|
|
31 May 2006
WRIGHT IN TALKS WITH PLAYERS
City
manager Mark Wright will be holding talks withh goalkeeper
Wayne Brown shortly. Brown spent the last 12 months
on loan at Hereford United where he helped the Bulls
return to the Football League via the play-off’s.
The goalkeeper who has made 289+1 appearances for
City still has a year to run on his Deva contract
but has also attracted interest from Hereford who
would like to sign him on a permanent basis.
Chairman Steve Vaughan said recently: “I spoke
to Graham Turner about Wayne. However, the decision
is entirely up to Mark Wright. If Mark decides that
Wayne figures in his future plans, then that answers
the Hereford enquiry. If we decide to release the
player we would require a fee for him, it's as black
and white as that.”
Wright will also be talking to
forward Jake Edwards who scores one goal in ten appearances
for City whilst on loan from Exeter City at the end
of the season.
SUPPORTERS TRUST AGM
The Chester City Supporters Trust
Annual General Meeting will take place tonight at the
United Services Club, Crook Street. The doors open at
19:30 for a 20:00hrs start. The meeting is for members
only but lapsed members may re-join prior to the meeting
and attend.
27 May 2006
VAUGHAN EARMARKS TRAINING SITE
Chairman Steve Vaughan has earmakred
a 16-acre site between Chester and Widnes as an ideal
area to build training facilities to be shared by both
the club and Widnes Vikings. The land is currently privately
owned and used as playing fields. Vaughan told the Chester
Chronicle: “The site we want is currently being
used as playing fields and has a function room, bar
and changing facilities. We’d have to upgrade
it but the main thing is to identify a price for it
and convince the people selling it that it’s going
to a good cause.”
26 May 2006
SEASON TICKETS
A reminder that those existing
season ticket holders who wish to retain the same seat
for next season must renew before 31 May.
• Ticket
prices
24 May 2006
TRAINING FACILITIES WANTED
The club have taken the rather unusual step of advertising
for training facilities. Both Stewart Drummond and Ben Davies mentioned the
facilities at Shrewsbury as a reason for leaving City for the Shropshire
side. Drummond
said: “The training facilities are superb, whereas sometimes at
Chester we didn’t know where we were going to be each day.” While
Davies commented: “I was impressed with Shrewsbury’s training facilities.
They have a good set up and I think the facilities will bring me on as a player.”
Facilities are required for the pre-season build-up and anyone who believes they
have suitable
premises
available
should
contact
the commercial manager Bob Gray on 01244 371376.
SIXTH FRIENDLY LINED
UP
Chester have arranged their
sixth pre-season friendly when they travel to play
FA Vase semi-finalists Cammell
Laird on Wednesday, 19 July.
• Pre-season
schedule
23
May 2006
CITY IN TALKS WITH MIDFIELDER
It’s
reported that Chester are having talks with ex-Liverpool
midfielder Ritchie Partridge. Dublin-born Partridge,
aged 25, began his career as an trainee at Anfield
where
he had loan spells at Bristol Rovers 4+2 (1 goal)
and Coventry City 27+4 (4 goals) before signing
for Sheffield
Wednesday in July 2005. He scored 1 goal in 8+12
appearances for the Yorkshire side before being
released from Hillsborough last week.
Chairman, Stephen Vaughan told the Daily Post: “We
have had talks with the player’s agent, and
we know that he is keen to return to the North
West. Mark
Wright knows the player well and we have arranged
for further discussions to be held later this week. Ritchie
is one of a number of players we are talking to
at the
moment, and some of the potential targets are extremely
exciting. Our aim is to improve the quality of
the playing
squad we have at the club.”
22 May 2006
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY
Chester have added a home fixture
with Chesterfield to their pre-season schedule. The
Spireites will visit Deva Stadium on Saturday 22 July.
The date is provisional according to Chesterfield.
20 May 2006
DAVIES JOINS SHREWSBURY
Ben
Davies, who turned down a new contract at Chester last
week, has become the third Blues player to join Shrewsbury
Town. He follows in the footsteps of fellow midfielder
and Player of the Season Stewart Drummond and goalkeeper
Chris MacKenzie to the Gay Meadow club. Despite interest
from League One clubs Davies has joined the Shrews on
a three year contract after passing a medical this morning.
Shrewsbury Boss Gary Peters told their official club
website:
“We’ve signed him and it was against severe
opposition from other clubs who wanted his signature.
Northampton, Bristol City, Port Vale and Yeovil all
wanted him and some of them were willing to offer more
money. He's been impressed with our training ground,
the new stadium, the Sundorne sports village, the Telford
dome and all the places that we train at. He’s
been impressed with the way do things with the DVD analysis
for each player, the use of the Focus software to analysis
matches and player performances.” Davies was encouraged
to view the facilities by another former City player
Richard Hope who joined Shrewsbury last summer.
Davies later told the Evening Leader
(on 23 May) “It was a massive decision and the
hardest decision of my career to leave the club. I
know my decision to join one of Chester’s rivals
will upset a lot of people at Chester, but sometimes
you have to make tough decisions.
“I received interest from
five or six clubs and it took me two weeks to speak
to them all before I made a decision. Northampton,
Port Vale, Bristol City, Yeovil, Bristol Rovers, and
Shrewsbury were all wanting to sign me. In the end
I made the decision purely for footballing and family
reasons, because Shrewsbury is closer to my family
– it’s only 25 minutes from where my family
lives.
I was impressed with Shrewsbury’s
training facilities. They have a good set up and I think
the facilities will bring me on as a player.”
Picture © Evening
Leader
CITY RELEASE SIX MORE
With manager Mark Wright preparing a squad for next season
the club
have
released six more players. They are: Ryan Brookfield, Carl Regan, Luke Dimech,
Tom Curtis, Abdou El Kholti and
Marcus Richardson. Both Sean Hessey and Paul Rutherford have been offered new
deals while teenagers Chris Holroyd and James Vaughan will be stepping up to
senior
level. Chairman Steve Vaughan said: “This is never an easy time for a football
club, but I wish all the players who have been released all the best and thank
them for their efforts for Chester City.”
• Transfer
activity
WELCOME BACK HEREFORD
Congratulations to Hereford United who won today’s
Nationwide
Conference
play-off final against Halifax Town at the Walkers Stadium and return to
League
Two
next
season after a nine year absence.
The
Bulls, who won 3-2 after extra-time, are managed by ex-Chester player Graham
Turner
and
contained
on-loan
Chester ‘keeper
Wayne
Brown.
Two
ex-City
players
Matt Doughty and Ryan Sugden played for Halifax Town.
19 May 2006
EXILES PREDICTION COMPETITION
Congratulations to Darren Murray who has won this
year’s Exiles Prediction Competition by three
points. Mark Ephgrave was runner-up with Dominic Clifford
taking
third prize. The tie break answer was 53 though this
wasn’t required this year. Details here.
18
May 2006
O’HANLON DEPARTS
Coach Kelham O’Hanlon
has left Deva Stadium. He arrived from Bury in February
and was assistant to manager Mark Wright until the end
of the season. O’Hanlon was offered a contract
for next season though this remained unsigned.
15 May 2006
BARROW RETURNS TO THE DEVA
Chester
have appointed the popular former manager and player
Graham Barrow as assistant manager to Mark Wright. Barrow
is no stranger to City fans having made 293+5 appearances
and scored 23 goals in an eight year spell with the
club. He went into management at Wigan Athletic but
returned to the Deva Stadium hotseat as caretaker manager
in October 1992 after the dismissal of Harry McNally.
He took the job on a permanent basis a month later but
was unable to prevent the Blues sliding to relegation
to the third division. The following year he guided
Chester straight back to the second division as they
finished runners-up guided Chester to promotion the
following season.
Barrow went on to manage Rochdale
and Bury and returned to the Deva for another
stint as manager in May 2000 during turbulent
times under chairman Terry Smith. Times under the
American
chairman were difficult and he was sacked in
June 2001 and replaced by Gordon Hill.
Chairman Steve Vaughan told the
Daily Post: “Mark
(Wright) needs an assistant and he is looking forward
to working with Graham. The two men will complement
each other and between them have a wealth of experience. It
will be good to see stability on the management side
again, with Mark signing his new contract and now assisted
by Graham whose knowledge of this division will be beneficial
to us.”
14
May 2006
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES
City have announced
the first of their pre-season friendlies, check them
here.
13
May 2006
DEFENDER SIGNS
The Blues have made
their second pre-signing with 22-year-old defender
Jamie Hand who last played for Northampton Town on
loan. Hand began his career as a trainee at Watford
in 2001
and has had loan spells at Oxford United, Livingston, Peterborough United,
Huddersfield
Town and finally Northampton Town.
12
May 2006
DUO JOIN SHREWSBURY
Both Stewart
Drummond and Chris
MacKenzie have rejected new contracts and
have signed for League Two rivals Shrewsbury Town.
MacKenzie told the Evening Leader: “My
move to Shrewsbury all happened pretty quickly. I
was waiting for Chester to get back in touch with
me when the phone went and I heard Shrewsbury
were interested in signing me. I decided to go
and talk to Shrewsbury and was impressed with their
set
up and with their
manager, and also the direction they were wanting
to go in. I gave it everything I had when I played
for Chester and it was great to play a key role in
helping the club survive – I felt I added
something to the team and hopefully the fans at
Chester appreciated
that.”
Meanwhile Drummond
bemoaned the lack of training facilities at Chester
as one reason why
he felt it was the right time to move on. He said:
“I’ve got a lot of time for Mark (Wright).
He's a good manager and he's going to have to rebuild
next
season,
where
I feel Shrewsbury have got everything in place. The
training facilities are superb, whereas sometimes
at Chester we didn’t know where we were
going to be each day. I just feel Shrewsbury
is the
right move for me.”
11
May 2006
KEEPER SIGNS ON
City have made their first
pre-season signing in 22-year-old goalkeeper John Danby
from Kidderminster Harriers.
10
May 2006
BEN ON HIS WAY
As
feared it looks like Ben
Davies may not be playing for Chester next season.
The midfielder’s contract expires at the end of
June and it appears he’ll reject that in favour
of a move to a League One side.
City chairman Steve Vaughan has stated: “I’m
not going to stand in Ben’s way if he wants to
further his career at a League One club. Apparently
the player has had offers from Yeovil, Northampton and
Bristol City. We would love to see Ben sign on for another
two years with us, but in this age of freedom of contract,
it looks like he will move on.”
The 24 year old midfielder joined City four years ago
from Kidderminster Harriers and has gone on to make
147+27 appearances for the Blues scoring 17 goals in
the process.
Picture © Evening
Leader
ON THE BORDERLINE UPDATES
Update pages covering
the 2005/06 first team, youth team, and reserve team
stats for On the Borderline have been produced by the
author Chas Sumner. They can be downloaded from here.
9 May 2006
FIVE RELEASED BY CITY
Defender
Scott
McNiven is among five players not retainined by
manager Mark Wright for next season.
McNiven, who signed from Mansfield Town last summer
made 46+1 appearances for City last season. Also released
are goalkeeper Paul
Harrison who made 4+0 appearances, Craig
Dove 3+4, Justin
Walker 18+8 and Paul
Tait 3+6.
There will no doubt be further developments as Wright
talks to other players in the squad.
Both midfielder Ben Davies, and goalkeeper Chris Mackenzie
have both been offered new deals and the club are awaiting
their responses.
Manager Mark Wright said: “Yesterday was a difficult
day – it’s never easy telling players that
they have been released. It is always hard to try and
tell players that they are no longer needed but it had
to be done and there were several big decisions to be
made. The news was difficult for the five players to
take, but I thanked them all for their efforts and wished
them well for the future.”
Picture © Evening
Leader
7 May 2006
SEASON ENDS IN ANTI-CLIMAX
There
was a disappointing end of season anti-climax at Deva
Stadium on Saturday. No pre-match Player of the Season
presentations (or even announcements!), a lacklustre
performance from the Blues, and no post match appearance
from the players to meet the fans who’s stayed
behind to greet them.
The Player of the Season award was
actually won by Stewart Drummond who has now departed
the club, he beat fellow midfielder Ben Davies into
second place.
One player who did remain on
the pitch to acknowledge the fans at the end was Davies,
was that to be his last appearance in a City shirt?
He, along with goalkeeper Chris MacKenzie have yet
to
sign contracts offered to them for next season.
Kelvin Langmead headed the only goal of the game after
nine minutes and that was enough to take all three
points
back to Gay Meadow. The Blues created little but had
to great opportunities to equalise after the break
with
Ben Davies and Gregg Blundell both missing one-on-one
chances with Shrews ‘keeper Joe Hart.
Despite the defeat City actually rose a place to finish
15th, overtaking Mansfield Town whose heavy home defeat
by Cheltenham Town dropped them below the Blues on goal
difference.
• Final
League Two table
PLAY-OFF’s
Congratulations to Carlisle United, Northampton Town
and Leyton Orient all promoted to League One next season.
They will be joined by one of the following: Lincoln
City, Grimsby Town, Cheltenham Town or Wycombe wanderers
who contest next weeks play-off’s.
Saturday, 13 May 2006
Lincoln City v Grimsby Town, 12:05
Wycombe Wanderers v Cheltenham Town, 18:05
Tuesday, 16 May 2006
Grimsby Town v Lincoln City, 19:45
Thursday, 18 May 2006
Cheltenham Town v Wycombe Wanderers, 19:45
Sunday, 28 May 2006
Play-off final, Millennium Stadium 15:00
Commiserations to Rushden &
Diamonds and Oxford United both relegated to the Nationwide
Conference.
City will be joined next season
in League Two by Walsall, Swindon Town, Hartlepool
United
and Milton Keynes Dons all relegated from League One.
Accrington Stanley will also be visiting Deva Stadium
as Conference champions. Hereford United, Morecambe,
Grays Athletic and Halifax Town will contest the Conference
play-off’s to join Stanley.
5 May 2006
BLUES LOOKING TO END IN STYLE
The season comes to an
end tomorrow as Shrewsbury Town visit Deva Stadium for
an all-ticket encounter, kick-off 15;00. With City clear
of the relegation zone and the Shrews seven points off
the play-off zone there’s nothing at stake except
local pride.
Once again the Blues will be without injured duo David
Artell and Scott McNiven, while Stewart Drummond, who
turned down a new contract this week is doubtful. The
Shrews have doubts over both Glynn Hurst and Colin McMenamin.
The sides last
met at Gay Meadow in October with the home side
running out 3-1 winners, Ryan Lowe was on the scoresheet
for City against his former club on that occasion.
WRIGHT SIGNS ON
Manager Mark Wright has
now signed the two year contract offered to him by Steve
Vaughan.
CALL UP FOR DEREK
|
Congratulations to striker
Derek
Asamoah whose recent tremendous run of form
has earned him an international call-up. Asamoah,
on loan from Lincoln City until the end of the
season, has been selected to join the Ghana
squad for their friendly match against Nice
next Tuesday 9 May. After that Coach Ratomir
Dujkovic is expected to name his 23 man World
Cup squad on 15 May.
Ghana have an injury crisis
and are unsure over the availability of German-based
forwards Matthew Amoah and Isaac Boakye, both
of whom are fighting against injury. Also called
up is another ex-City loan striker Junior Agogo,
now at Bristol Rovers.
Ghana will play Italy,
USA and the Czech Republic in the group stages.
Picture ©
Evening Leader |
4 May 2006
WRIGHT AGREES DEAL
Chairman
Steve Vaughan announced at last night’s Fans Forum
that manager Mark Wright has accepted the two-year deal
and financial package and is expected to sign soon.
Vaughan said: “I am pleased that we have come
to an agreement with Mark. He has agreed a financial
package and, more importantly, it gives the club the
stability that we have been looking for.”
Meanwhile Wright has missed out on the April Manager
of the Month award. Wright, along with Leyton Orient’s
Martin Ling and Northampton Town’s Colin Calderwood
were nominated but it was Torquay United manager Ian
Atkins who scooped the award.
Picture © Evening
Leader
ADMISSION PRICE INCREASE
The club have announced
matchday
admission and season ticket prices for next season.
There are increases of £2.00 a match for adults
and concessions but Under 16 prices remain the same.
3 May 2006
DRUMMOND REFUSES CONTRACT
Midfielder
Stewart
Drummond has played his last game for City. Drummond,
who has captained the side since the return of Mark
Wright, has refused to sign a new contract offered to
him and will depart Deva Stadium shortly. Drummond joined
the Blues from Morecambe in May 2004 and has played
94+4 games for City scoring 13 goals. Drummond is expected
to join another League Two outfit, believed to be Shrewsbury
Town.
Chairman Steve Vaughan said: “It is naturally
disappointing as we had offered Stewart what we considered
to be an excellent deal, it would have made him the
highest paid player at the club. All we can do is to
thank Stewart for his efforts, during the time he was
with Chester City and wish him well for the future.”
Both Chris MacKenzie and Ben Davies have also been offered
new contracts for next season but have yet to put pen
to paper.
Picture © Evening
Leader
1 May 2006
FANS FORUM
City supporters are invited
to attend a Fans Forum at Deva Stadium on Wednesday
night. In attendance will be chairman Steve Vaughan
and director Paul Baker. The evening will take place
in the Blues Bar social club at will start at 19:00hrs.
The ticket office will also be open for those who wish
to purchase tickets for Saturday’s final home
game of the season against Shrewsbury Town.
|
|
|
|
|
|
LATEST
NEWS |
AWAY TIE FOR REPLAY WINNERS Should Chester win their replay, they have been handed an away tie in the Fourth Round Qualifying of the FA Cup at Scarborough Athletic. |
more » |
|
LAST
MATCH |
BLUES PROGRESS Harrison Burke finds the net as ten man Chester squeeze past Stockton Town to earn an away FA Cup tie at Scarborough Athletic. |
more » |
|
|
CLUB
HISTORY |
Everything you need to know about the club’s history, honours, records and kits. Complete list of fixtures from 1885 and much more. |
more » |
|
SUPPORTERS |
EXILES BLOG
The Exiles have set up a blog to provide away match information and articles for Blues fans living away from Chester. You can read it here |
Exiles » | ISA » |
|
|
|