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29
August 2008
CITY WAIT ON JOHNSON
City
entertain Barnet tomorrow at Deva Stadium (15:00hrs)
looking to clinch their first points of the season.
Manager Simon Davies has a fully fit squad to choose
from. Trialist Eddie Johnson will not feature however
as the club are still unable to sign new players
after reaching the salary cap limit. The 23-year-old
Chester born player is a free agent having been
released by Branford City in the summer and has
been training with the squad for about three weeks.
Davies said: “Eddie is wanting to join us
and we’re wanting to sign him, but unfortunately
it’s not that simple because we need to get
one player out before we can get anybody in. We
just need to be patient and hopefully we can then
sign Eddie Johnson who would be a useful addition
to our squad.”
Like City, The Bees
have also had a point-less start to the new campaign
with home defeats to Chesterfield (3-1) and Brentford
(1-0) together with a 3-1 loss at Rochdale. Manager
Paul Fairclough will be without defender Kenny Gillet
through suspension but Ashley Carew has fully recovered
from a back injury and is available to play.
• League
table
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26 August 2008
DEFENSIVE ERRORS COST CITY, AGAIN
It’s
just one win in 16 games now for manager Simon Davies
who saw his side beaten again on Saturday. City’s
defensive problems were there for all to see as
they conceded in the opening minute and shipped
two more goals before the break. A goal from Kevin
Ellison midway through the opening period briefly
gave City hope but there was to be no way back after
the break.
It's clear that the City defence, which has now
conceded 16 goals in the opening four matches of
the season, is in desperate need of strengthening
but with time running out before the transfer deadline
it remains to be seen who, if anyone, is signed.
Manager Davies said: “We’ve got an awful
lot of work to do and it’s down to all of
us. I will get my fair share of the flack which
I will duly take but it’s about people believing
in their own ability.”
“I laid into them at half-time because they
weren’t doing what we have been working on
all week. They have to remember that they are professional
footballers, and some of the defending in the first
half was far from professional. We changed things
are halftime but it was always going to be a difficult
task to come back.”
“It’s not just about turning up and
training and listening to me gab on, It’s
about taking the information in and taking it on
board and doing what’s asked. Until we do
that obviously I’m going to get the flack.
At the end of the day, they won’t move on
as a group because we’ve got to listen to
information and that’s what’s known
as a professional.”
Picture © Evening Leader
22 August 2008
WRIGHT IN TALKS WITH
CITY
Ex-manager
(twice) Mark Wright has held discussions with club
owner Steve Vaughan about investing in the club
and taking on the role of Director of Football.
Vaughan told the Liverpool Daily Post: “I
have held preliminary discussions with Mark. We
discussed possible financial investment into the
club and also the possibility of him joining the
board of directors.”
“Mark tells me he sees potential in our new
training ground facility, and he’s also interested
in our plans for the development of the Deva Stadium.
I stress that the discussions are at an early stage
but I can reveal that Mark is interested in taking
on a Director of Football role but again I do stress
that discussions are at a preliminary stage. However,
we do plan to meet again next week.”
Wright has had two spells in charge at Chester.
He was first appointed manager in January 2002 and
led the Blues to the Conference title two years
later before walking out on the club the day before
their Football League return. He returned to manage
in February 2006 following the departure of Keith
Curle but was sacked, along with his assistant Graham
Barrow, in April 2007 after a poor run of results
saw just three wins in 20 matches.
Picture © Evening Leader
JOHNSON CLOSE TO SIGNING
If signed in time
striker Eddie Johnson could make his debut against
Rotherham United tomorrow. The 24-year-old Chester-born
player scored against an Everton reserve side in
the week and City manager Simon Davies is hoping
to complete his registration in time for the weekend
game in Sheffield.
Davies said: “We’re doing our best to
make something happen over the next day or so. We’re
close to doing it, we’ve just got to make
it happen now. He’s been here, we had a game
during the week and he did well in that. He’s
looking decent. We feel he would add to the quality
of the squad.”
IN SEARCH OF THREE POINTS
The
Blues make the trip to Sheffield tomorrow for their
League Two fixture against Rotherham United. The
Millers are currently exiled at the Don Valley Stadium
folowing a dispute over the rent of Millmoor with
the landlords. Rotherham started the season on minus
17 points after failing to come out of administration.
They have got off to the perfect start as they attempt
to claw back the defecit with wins in their opening
two league fixtures at home to Lincoln City 1-0,
and at Morecambe 3-1. Between those two victories
hey also chalked up a memorable Carling Cup win
over neighbours Sheffield Wednesday following a
penalty shoot out.
Manager Simon Davies’ only concern appears
to be a hamstring injury that Ryan Lowe has packed
up in training.
21 August 2008
CHESHIRE SENIOR CUP
The club have re-entered
the competition this season and are already through
to the semi-final after receiving a bye in the opening
round. They will now face either Stockport County
or Crewe Alexandra.
20 August 2008
NATIONAL ROLE FOR
FORMER MANAGER
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Bobby
Williamson has been appointed the national
coach of Uganda. Williamson, who was sacked
by Chester on 4 March, is believed to have
signed a two year deal and will be assisted
by two Ugandan coaches, Sam Timbe and David
Otti. Williamson replaces Csaba Laszlo, who
left Kampala to take over Scottish Premier
League side Hearts. The former Blues boss
told the BBC “I am happy to be here
to start a new challenge in Africa.”
Picture © Evening Leader
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19 August 2008
DRAW FOR RESERVES
A Chester City X1
played a behind-closed-doors friendly against an
Everton Reserve side at Deva Stadium today and drew
1-1. Trialist Eddie Johnson was on the mark for
the Blues.
ALLISON APPROACHED
The club have approached
Wayne Allison to help out with coaching. He is expected
to replace assistant manager Huw Griffiths who was
sacked last week. Yorkshire-born Allison began his
playing career in 1987 as a trainee at Halifax Town
before moving on to Watford, Bristol City, Swindon
Town, Huddersfield Town, Tranmere Rovers, Sheffield
United and Chesterfield.
18 August 2008
EXPERIENCED HELP REQUIRED
The
club will be looking to fill the assistant manager’s
role this week after yet another home reverse on
Saturday, The lowest Saturday Deva crowd since City
returned to the Football League, just over 1400,
witnessed the third defeat in seven days as Chester’s
terrible start to the new season continued.
If they weren’t already, the alarm bells must
be ringing following such a poor turnout, and with
only two home wins since the new year it’s
not surprsing that supporters have become disillusioned
and are voting with their feet.
The latest defeat at the hands of Wycombe Wanderers
did see an improvement on the efforts of the previous
seven days, but despite playing some neat football
at times, players were easily brushed aside by a
much stronger team who themselves had not registered
a win in their opening two games.
There are hints that a Director of Football may
be appointed. Manager Davies said after the match:
“We have a vacancy for an assistant manager
and possibly we will bring somebody in to fill that
post, or a Director of Football may join us. It
will be decided next week.”
• Match
report | Photographs
Picture © Evening Leader
16 August 2008
DEFEAT FOR YOUTH TEAM
The youth team kicked
off their Youth Alliance season today with a 2-0
defeat away to local rivals Wrexham.
• Youth
fixtures | Table
15 August 2008
CITY SACK ASSISTANT
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Assistant
manager Huw Griffiths as been sacked by the
club following an incident with an unnamed
player at half-time in Tuesday’s game
against Leeds United. Griffiths was only appointed
in May having previously held a similar
role at Southport and played with manager
Simon Davies at Bangor City. but was dismissed
last night due to “unacceptable actions”.
Club owner Steve Vaughan told the Daily Post:
“We were left with no alternative but
to dismiss Mr Griffiths, following an incident
that happened during the half-time period
in our match against Leeds United on Tuesday.
It is not prudent to go into too much detail
about the matter at this time but the incident
was unsavoury and involved Mr Griffiths and
one of our playing squad and that is all I
am prepared to say at the moment.”
The club will not start to look for a replacement
until next week.
Picture © Evening Leader
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CHAIRBOYS NEXT UP FOR CITY
Peter
Taylor brings his Wycombe Wanderers side to Deva
Stadium tomorrow for a League Two clash, kick-off
15:00hrs. The Chairboys have had an indifferent
start to the season with a 1-1 home draw against
Morecambe followed by a 4-0 Carling Cup reverse
against Birmingham City.
City manager Simon Davies is expected to start with
youngster Shaun Kelly (pictured) in the centre of
the defence after the former youth team player impressed
when coming on for Paul Butler on Tuesday night.
Fellow central defender Paul Linwood is expected
to start alongside him despite still suffering with
a back injury.
“I don’t think the result against Leeds
was a terrible one. And, as for the performance,
we can take a lot of pluses from it. Wycombe got
a bad defeat by four goals as well themselves. So
they’ve had a similar start start to us, but
they have a point on the board which is always a
nice thing to do.”
Picture © Evening Leader
13 August 2008
DEFENSIVE FRAILTY EXPOSED AGAIN
City’s
defensive frailty exploited by Dagenham on Saturday
was exposed to a far greater audience in last night’s
televised Carling Cup match with Leeds United.
The Yorkshire side put five goals past John Danby
in the opening 35 minutes with Jermaine Beckford
bagging a hat-trick as the League One side eventually
ran out 5-2 winners. Ryan Lowe scored both City’s
goals either side of the break. City needed to get
off to a tight containing start but found themselves
a goal down in three minutes as Beckford turned
Paul Butler ten yards out to turn a long punt upfield
from Ankergren past Danby.
Ryan Snodgeass doubled the lead on ten minutes before
Lowe saw a deflected shot loop over Ankergren to
claw City back. Beckford restored the two goal advantage
with a well struck curling left foot shot before
Andy Robinson added the fourth on 31 minutes. Four
minutes later Beckford completed his hat-trick with
a sublime finish after City had once again been
caught in possession.
A foul on Damien Mozika, who once again turned in
a good performance, 15 minutes from time gave Lowe
the opportunity to complete the scoring from a spot-kick,
which he did.
Blues boss Simon Davies said: “I thought it
was a game where we matched them at times with our
passing, our work-rate and our endeavour, but, same
again, after two or three minutes one long punt
down the middle ends up in the back of our net.
You try to move on during the week and in coaching
the players, but at the end of the day if we can’t
deal with one long punt down the middle then we’re
going to have problems.”
He continued: “It just wasn’t working
in the first half – (Paul) Butler gives us
a lot of things with his experience and organisation,
and his power in the air and his size, but he’ll
probably admit that he struggled slightly with the
pace and they got behind us a little too often.
I also knew that
the lad who came on to replace Beckford had the
same attributes in terms of pace so I had to do
something about that and I thought Shaun Kelly came
on and did really well.”
“Damien Mozika played well, but he was also
our best player in Saturday’s match at Dagenham
and Redbridge. He’s a really good player and
we’re fortunate to have him, but if he keeps
putting in performances like that then we won’t
have him for much longer.”
•
Match
report | Photographs
Picture © Evening Leader
12 August 2008
LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK
The
Blues will be looking to put Saturday’s disastrous
start to the season behind them as they welcome
League One side Leeds United to Deva Stadium tonight.
The all-ticket match kick’s-off at 19:45hrs
is being screened live by SKY. Manager Simon Davies
will no doubt be looking to make changes to the
side that suffered the heavy defeat on Saturday.
Ahead of tonight’s tie manager Simon Davies
said: “We have got to bounce back. This is
a big game and I expect a response from the players.
The match is being televised and a big crowd is
expected, so I know the players will respond accordingly.”
The sides have met before in the League Cup. Back
in 1974/75 the then League champions came to Sealand
Road for a fourth round tie and were beaten 3-0
in arguably the clubs greatest ever victory. Those
in the sell-out 19,000 crowd that night will never
forget the game, as two goals from John James and
a third from Trevor Storton brought a victory for
the fourth division outfit that shocked the footballing
word, and brought national back page headlines the
next morning.
In 1983/84 the two sides met in a second round Milk
Cup tie with the tie being played over two legs.
Again Chester caused a shock with an Andy Elliott
goal bringing a 1-0 win at Elland Road. However
the Blues were beaten 4-1 in the Sealand Road return,
Peter Zelem scoring the consolation goal for the
Blues.
More recently in 2006/07 the
sides met at Elland Road in the first round
and a single goal from Erik Bakke gave the Yorkshire
side victory.
Despite the reverse on Saturday, Leeds manager Gary
McAllister is expecting a tough game tonight: “I
have got the reports from the game and they (Chester)
were unfortunate to lose their centre-half in the
warm up. It meant they had to re-jig their whole
starting XI, but I expect a reaction against us.
It is going to be tough.”
EXILES PREDICTION COMPETITION
|
Forms for the
2008/09 competition are available to download
from the link below. The closing date is 30
September.
• PDF
two page form |
11 August 2008
OPENING DAY THRASHING FOR CITY
Chester
got off to the worst possible start to the season
on Saturday with a six goal drubbing at Dagenham
& Redbridge. Manager Simon Davies (left) predicted
a tough game and he certainly got that. The cause
wasn’t helped with the very late withdrawal
just before kick-off by captain Paul Linwood, his
absence highlighted the alarming lack of cover in
that position with Kevin Roberts being asked to
play out of position to fill the role on day. The
one bright point of the day was the debut of Damien
Mozika who ran all afternoon and was City’s
best player by far.
The home side took an early lead through a Dominic
Green free-kick on 16 minutes and doubled their
advantage from a Ben Strevens penalty three minutes
before the break. Home goalkeeper Tony Roberts ensured
the two goal interval advantage with a flying save
from an Anthony Barry header.
The home side extended their advantage as a long
range Sam Saunders free-kick was allowed to sail
right through the City backline and past Danby.
A terrible mix-up between Danby and Paul Butler
allowed Saunders to add his second and dagenham's
fourth.
At the other end City created two good chances themselves
with Richie Partridge shooting straight at Roberts
when he had been sent though and substitute Paul
Taylor headed straight at the ‘keeper from
six yards out after a pin point cross from the left
wing.
The home side added a fifth with a deflected shot
from Paul Benson 11 minutes from time and the rout
was completed in the last minute as substitute Mark
Nwokeji scrambled the ball over the line from close
range.
Following the defeat manager Davies said: “I’m
lost for words, I’m so disappointed it’s
untrue.” He continued:
“I just said to the lads to be a bit more
honest out there. It’s totally my fault.
The way they’ve been playing in pre-season
games and in training, it’s just shocked
me. I’ve seen a million good training players
in my time and it looked like we had about eight
or nine out there who don’t want to do it
in games, so it’s back to the drawing board.”
“Their two lads up
front are as good as you’re going to see in
this division. They overpowered us. We lacked a
bit of height and it was an issue, but it was nothing
we couldn’t have overcome if we had stuck
together. If we would have had 11 out there being
honest and not just going through the motions, we’d
have been OK. But we only had about five who were
doing what I asked. You can’t afford that
at any level. I thought Damien was the best player
on the pitch and I feel for people like him.”
Manager Davies now has the unenviable task of picking
his players up before tomorrow night’s all-ticket
live televised Carling Cup tie with Leeds United.
Whether Linwood will be fit to return to the side
remains to be seen.
• Match
photographs
Picture ©
Evening Leader
8 August 2008
LINWOOD OUT TO PUT THE RECORD STRAIGHT
City
travel to Dagenham & Redbridge tomorrow as they
kick-off their 2008/09 League Two campaign.
Manager Simon Davies has injury concerns over defender
Paul Linwood who has missed part of the pre-season
with a back injury. Davies said: “Paul was
OK at the beginning of the week, but then he had
another setback. He’s dying to play and I’m
dying for him to play as well because the major
threat when I went to watch Dagenham the other day
was the size of their team.”
The new club captain said: “I was back in
training yesterday, but I have been nursing a back
injury. I’ll be fresh for the weekend hopefully,
but I was rested in our last two friendlies as a
precaution. The gaffer didn’t want to risk
me against Swansea or Telford because any further
problems would have pushed me out of contention
for our first league match.”
Victoria Road is not a happy hunting ground for
City with two draws and three defeats in their previous
five visits. Their last visit in February resulted
in a shambolic
6-2 defeat that cost assistant manager Jimmy
Bone his job 24hrs later. The Blues will go into
tomorrow’s game determined to put that performance
behind them.
Linwood is determined to play his part in helping
to erase the memory of last seasons match: “Last
season’s result at Dagenham and Redbridge
was horrible to be fair, but I’m now keen
to go back there and put the record straight. I’m
excited about the start of the new season and I’m
quietly confident about our chances of victory at
Dagenham – we owe them one. We suffered from
setpieces last season down there because they had
a lot of big lads and they loaded the box. The Dagenham
side hasn’t changed a great deal since last
season, so we’re expecting another tough match
against them.”
Picture ©
Evening Leader
CITY HANDED A BYE
The Blues have been
given a bye in the first round of the Johnstone’s
Paint Trophy. Other teams in the north west section
to receive a bye are Bury, Rochdale and Carlisle
United. They will now enter the competition in round
two which will be played during week commencing
6 October.
JOHNSON TRAINS WITH CITY
Former Bradford City
defender Eddie Johnson has been training with the
Blues and it’s possible that the Chester born
23-year-old may sign a deal before the weekend.
Johnson had interested manager Simon Davies earlier
in the summer but Johnson chose to have a trial
at Crewe Alexandra. The Railwaymen didn’t
offer the utility player a contract however.
• Transfer
activity
LEEDS TICKETS
Tickets for next Tuesday's
Carling Cup round one clash with Leeds United are
still on sale. Supporters can pick their up from
the ticket office at Deva Stadium today and on Monday
between 10:00-16:00hrs, and also from the new club
shop at the bottom of Watergate Street.
6 August 2008
NEW SIGNING ON THE WAY?
Manager Simon Davies
has hinted that there may be another signing in
the next day or so as he finalises his squad for
the coming season which starts at Dagenham on Saturday.
He is reported to be having talks with two players
today and is hopeful of offering one of them a contract.
Davies said: “I would rather not divulge the
players’ names at the moment, but I will have
talks with both players and hopefully I will be
in a position to offer one of them a deal. I will
not be signing both of them, but both have been
linked with us during the summer. One in particular
interests me, so we will see what develops and then
hopefully conclude formalities in the next 24 hours.”
4 August 2008
BLUES BEATEN AGAIN
Chester
lost their final pre-season friendly 4-1 at the
hands of AFC Telford United on Saturday. Midfielder
Anthony Barry scored the consolation goal from the
penalty spot seven minutes from time.
Prior to the match manager Simon Davies said: “I
will use this match to give those players who didn’t
get too many minutes on the field against Swansea,
the chance to get a full game under their belts.”
“Paul Linwood, Anthony
Barry and James Vaughan missed out on Thursday
because of niggling injuries. If the game against
Swansea had been a league match they would have
played, but I left them out as a precautionary
measure.”
“I have learnt a lot
about my squad during this pre-season campaign and
it has shown me who is ready for our forthcoming
Coca-Cola League Two opener against Dagenham next
week and who needs to put in some extra work, in
order to bring them up to an acceptable level of
fitness. Telford United have a good squad of players
and we know that they will test us, which is just
what we are looking for.”
Davies was away on a scouting mission and it was
his assistant Huw Griffiths who took charge of the
side, he clearly wasn’t impressed by what
he saw: “We weren’t good enough. When
it got into certain areas with certain individuals,
they weren’t good enough on the day. That’s
up to me and the manager to sort out and they’ve
been told in no uncertain terms in the dressing
room that wasn’t good enough and it won’t
be tolerated at the club.”
Chester City: Sanna, J.Vaughan,
Rule (Wilson 75), Hughes, Roberts (Kelly 46), Taylor,
Harris, Barry, McManus, Mannix (Owen 71), Mitchell
(Ellison 82).
1 August 2008
SWANS TOO STRONG FOR CITY
Chester lost by the
odd goal in five as their pre-season campaign continued
with a home defeat against Swansea City last night.
The Blues found themselves a goal down in the opening
minutes through Darren Pratley before the Swans
doubled their lead before the interval as substitute
Stefan Morrison converted.
Manager Simon Davies made four changes during the
second period and saw his Blues side battle back
with two goals from summer signing Jay Harris bringing
the sides level with six minutes remaining. Parity
lasted only a minute though as Marcos Painter capitalised
on a defensive error to score the winner.
City have just one more friendly at AFC Telford
United on Saturday before the League Two campaign
kick’s-off at Dagenham seven days later.
Chester City: Danby, Roberts, Wilson,
Dinning (Harris 58), Kelly, Butler, Partridge, S.Vaughan
(Mannix 45), Lowe (McManus 86), Mozika, Ellison
(Taylor 79).
MURPHY COMPLETES MOVE
|
Good
luck to forward John
Murphy who has completed his move to St
Patrick’s Athletic for an undisclosed
fee. Murphy began his career in 1995 as a
trainee at Chester City before moving to Blackpool
four years later where he scored 103 goals
in 270+28 appearances for the Seasiders. In
2007 he moved to Macclesfield before re-signing
at Chester last summer. Last season Murphy
scored 9 goals in 39 appearances.
Murphy told the Eircom League of Ireland clubs
official website: “I’m looking
forward to helping the club challenge for
the league title and hopefully play in UEFA
Cup should tomorrow’s game go to plan.
It’s always sad to leave a club where
you’ve spent a large number of years
there. Chester have a good first team squad
and I wish them all the best for the new season.”
Picture ©
Evening Leader
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