Two of last season’s player are now playing with Conference rivals Telford United. Dean Spink (pic right) was one of Graham Barrow’s first signings when Chester dropped into the Conference in 2000 but an injury, in the pre-season friendly against Bristol City, put him out of action for the whole season. He finally made his debut last season at Hayes and scored one of the goals in a 3-1 victory. Ironically his only other league goal was scored against Telford United. Dean made 19+2 Conference appearances in which he played both at centre forward and in the middle of defence. His most impressive performance came in the FA Trophy 4th Round replay against one of his former clubs, Solihull Borough, when he became the first player since Andy Milner in 1997 to score a hat trick for Chester. Dean made more than 300 Football League appearances with Scarborough, Bury, Shrewsbury and Wrexham and has recently opened a fitness centre in Shrewsbury.

David Brown moved to Telford in mid-August and became an instant hero at the Bucks Head when he came off the bench to score a last minute equaliser in the 4-4 draw with Doncaster Rovers. David was a trainee at Manchester United, where he played alongside Michael Twiss, and joined Hull City in March 1998. He scored 23 goals in 131 appearances at Boothferry Park and moved to Chester after a brief period with Torquay United. David made his debut in the 2-0 home defeat against Southport and went on to make 11+2 appearances scoring two goals against Dover and Stevenage. An undoubtedly skilful player it is to be hoped that David can resurrect his career at Telford.

Another former Chester player in the Telford squad is Roger Preece. A tigerish midfielder, Roger was voted Player of the Year in 1994/95 but his career came to an abrupt halt the following season when he was on the receiving end of a horrendous tackle by Hartlepool’s Mick Tait. Although he eventually recovered it proved a massive blow to a player who, at the time, was being tracked by higher division clubs. Roger is now nearing the end of his playing career and has recently been seen on a couple of occasions at the Deva on scouting duties. Roger was never noted for his goalscoring at Chester but his first goal for the club, a 30-yard free kick in the FA Cup against Hull City, was recently voted one of the best seen at the ground.