early 1990s. In recent times, a growing rivalry developed between Chester and Shrewsbury Town, following a series of controversial meetings. In November 2006, a large brawl broke out between players of both sides at the end of Chester's 2–1 defeat at Gay Meadow.
Following an alleged biting incident on Stockport County striker Liam Dickinson, by Sean Hessey, commenced a short-lived rivalry with their Cheshire rivals.
Macclesfield Town were county rivals with Chester.
Player records
Other player records
Most league goals in a season – 36 Dick Yates (1946–47)
Record signing – £150,000 Kevin Ellison (2007)
Record sale – £300,000 Ian Rush (1980)
Most consecutive league appearances – 133 John Danby (2006–2009)
Oldest league appearance – 40 yrs, 101 days Stan Pearson (April 1959)
Youngest league appearance – 15 yrs, 350 days Aidan Newhouse (May 1988)
Most capped player – 35 Angus Eve, Trinidad & Tobago; (home nations) – 13 Billy Lewis, Wales
Honours
League
Third Division North (level 3)
Runners-up: 1935–36
Fourth Division / Third Division (level 4)
Runners-up: 1985–86, 1993–94
Football Conference (level 5)
Champions: 2003–04
Cheshire County League
Champions: 1921–22, 1925–26, 1926–27
Runners-up: 1930–31
The Combination
Champions: 1908–09
Runners-up: 1903–04, 1904–05, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08
Cup
Welsh Cup
Winners: 1908, 1933, 1947
Runners-up: 1909, 1910, 1935, 1936, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1966, 1970
Third Division North Cup
Winners: 1936, 1937
Runners-up: 1946
Conference League Cup
Winners: 2001
Debenhams Cup
Winners: 1977
Conference Championship Shield