Rob Hopley
Position — Centre Forward
Rob will be joining Chester from Colwyn Bay, and is a tall physical player who finished top scorer with 23 goals for Bay last season as they gained promotion from the Unibond North League.

Richard Whiteside
Position — Goalkeeper
Richard joins the Blues from Burscough FC.

Daniel Mahoney
Position — Midfield
Daniel joins Chester from Bamber Bridge Football Club, and comes with experience of Conference football.

Richard Foulkes
Position — Midfield
Richard, joins from Cammell Lairds FC.

Chester will travel the short distance to play Airbus UK on Tuesday 20 July. The match will kick-off at 19:30hrs and thanks to a generous offer from the hosts, half of the proceeds will be donated to Chester FC. Games against both Bangor City and Tranmere Rovers are also possibilities as manager Neil Young looks to put his new squad together through the summer.

“Myself and Gary would like to thanks the directors and officials of Colwyn Bay for giving us the opportunity to manage such a great club and the fans who I can't speak highly enough of for the loyal support and kind words during my time as manager.”

That was the overwhelming feeling among the 500+ supporters who turned up last night at the Guildhall to herald the launch of Chester FC, a new community club for the people of Chester.

With the launch comes the new club crest designed by Martin Huxley who is a lifelong Chester fan, and City Fans United member. It’s a stylised version of the traditional wolf’s head with crown crest and is shown rising ‘phoenix-like’ from the flames. A superb evolution from the previous design.

Grenville Millington, Andy Walsh general manager of FC United of Manchester and many others made speeches to the packed crowd and there was a tremendous reception for former goalscoring hero Daryl Clare who came over from Lincolnshire to be inducted into the CFU Hall of Fame.

Former player and goal scoring hero of the 2004 Conference championship season Daryl Clare will be in attendance as he is inducted as the third member of the CFU Hall of Fame joining Grenville Millington and Gary Talbot the two other players with the accolade.

“Yes, we will be starting lower down the pyramid than we originally thought, but it’s the same Chester Football Club and those people who have applied will feel they are able to take us all the way back to where we came from. I haven’t seen the list of names that have applied for the manager’s job, but I am aware that there are a number of candidates who are former Football League managers.”

The League Secretary has requested clarification from the FA on a number of points relating to this issue, and further details will be published on the league website once a response has been received from the FA.

For the purposes of clarity, whatever final decision is made, it will not affect promotion and relegation issues already decided for the 2009-10 season.

Given the current speculation surrounding this issue, it should also be pointed out that the normal process for the election of any club to our league is as follows.

City Fans United have been informed that Chester FC will start next season at non-league level 5 at the highest, in the Vodkat League (The North West Counties League). This will come as a big disappointment to many who were expecting the new club to start higher in The Evo-Stik North or South League. They will now start at least four levels down from where they were when they were kicked out of the Football Conference.

It is yet to be confirmed in the club start in the Vodkat Premier Division, though CFU have been informed that would be recommended by the FA. Other teams in that division, and our possible opponents next year include: Congleton Town, Winsford United, Alsager Town, Ramsbottom United and Nelson, the team Chester replaced when they joined the Football League back in 1931!.

The First Division, which may still be a possibility, includes: Atherton Collieries, Eccleshall, Wigan Robin Park and AFC Liverpool.

The Vodkat League was formed in 1982 with the amalgamation of the Cheshire County League and the Lancashire Combination.

On hearing of the news, City Fans United (CFU) released the following statement this afternoon.

“Chester Football Club can confirm that they have received notice that The Leagues Committee of The FA have recommended that the reformed club be placed at Step 5 of the National League System. Step 5 is the North West Counties League Premier Division.”

“There were no vacancies within Step 3 or 4 to be allocated to Chester FC, this was a major contributory factor in the decision.”

With just 12 weeks to the start of the new season, City Fans United are proud to present the official re-birth of Chester Football Club this Thursday at a public meeting at the Guild Hall, in Chester, commencing at 8pm with doors opening from 7.30pm as the people of Chester are invited to throw their support behind the club.

This will be an historic night in one of the most historic buildings in Chester, which will include the dramatic revelation of the new club crest, and how we intend on building a football club from scratch in a short space of time.

Blues legends Daryl Clare and Grenville Millington will be joining us on this momentous occasion, and we’ll also be giving a full update on the progress being made for the future of Chester FC, including our plans for the Community involvement and the CFU Junior Blues.

It will also be a night where we'll be looking for the public to throw their weight behind Chester FC, as the more money that is raised, the better Manager Chester FC will be able to hire, and a bigger playing budget he will be given.

Ashton told the NLP: “I'll lead us off the pitch, but we need to find the man to take us forward on it. It is a different situation to what many managers face when applying for a new job. The club has no players, so clearly we need someone who can piece together a talented squad from scratch. What we haven't got is a great deal of time to find the right person.”

With the lease of the ground now in their hands, the CFU and notified the Football Association of their intentions for Chester FC to play at Deva Stadium next August. At what level in the non-league pyramid they will be playing remains to be seen but it could be as high as the Evo-Stik Premier League – previously the UniBond Premier. In effect only one down from where they would have been had the previous club carried on and been relegated to the Conference North this year.

It seems more likely though that Chester could start the 2010/11 season a division below that in either the Evo-Stik First Division North or South.

“A key to my role will be harnessing the business community and working in partnership with the business community to realise the potential of the club.

It’s an historic day for football in the city of Chester, as City Fans United (CFU) have been granted control of the lease of Deva Stadium by Cheshire West and Chester Council for the next five years. The council have now urged the Chester public and local business to support and advise the new club on their venture.

After months of dedicated hard work and relentless media campaigning by CFU, at both local and national level, the ambitious plans to launch a community club, Chester FC, this summer have taken a huge step forward with this news.

City Fans United have issued the following statement...

CFU PRESS RELEASE
City Fans United are delighted to announce that following meetings with representatives of Cheshire West & Chester Council, the lease to the Deva Stadium, will now been assigned to City Fans United. This will enable Chester Football Club to use the ground from a date to be confirmed.

This is obviously great news for all Chester FC fans, as it means we can continue to plan for the future at a ground that enables the history of Chester Football Club to continue. We will now be looking to recruit a first team manager, interested applicants should contact CFU via media@cityfansunited.com

City Fans United are naturally delighted with the decision CWaC have made. Chris Pilsbury, CFU Chairman said, “We would like to express our gratitude to all involved for their assistance in bringing the fans the news they so desired.”

“We look forward to living up to the faith the Council have shown in the CFU business plan, and working in partnership to give our City a Football Club that we can all be proud of.”

“The really hard work begins now. We are all one step closer to bringing football home to Chester but your Club needs you! If you have yet to join CFU please consider doing so, and if you are already a member please encourage others to join. Football in Chester will belong to the community – be part of it!”

Cheshire West and Chester Council have decided to offer a five year lease on the Deva Stadium to City Fans United – supporters group pledged to maintain league football in the city.

The decision announced today (Wednesday) was made after detailed consideration of the business cases presented by CFU and Danish Consortium, Fodbold Selskabet.

Both bidders presented their business case to a special panel led by Chief Executive Steve Robinson and including independent business men and a advisor with experience of the establishment of a Phoenix Club.

Later both groups were questioned by panel members and asked to clarify issues raised during the presentation.

Today (Wednesday) Chief Executive Steve Robinson issued the following statement; –

“The Panel was impressed with the professionalism, enthusiasm and commitment shown by both groups. Consequently, reaching a final decision has not been easy.

“Strengths and weaknesses in both cases have been carefully assessed and balanced in the knowledge that time-scales governing this process are acutely short, if Chester is to have league football next season.”

“The Danish Consortium combined an obvious passion for English football with some very innovative ideas and financial support, both immediate and potential.

“We are extremely grateful for their very keen interest and the considerable time taken to formulate the bid and travel to the U.K to present their case.

“However, it was the Panel’s unanimous view that City Fans United, were further advanced in terms of required management structure and overall ability to enter a team into whichever league is determined by the FA.

“Without doubt, their pride in club and city is unrivalled, as indeed, would be the support for their proposal from the people of Chester and its surrounding area.

“It was these factors, combined with the very strong community engagement element in their case which persuaded the panel to assign the lease of Deva Stadium for five years to the CFU Board.

“CFU have promised a club ‘run by the community for the community’ with a multi-sport approach designed to reach all sections of our society from the young to the disadvantaged.

“On that basis this authority will do everything it can to help, support and advise the new club and we urge the Chester public and businesses to do so as well.

“Whilst the Danish Consortium is bound to be disappointed with the outcome, their enthusiasm to be involved with Chester FC, could perhaps still be channeled into working with and providing support to CFU.”

Ends