Great news for Blues fans as both club captain George Glendon and fellow midfielder Declan Weeks have signed new contracts that keep them at the club until the end of next season. Glendon was appointed captain at the start of the season and has made 49+3 appearances for the Blues, scoring six goals. Weeks, signed from Kidderminster Harriers last summer, has made 22 appearances and found the net on four occasions. On the signing of Glendon (pictured) joint manager Anthony Johnson said: “We’ve known for months the number of clubs that have sent scouts down to the Deva to watch our fantastic players and we knew it was George that they going away talking about, why wouldn’t they?” “But when we sat down with him to talk about our plans for next season the surprise we got when he told us all he wanted was to stay at the club blew us away.” Picture © Rick Matthews

Two weeks ago, the National League asked clubs to consider the outcome of the 2020/21 season and was required to allow 28 days for votes to be returned.

Chester FC voted to null and void the season and at that time the Board agreed to continue playing in part due to the risk of sanctions and with the expectation clubs would respond promptly to the resolutions given the serious financial challenges facing fellow members.

The National League subsequently confirmed an Independent Panel will hear each case of non-fulfilment and assess whether clubs had just cause for not playing. Given the flawed distribution of grants covering October to December and the absence of the further grant funding clubs were assured would be in place to compensate them for lost gate revenue for as long as crowds were not permitted, the Board of Chester FC strongly believes we have just cause in reaching this decision.

The Board was unanimous in its view that the ongoing uncertainty and the significant costs of remaining fully operational no longer align with our overriding responsibility of protecting the financial viability of the Club now and into next season. We will review this position once the outcome of the resolutions is known.

Former striker John “Jesse” James has sadly passed away at the age of 72. John joined Chester in February 1973 and scored 40 goals in 98 Football League matches but will best be remembered for his goalscoring exploits in the 1974/75 League Cup campaign when he put League champions Leeds United to the sword with two goals in an amazing 3-0 victory. • Obituary

Former manager Ken Roberts, has sadly passed away at the age of 84. He will always be remembered as the mastermind behind Chester’s greatest ever triumphs in the 1974/75 season. He not only led the club to its first ever promotion but guided a loyal band of talented Fourth Division players to within a hair’s breadth of a Wembley appearance. That fairytale League Cup run was ended at the Semi-Final stage by a narrow 5-4 aggregate defeat to Aston Villa but it was a remarkable journey that grabbed the nation’s attention and will long be remembered by all that were fortunate to witness it. • Obituary

This has been an extremely difficult decision but one that has been taken solely to ensure the continuation of the club our supporters have worked so hard to build since 2010.

While the overwhelming desire of the Board was to complete the season given the efforts and sacrifices of our players, management, staff, volunteers and fans, it is with regret we no longer believe this is possible without the grants that clubs were assured would be in place until it was safe for crowds to return.

As the custodians of the football club, we must act responsibly to safeguard its future and ending the season is the only certain way to do this given the options available to us and will help us recover from the unprecedented financial challenges of the past 12 months.

There remains a high level of uncertainty about COVID-19 and its impact on football at all levels, and it is on the basis of that uncertainty that we have reached this decision. We submitted four questions to the National League on Wednesday which we hoped would assist us in this process but still have yet to receive a response.

We are grateful to the National Lottery for the £10m in grants that enabled clubs to start the season but have no doubt the unfair distribution of these funds has contributed to the position in which the league now finds itself.

Until the outcome of the resolutions is confirmed, we will continue to play matches should it be confirmed clubs will be subject to sanctions for failing to fulfil fixtures which was one of the questions we requested assurances on.

Finally, we wish to thank our loyal fans for their outstanding and unwavering support during what has been an exceptionally difficult period.

Forward Will Goodwin has signed for Championship club Stoke City for an undisclosed fee. Goodwin is a product of the impressive Youth Academy at Chester, having joined it at the age of nine. The 18-year-old, made his debut for Chester last season as a substitute in the FA Trophy defeat at Royston Town. He broke into the first team this season and scored his first senior goal in the 3-1 Trophy win over Bradford (Park Avenue). In total he made 4+7 appearances, scoring that one goal for the club.

Should Resolution 1 pass, Resolution 2 and 3 will be counted, with Resolution 4 disregarded. Should Resolution 1 be voted against, Resolution 4 will be counted, with Resolution 2 and 3 votes disregarded.

Under The National League’s Articles of Association, Member Clubs have 28 days from Monday 1 February to return voting submissions.

Resolution 2 (National League Only)
That, conditional upon Resolution 1 being passed, the 2020/21 Playing Season of the National League (Step 1) shall immediately end on the date this Resolution 2 is passed and be declared null and void and subject to the approval of The Football Association, those Regulations that provide for promotion and relegation to and from Step 1 be suspended for the 2020/21 Playing Season.

Resolution 3 (National League North and South Only)
That, conditional upon Resolution 1 being passed, the 2020/21 Playing Season of the National League North and the National League South (Step 2) shall immediately end on the date this Resolution 3 is passed and be declared null and void and subject to the approval of The Football Association those Regulations that provide for promotion and relegation to and from Step 2 be suspended for the 2020/21 Playing Season.