Chester FC Fan
Member
Hi All...
Firstly I hope you don't mind me invading your forum like this... just been
watching the developments at your club and as it triggered memories of
events that happened to us a while ago I felt I had to come on and
firstly sympathise and offer my support in keeping your club in your city, and
also to tell you our story which in many ways is similar to yours and what
you're going through now.
When we were known as Chester City we lost our ground, and like yourselves
we had to endure playing home games over 30 miles away. It was heartbreaking
to see the club moved from it's roots and stuck out in the wilderness where the
club that were hosting your 'home' games only really cared about the money that
they made from your plight. For Coventry fans it will be even worse than what we
suffered, as you still have a stadium in your city where your club can play every
other week, and to see that empty as the club plays 35 miles away is simply WRONG.
We spent two seasons outside of Chester... the fact that we survived that is a
miracle in itself. When a club leaves the city, no matter how long for, it doesn't just
lose its team it loses all touch with the local community. Our youth team setup was
destroyed as a result of not being local to the upcoming youngsters - their parents
simply didn't trust a club that had no ground local to them to care for their kids and
all our local neighbours simply had much more to offer.
The fans you lose, some you lose forever... many become disheartened and find it
hard to return even when the club is back in the city. Others simply get out the
habit of going to football and find better ways of spending a Saturday.
Local businesses were not interested in sponsoring or putting money into the club
anymore - afterall whats in it for them if you're not even in the city to promote it.
Then again when you do return it's hard work getting them interested again. Like
I've stated already it's a miracle we survived the two years away but somehow
we did and we returned not to the 12,000 ground we were promised when we left
but a much smaller cheaper 6,000 capacity version.
Unforutnately on our return to the city our troubles were not over...
much like yourselves we had a number of owners who cared nothing for the club or it's fans
but were there for their own interests and motives. We managed to get rid of one
owner through a mass boycott of home games, another was not so easy to deal with
and would rather let the club die than give it to someone who cared. Eventually that
person did indeed kill our club, and what's even more disturbing than that is the
football authorities let this person just walk back into football despite of all they'd done.
The day the club was liquidated was a very sad one indeed... heartbreaking to see
all those years of history and memories killed off in an instant. I really did think about
finishing with football at this time, it had served me too many body blows and you can
only take so many. Through all this happening though, in the background a group of fans
had been planning for the day when the inevitable happened and Chester FC was born.
I reluctantly went to the first meeting they held and came away thinking it was all a
pipedream - promises of fans running the club and us getting back where we belonged
all seemed to be fantasy... I decided to jump onbaord tho and as a fan gave my full
support to the rebirth of my football club.
Several months of hard work passed by and the people on the top table worked hard with
the local council to get the club back into the ground it was used to playing from, links
with local business were restored and a youth system to be proud of was setup.
Our club went from strength to strength... we entered a league where the average
gate was just under 100 and we managed to get around 3,000 into a ground where as
Chester City under the old ownership we struggled to get 1,000 at the end. We won
3 successive promotions and are now back where we belong in the conference...
but more importantly than that, it's our club, playing for our community in our City.
I really don't know where Coventry City go from here... Everything must be done to still
try and stop the club playing it's games away from the city. Something that's hard to do
when the authorities don't listen to fans or care about communities and owners who just
do what they want no matter what the implications. I really hope something happens
last minute for the club to stay in the city, but if it doesn't you as fans must be prepared
for the day it does return, and when they day does arrive plans need to be
in place so that Coventry City can somehow be owned or run by people who care about
the club, care about the community and of course those people are you the fans. Also be
prepared for the worst, that these owners don't care and kill your club like our owners did
to mine. Have plans ready in case that ever happens to do what we did and build the club
yourselves and run it yourselves and protect it's future.
I wish you Good Luck in getting the best outcome for Coventry City, I shall be watching
with interest and lets hope you get what you deserve...
Your Club, Playing in your City, for your Community
Firstly I hope you don't mind me invading your forum like this... just been
watching the developments at your club and as it triggered memories of
events that happened to us a while ago I felt I had to come on and
firstly sympathise and offer my support in keeping your club in your city, and
also to tell you our story which in many ways is similar to yours and what
you're going through now.
When we were known as Chester City we lost our ground, and like yourselves
we had to endure playing home games over 30 miles away. It was heartbreaking
to see the club moved from it's roots and stuck out in the wilderness where the
club that were hosting your 'home' games only really cared about the money that
they made from your plight. For Coventry fans it will be even worse than what we
suffered, as you still have a stadium in your city where your club can play every
other week, and to see that empty as the club plays 35 miles away is simply WRONG.
We spent two seasons outside of Chester... the fact that we survived that is a
miracle in itself. When a club leaves the city, no matter how long for, it doesn't just
lose its team it loses all touch with the local community. Our youth team setup was
destroyed as a result of not being local to the upcoming youngsters - their parents
simply didn't trust a club that had no ground local to them to care for their kids and
all our local neighbours simply had much more to offer.
The fans you lose, some you lose forever... many become disheartened and find it
hard to return even when the club is back in the city. Others simply get out the
habit of going to football and find better ways of spending a Saturday.
Local businesses were not interested in sponsoring or putting money into the club
anymore - afterall whats in it for them if you're not even in the city to promote it.
Then again when you do return it's hard work getting them interested again. Like
I've stated already it's a miracle we survived the two years away but somehow
we did and we returned not to the 12,000 ground we were promised when we left
but a much smaller cheaper 6,000 capacity version.
Unforutnately on our return to the city our troubles were not over...
much like yourselves we had a number of owners who cared nothing for the club or it's fans
but were there for their own interests and motives. We managed to get rid of one
owner through a mass boycott of home games, another was not so easy to deal with
and would rather let the club die than give it to someone who cared. Eventually that
person did indeed kill our club, and what's even more disturbing than that is the
football authorities let this person just walk back into football despite of all they'd done.
The day the club was liquidated was a very sad one indeed... heartbreaking to see
all those years of history and memories killed off in an instant. I really did think about
finishing with football at this time, it had served me too many body blows and you can
only take so many. Through all this happening though, in the background a group of fans
had been planning for the day when the inevitable happened and Chester FC was born.
I reluctantly went to the first meeting they held and came away thinking it was all a
pipedream - promises of fans running the club and us getting back where we belonged
all seemed to be fantasy... I decided to jump onbaord tho and as a fan gave my full
support to the rebirth of my football club.
Several months of hard work passed by and the people on the top table worked hard with
the local council to get the club back into the ground it was used to playing from, links
with local business were restored and a youth system to be proud of was setup.
Our club went from strength to strength... we entered a league where the average
gate was just under 100 and we managed to get around 3,000 into a ground where as
Chester City under the old ownership we struggled to get 1,000 at the end. We won
3 successive promotions and are now back where we belong in the conference...
but more importantly than that, it's our club, playing for our community in our City.
I really don't know where Coventry City go from here... Everything must be done to still
try and stop the club playing it's games away from the city. Something that's hard to do
when the authorities don't listen to fans or care about communities and owners who just
do what they want no matter what the implications. I really hope something happens
last minute for the club to stay in the city, but if it doesn't you as fans must be prepared
for the day it does return, and when they day does arrive plans need to be
in place so that Coventry City can somehow be owned or run by people who care about
the club, care about the community and of course those people are you the fans. Also be
prepared for the worst, that these owners don't care and kill your club like our owners did
to mine. Have plans ready in case that ever happens to do what we did and build the club
yourselves and run it yourselves and protect it's future.
I wish you Good Luck in getting the best outcome for Coventry City, I shall be watching
with interest and lets hope you get what you deserve...
Your Club, Playing in your City, for your Community
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