Chester City Former Players Association
ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION
 
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The Association was formed in September 2009 following a meeting between former players Grenville Millington and Gary Talbot together with broadcaster Charlie Lambert and Chester City Club Historian Chas Sumner. The Association’s main objective is to provide a forum for former players of the club to meet and keep in touch with each other whilst, at the same time, enabling the club and the supporters to recognise its former heroes. To achieve this objective the association intends to facilitate: •
Former players to meet their former colleagues at social
and sporting events. Membership will initially be free to all former Chester City first team players and managers. The Association intends to organise tribute dinners, golf days and events to bring together the members. Other events such as informal fans forums and reunions will be organised to enable the club’s supporters to meet and honour the members. It is hoped that some of these events will be run in conjunction with the football club itself. The Association will operate financially independent of the football club and will rely upon sponsors and fund raising to run its events. As the Association develops there are plans to produce a newsletter for members and regularly update the website www.formerchesterplayers.com with news and interviews with former players. MEMBERSHIP FORM |
NEWS 16 August
2011 Charlie Williams and Bill Smith, both former Grand Prix competitors and winners at the Isle of Man TT races, are to sponsor the Association’s newsletter for the next 12 months. The two now run successful motorbike businesses in the city. Charlie owns the bike kit and parts suppliers Everything But Bikes in Trafford Street and Bill’s motorbike showroom Bill Smith Motors is a well-known landmark on Tarvin Road. The move reflects the affection both men have for their hometown football team. Charlie Williams said: “I was never a big football fan but my father was passionate about Chester. Our house in Kelsall was painted blue and white because those were Chester’s colours. My dad used to take me down to Sealand Road in the 1960s when I would watch Gary Talbot play. We went every Saturday without fail – first team and reserves, often riding in on his motorbike with me on the back. “So for me this sponsorship is partly about nostalgia, and also about putting something back into the football club. The resurrection of the club recently has been great to see and in fact I took my two grandsons Charlie and Louis down to a game last season and was delighted to see the enthusiasm there, especially from the youngsters.” Bill Smith said: “I’ve lived in Chester all my life and I’m a Chester fan through and through, as was my father and his father before him. I used to go in the 1950s when my brother-in-law Keith Griffiths played in goal for Chester. I can remember Billy Foulkes and Tommy Astbury, Trevor Walters and Dave McNeil. They were real characters and we used to get gates of eight to ten thousand at Sealand Road. And the way things are going now, I can see big gates coming back.” Gary Talbot, president of the Former Players Association, said: “It is wonderful that these two big names from another sport have such warm memories of watching Chester in their younger days. Their support will enable us to print our newsletter in colour which will maximise its impact with our members and supporters of the club generally.” Copies of the latest newsletter are on sale at the club shop at the Exacta Stadium.
Bill Smith, Gary Talbot and Charlie Williams. 8 June 2011 16 May 2011 SURPRISE FOR VETERAN FAN DOMINIC LALLY
4 May 2011 LATEST COMMITTEE MEETING The committee met at the Cheshire View on Wednesday May 4th. In attendance were Gary Talbot, Grenville Millington, Alan Tarbuck, Bob Delgado, John Evans, Chas Sumner and Charlie Lambert, with apologies from Graham Abel. It was the first meeting since Chester FC clinched the Evostick North Championship. Grenville Millington put on record the Association's delight at the outcome of the new club's first season. We will be writing to the club formally to pass on our congratulations. Great news reported by Chas Sumner was that membership currently stands at 105, with others waiting to have their membership confirmed. Plans to hold a Christmas event open to the public were reviewed in the light of the football club also deciding to hold a major event around Christmas time. The opinion was that having two such events at around the same time would not be constructive and we will therefore look to rearrange our event for a date in the autumn. Our first Golf Day will take place at Eaton GC on Friday July 8th. This is open to members only. Cost is £35 - any member wanting to play should send a cheque payable to Chester City Former Players Association to Chas Sumner or Alan Tarbuck to secure their place. Numnbers are limited to 20, first come first served. 27 March 2011 COMMITTEE MEETS The committee met at the Cheshire View on Wednesday March 16th. Alan Tarbuck reported that he and chairman Grenville had been to see Trevor Storton who was suffering from cancer and described how delighted Trevor was to see them. This has since been put into a different perspective by the recent tragic news that Trevor has died. Grenville paid a warm tribute to his ex-team-mate in an interview with the Chester Chronicle. The FPA was represented by John Evans and Dennis Reeves at the funeral of another Chester defensive stalwart John Butler, in Nottingham. On a happier note the committee approved plans for the various sporting and social events which we’ve been organising for 2011. Several dates are now on the calendar including our Spring Sociao on March 31st at Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club, Golf Day at Eaton GC on July 8th, and an Autumn Social at Chester Boughton Hall on September 15th. Bolton Wanderers have accepted our challenge to a bowls match on a date to be agreed and we hope to have another bowls event with the supporters. Any former player who would like to play in the golf or the bowls, please contact Chas Sumner chas.sumner@formerchesterplayers.com Former players are also invited to attend Chester FC’s home game on April 9th v Cammell Laird. The club is making this a special occasion to honour past players and hope as many as possible will go along. Please let Chas know if you’d like to be there. Chairman Gren announced that he wanted us to recruit 10 new members in the next ten days as we continue our push towards 100 members. These notes are being written 10 days after the meeting and in the meantime 11 new members have signed up! Great result!10 February 2011 COMMITTEE MEETS The committee met on January 19th. Bob Delgado and Graham Abel were formally co-opted onto the committee. Plans for a series of social and sporting activities were discussed. It is hoped to finalise dates in the near future. Alan Tarbuck said that plans were under way at Chester FC to invite a lot of former players to the home game versus Harrogate Railway Athletic on March 26th. The FPA's second newsletter has been published. The chairman, Grenville Millington, asked that the committee's appreciation be recorded of the work of Charlie Lambert and Steve Mansley in putting it together. Both Grenville and Gary Talbot are present in the boardroom and Legends Lounge on most home matchdays, assisting Alan Tarbuck in meeting and entertaining match sponsors. Chas Sumner reported that he had assisted a Bristol-based journalist to contact Jimmy Humes and Hugh Ryden for a series of articles about former players at Bristol Rovers where they both played before joining Chester. The articles had been published in the Sunday Independent with a complimentary reference to the FPA. Next committee meeting will be in March. 27 March
2011 The FPA was represented by John Evans and Dennis Reeves at the funeral of another Chester defensive stalwart John Butler, in Nottingham. On a happier note the committee approved plans for the various sporting and social events which we’ve been organising for 2011. Several dates are now on the calendar including our Spring Sociao on March 31st at Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club, Golf Day at Eaton GC on July 8th, and an Autumn Social at Chester Boughton Hall on September 15th. Bolton Wanderers have accepted our challenge to a bowls match on a date to be agreed and we hope to have another bowls event with the supporters. Any former player who would like to play in the golf or the bowls, please contact Chas Sumner chas.sumner@formerchesterplayers.com Former players are also invited to attend Chester FC’s home game on April 9th v Cammell Laird. The club is making this a special occasion to honour past players and hope as many as possible will go along. Please let Chas know if you’d like to be there. Chairman Gren announced that he wanted us to recruit 10 new members in the next ten days as we continue our push towards 100 members. These notes are being written 10 days after the meeting and in the meantime 11 new members have signed up! Great result!10 February 2011 COMMITTEE MEETS The committee met on January 19th. Bob Delgado and Graham Abel were formally co-opted onto the committee. Plans for a series of social and sporting activities were discussed. It is hoped to finalise dates in the near future. Alan Tarbuck said that plans were under way at Chester FC to invite a lot of former players to the home game versus Harrogate Railway Athletic on March 26th. The FPA's second newsletter has been published. The chairman, Grenville Millington, asked that the committee's appreciation be recorded of the work of Charlie Lambert and Steve Mansley in putting it together. Both Grenville and Gary Talbot are present in the boardroom and Legends Lounge on most home matchdays, assisting Alan Tarbuck in meeting and entertaining match sponsors. Chas Sumner reported that he had assisted a Bristol-based journalist to contact Jimmy Humes and Hugh Ryden for a series of articles about former players at Bristol Rovers where they both played before joining Chester. The articles had been published in the Sunday Independent with a complimentary reference to the FPA. Next committee meeting will be in March. 27 November 2010 25 November 2010 3 August 2010 The Former Players Association has called up a team with a difference to take on a supporters’ team at bowls on Sunday. (August 8th). The match will take place at the Cheshire View, Plough Lane, Christleton, CH3 7PT, starting at 2pm. The footballers will be captained by former striker Alan Tarbuck who said: “It doesn’t matter whether the sport is bowls or football, there is still a competitive buzz. The lads are all looking forward to this.” Tarby’s line-up includes some of the most popular players to wear the Chester colours including Dai Draper and Grenville Millington from the legendary 1974-75 promotion and League Cup semi-final team, flying winger Ian Moir who starred in the late 1960s, and winger Elfed Morris and goalkeeper Dennis Reeves of the much-loved team from the mid-sixties. Other ex-players who will be demonstrating their skill on the bowling green include Ray Carter, Bob Delgado and Bobby Hunt. Alan said: “There will be a fair amount of nostalgia and reminiscences about past football memories and I’m hoping members of the public will come along and meet the players who played for Chester at different times. “There’s also a lot to talk about in the present day. We are all delighted by the terrific progress being made by the new Chester FC.” All spectators are welcome – admission free.27 July 2010 TARBY ON BOARD FPA committee member Alan Tarbuck has taken on another responsibilty. Alan has been elected to the board of the new Chester FC and attended his first meeting last night. The ex-Chester striker will ensure that the club’s former players have a high profile as the supporter-owned set-up continues its welcome process of building bridges with all parts of the football community. The FPA is delighted that two other committee members contributed significantly to the fund-raising event held by City Fans United at Chester Racecourse. Gary Talbot’s photo of the Famous Five, signed by all five members of the celebrated 1964-65 forward line, raised £1,050. And Chas Sumner’s club history ‘On the Borderline’, signed by Chas and many ex-players, raised £260.19 July 2010 CONGRATULATIONS BILLY!
6 May 2010 EX-PLAYERS WELCOME DEVA DECISION Chester City Former Players Association welcomes the decision by Cheshire West and Chester Council to award tenancy of the Deva Stadium to City Fans United. We believe this is the correct decision. We support the fans' ambition to create a progressive, community-orientated club. We look forward to forming a positive relationship with the new club. As players who wore the shirt with pride we were dismayed by the problems over the last few years ending in the sad day when the club was wound up. We now want to congratulate CFU and Cheshire West and Chester Council for the way they have worked constructively to restore football to the city and wish City Fans United and everyone involved every success. Grenville Millington – Chairman 27 March
2010 There are literally hundreds of players who have represented Chester City FC over many generations. At this sad time when the club has disappeared we want to say a big thank-you to everyone who supported us. Fans, the public of Chester, colleagues, the staff at the club, the people who helped in a voluntary capacity – you all helped us achieve our dreams of playing professional football. Without you, we wouldn’t have had our careers. Many of us were encouraged to keep our careers going despite setbacks with form and fitness. The way fans got behind us when we were fighting back after injury is something that still means a lot. The supporters who followed us to away games have a special place in our memories. We would see them at places like Torquay and Exeter and their loyalty always inspired us. Many of us are local lads, born and bred in or close to Chester. We followed City as fans when we were young. When we went on to wear the shirt ourselves the support we got was unbelievable. Many of us have fond memories of Sealand Road where we seemed to be so close to the crowd and had a great rapport. A lot of us don’t come from Chester but moved here to join the club. In many cases this changed our whole lives – we stayed, put down roots and we still love it when people come up and talk to us about the “old days.” We are devastated by the way the club ended but now we are all trying to be positive about the future of football in Chester. The present-day supporters are incredible, the way they are working. We support the initiative of City Fans United to set up a new club and wish them every success. There is a horizon, and there are brighter days beyond it. For now, we thought it was the right time to say thank you, on behalf of all the past players of Chester City FC.
5 February
2010 Laurence attended this month’s meeting of the Chester FPA committee and said: “I think it is terrific that Chester’s ex-players have set up an association. They have my full support and if I can help in any way, I will.” The Everton FPF is the leading
club organisation for former footballers in the
UK. Laurence passed on a lot of valuable advice
and was impressed by the progress made by his Chester
counterparts in the six months since we formed the
FPA. 15 January 2010 You might remember that I am Chester born, and in visiting my family in Tattenhall and Christleton, saw a fair bit of my hometown team when I was growing up. It goes without saying that I have been distraught at the recent history of the club. I was very pleasantly surprised to hear of your work with a former players association and as a devotee of the 64-65 camapaign delighted that Gary Talbot and Hughie Ryden were at your Xmas bash. I have also noticed that Elfed Morris is winning awards as a groundsman like he used to win those far post headers! The main reason for writing is that just before Christmas I had a long phone conversation with Ron Davies – my all time hero. He is living in New Mexico and has sadly just lost his wife. But he sounded in good spirits nonetheless and the quality of his life has been improved by hip replacements paid for by Southampton fans. We talked about his early times at Chester and he still pays tribute to Bill Lambton making him train with army boots on so that when he put his football boots on he felt so light and was so good in the air. He said he still has two sisters living in North Wales, and his brother Paul who played for Arsenal is still around. Southampton want him to come over for a reunion but there are no definite plans. I intend to keep in touch with Ron, and I will find out if he has an EMail address so that you can make contact. Meanwhile best wishes to you, Chas, and FPA. Martin Tyler15 December 2009 CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS Chester City’s ex-players put the current woes of the club behind them when they got together for a pre-Christmas celebration. More news here. 12
December 2009 On behalf of
City Fans United, I would like to take this opportunity
to thank the various members of the Former Players Association
for attending the recent “Legends Night”
event, which was CFU’s first social evening, and
I’m sure you’ll agree it was a very successful
night, helping to raise both awareness and funds for
the group, but furthermore allowed the ex-players a
chance to meet up and talk about their memories of being
involved in great Chester sides of the past.
The event would not have been such a success had it not been for the involvement of the ex-players, and we were priviliged to have so many attending, on a night that we hope has helped boost the numbers of the FPA. Over 200 people, both fans, and ex-players took the opportunity to enjoy a great night, this despite the ongoing troubles at Chester City FC, and certainly threw further life into the campaign to safeguard football in Chester. We hope that this event will be the first of many, and the new committee of the City Fans United group are certainly looking forward to working together with the FPA to help bring more events to the supporters in 2010, in particular to celebrate the football clubs 125th Birthday. Special thanks to both Grenville Millington and Chas Sumner for the part that they played in the build up to the event, in addition to being Player Hosts on the evening itself – their assistance certainly helped the great atmosphere develop on the night. As a continuation of our support for the ex-players group, we have added a link to the Former Players Association website on www.cityfansunited.com, which we hope will prove a further benefit to the group. Kind Regards, Jeff Banks On behalf of City Fans United 5
November 2009 Former Chester City goalkeeper Grenville Millington has been appointed chairman of the newly-formed Chester City Former Players Association. And one of his first acts was to welcome another former great Gary Talbot as the organisation’s president. Gary scored over a century of goals for Chester durng two spells at Sealand Road in the 1960s while Grenville made more than 300 appearances a decade later. Grenville said: “I supported Chester when Gary was a player. It is a total honour to have him as our association’s president.” Another ex-City goalgetter, Alan Tarbuck, has been appointed treasurer. Grenville added: “It’s great to see the former professionals getting together to set up an organisation which we hope will flourish far into the future. It is my pleasure to accept the role of chairman and I will do everything in my power to progress the aims of the FPA.” Statistician and historian Chas Sumner is the association’s secretary and broadcaster Charlie Lambert is media officer. The FPA’s aim is to bring ex-players together for social and charity events, and to provide a focal point for fans to contact and honour their former heroes. Anyone who has represented the club in a first team fixture is eligible to join. They can do so by logging onto www.formerchesterplayers.com or by emailing Chas Sumner chas.sumner@formerchesterplayers.com Membership is initially free thanks to the generosity of UKS Transglobal which is sponsoring the FPA. Charlie Lambert
BACKGROUND TO OUR
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FORMER PLAYERS
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MEMBERSHIP MEMBERSHIP
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EVENTS It was a chance to remember happier times at an event organised by the recently-formed Chester City Former Players Association. One of the key principles of the Association was underlined as the gathering included players who had made hundreds of appearances for the club – and another who had made just one! Anyone who has represented the club in a first team fixture is eligible to join the FPA. Denis Burke, a goalkeeper who turned out on one occasion in season 1983-84, travelled from his home in Birmingham to link up with the likes of Grenville Millington who made over 300 appearances and Terry Owen who made nearly 200. Other ex-Blues in attendance
at the Cheshire Cat near Christleton were Gary Talbot,
John Evans, Ray Carter, Hugh Ryden, Bob Delgado, Alan
Tarbuck and Bobby Hunt. The FPA’s aim is to bring ex-players together for social and charity events, and to provide a focal point for fans to contact and honour their former heroes. Chairman Gren Millington said: “I would urge any ex Chester player to join. If anyone knows one of our former players who may not be aware of the association, please tell them about it.” They can join
free of charge by logging onto www.formerchesterplayers.com
or by emailing Chas Sumner chas.sumner@formerchesterplayers.com
For any queries please email chas.sumner@formerchesterplayers.com
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