31 May 2005
LAST CHANCE FOR SUPERSAVER SEASON TICKET OFFER
Supporters have until 16:00hrs to apply for the first phase of Season Tickets, which give an equivalent of 5 free games. Existing season ticket holders have until then to renew their tickets, after which time seats will go on general sale.

Season Ticket prices before 31 May 2005
East (main) & West stands: adults �270.00, concession �180.00, under 16’s �108.00.
North Terrace: adults �234.00, concession �144.00, under 16’s �90.00.
Executive Lounge: adults �504.00, senior citizen �453.00.
Car Park: �40.00.

UNDER 16’S OFFER.
Where and adult season ticket is purchased before 31 May 2005, the season ticket holder can purchase up to a maximum of 2 child season tickets at the extra discounted price of £75.00 each.

The full list of 2005/06 admission prices is as follows.

Matchday prices
East (main) & West stands: adults �15.00, concession �10.00, under 16’s �6.00.
Terrace: adults �13.00, concession �8.00, under 16’s �5.00.
Executive lounge matchday: adults �28.00, senior citizen �25.00.
Car Park: �3.00.

Former Chester manager Mark Wright is back in football having this morning been named as the new manager at League Two rivals Peterborough United with a three year contract. Wright was chosen from nearly 100 applicants, including another former City boss Ian Rush, and succeeds Barry Fry who stepped down at the end of the season to begin a new role of director of football.

City have made an undisclosed six figure bid for 29-year-old Doncaster Rovers striker Gregg Blundell. Blundell is no stranger to City fans, he was always a thorn in the side for Northwich Victoria against the Blues in recent Conference seasons.

Blundell began his career as a trainee at Tranmere Rovers before moving to Vauxhall Motors where a prolific scoring record saw a step-up to Northwich Victoria. He moved to the Drillfield for £8,000 in January 2001 and went on to make 93+1 appearances for the Vics, scoring 40 goals. Blundell signed for Doncaster Rovers just over two years ago and has scored 32 goals in 96 appearances for the Belle Vue side. It is understood that he is after a return to the north west and has attracted interest from another club in the area.

City chairman, Steve Vaughan said: “I have spoken to John Ryan, Doncaster Rovers Chairman, and he has in principle accepted a six figure offer. There are still further negotiations to be held. The player apparently is also the subject of interest from another club, and of course we will have to sit down with Gregg and discuss his terms.”

After the speculation late on Friday chairman Steve Vaughan has admitted he is in talks about the possible purchase of a large number of shares in Everton FC. It is believed that he will have £20m available to make the purchase.

Mr Vaughan told the Daily Post that he was negotiating to buy millionaire Everton director Paul Gregg’s 23.2% shareholding in the club, however Gregg said his discussions with Mr Vaughan were about his buying Mr Kenwright and fellow director Jon Woods’s shares, not his own.

Following on from the recently released reserves details, Chas Sumner has produced On The Borderline update pages for the 2004/05 first team and youth team which can be downloaded here. ‘On The Borderline’ the official history of Chester City FC was published on 1 November 1997 and is now out of print. To complement the book, update stats pages have been produced to cover the seasons 1998/99 to the present day and are all available to download in PDF format from this site.

Striker Cortez Belle is the first player to accept City’s severance packages offered last week. Belle did not feature in the plans of manager Keith Curle and was released with 19 other players at the end of the season.

Belle, 21, was signed last summer by Mark Wright for £1,000 from Merthyr Tydfil initially as a defender, but was pushed up front at the start of the 2004/05 campaign. He made 19+5 first team appearances for City scoring two goals (Leyton Orient (H), Stafford Rangers (A)) but his poor disciplinary record of six yellow and three straight red cards let him down forcing him to miss several games through suspension.

Season Ticket prices before 31 May 2005 (equivalent to 5 free games)
East (main) & West stands: adults �270.00, concession �180.00, under 16’s �108.00.
North Terrace: adults �234.00, concession �144.00, under 16’s �90.00.
Executive Lounge: adults �504.00, senior citizen �453.00.
Car Park: �40.00.

UNDER 16'S OFFER. Where and adult season ticket is purchased before 31 May 2005, the season ticket holder can purchase up to a maximum of 2 child season tickets at the extra discounted price of £75.00 each.

Manager Keith Curle has wielded the axe on City’s squad by retaining only nine of the current 29 first-team, reserves and third year scholars. Some players are still under contract and will be offered a severance packages if they don't find a club by the end of June. All 20 players will be released as free transfers. No names have yet been released as Curle still has to talk to two players, but the retained list will be out on Wednesday.

Curle said: “I want to sit down face to face with the two players before I talk about it publicly. These have been very big decisions and I’ve not taken them lightly. It’s difficult for the young lads and the same thing happened to me when I was 16. I’ve made an honest decision and it’s up to them to have the right attitude and belief in themselves to prove me wrong.”

A goal in injury time from Ryan Lowe gave City their fifth away win of the season to leave the Blues in 20th place in League Two following this victory at Oxford United. With Keith Curle taking a seat in the Directors Box for his first game in charge, he will have been pleased to see a well organised City, with an effective offside trap marshalled by ex-U’s player Phil Bolland, gave a good account of themselves in a good end-of-season game.

Curle said: “I thought it was very important for the football club to finish the season on a high. There has been a lot of turmoil, and a lot of unrest going on behind the scenes at the football club, but the important thing is that the players gave an organised and disciplined performance, and they got their reward for a lot of effort on the day and during the week in the run-up to the Oxford match.”

There were chances at both ends before Lowe, in torrential rain, jinked his way through into the box on the right before slotting the ball past ‘keeper Tardif at the near post to the delight of the 374 City fans nearby.

Former caretaker manager David Bell

Manager Keith Curle will once again view the match from the stands as he takes his last chance to cast an eye over the players before announcing his retained list for next season.

Curle has take his first week of training this week and seemed impressed by the effort put in by his squad no doubt hoping that can take that hard work into tomorrow difficult game. Curle said: “I’ll be looking for attitude, application, and enthusiasm from the players, especially after the training sessions I took this week. I think it’s fair to say that all the players have worked really hard – harder than any other players in the division – the players attitude on the training ground has been superb.”

Curle already has an idea of players he wants to bring in for next season. “We have 13 players still under contract and I have a budget to work to, but I will be talking to the players next week and they will be told who will figure in my plans and who will not. I don’t want players still on contract to be missing a year out of their careers if they are not in my plans, so it would be in their best interests to look for other clubs. I know the players I would like to bring to the club. I want to turn the squad into one which would put Chester City into the top seven in League Two next season, but that can’t be done with some of the players who are already here. I can’t guarantee anyone a place at the club.”

The two sides last met in late November when a Kevin Ellison goal wasn’t enough to save the Blues who lost 3-1 at Deva Stadium. Oxford have an good home record that has seen them win 11 matches, they’ve also lost 7 though, and saw former Argentinian international Ramon Diaz resign this week, his son Emiliano Diaz also left. Brian Talbot was announced today as his replacement at Oxford.

Once again the Blues will be without suspended duo Sean Hessey and Joe O’Neill while striker Michael Branch also sits the game out. The Blues also have fitness doubts over goalkeeper Wayne Brown, midfielder Stewart Drummond and striker Robbie Foy.

Striker Michael Branch will undergo a knee operation soon in an effort to rid an injury that has plagued the striker all season. Branch has been troubled with knee, hamstring and calf injuries for a lot of the season, something that manager Keith Curle is well aware of.

He said:

The Blues ended a disappointing home 2004/05 campaign with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of play-off chasing Northampton Town on Saturday.

The Cobblers, backed by about 1400 fans, proved too strong for the Blues taking the lead midway through the first half and doubling their advantage just after the restart.

To add to City’s misery, Ben Davies sent an awful penalty yards wide with ten minutes remaining after the midfielder had been upended in the area.

The omens aren’t good for the main winner, on more than one occasion the recipient has departed the Deva in the summer.

City fans are able to pre-purchase tickets for Saturday’s last game of the season at Oxford United at a discount rate. Tickets will be available from the club office Tues-Fri this week during normal office hours (10:00-16:00hrs). Seat prices in advance are: Adult £15.50 (normally £18.50), Concessions for students on production of an NUS card £12.00, under 16s and senior citizens £9.50. Wheelchair users will be charged £15.50 in advance, concessions £9.50.