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.Oxford United left without a game as Chester are expelled from Conference Herald Series 26 February 2010 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.
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."New Coach for Socceroo Squad", The Australian Jewish Times (Sydney), 28 August 1975, Page 32
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 began to consolidate their position in the Third Division and enjoyed runs to the FA Cup fifth round in both 1976–77 and 1979–80 under former Manchester City midfielder Alan Oakes. They achieved their best position since the lower divisions were re-organised in the late 1950s by finishing fifth in 1978, missing out on promotion (in the pre-play-off era) by just two points. Chester were also one of two sides to win the short-lived Debenhams Cup, a competition competed for by the two sides from outside the top two divisions to go furthest in the FA Cup. They beat Port Vale 4–3 on aggregate in 1977 to win their first English national trophy. Chester also continued their success by knocking First Division Coventry City out of the League Cup in 1978–79 and Second Division leaders Newcastle United from the FA Cup a year later. One of the goalscorers was homegrown teenager Ian Rush, who would move for £300,000 to Liverpool at the end of the season and go on to be one of the most famous Welsh strikers in history.
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.