30 August 2004
ANOTHER DEFEAT FOR CITY
Chester went down 3-1 at Boston United this afternoon, a defeat that leaves them at the foot of League Two. The Blues conceded a Danny Thomas goal as early as the third minute and went into the break two down following Zema Abbey’s header on the stroke of half-time.

Despite an improved performance in the second half, a twice-taken penalty by Courtney Pitt sealed the points for the home side. Michael Branch pulled a consolation goal back six minutes from time but City were well beaten and had five players booked to add to their troubles.

For his first game in charge, manager Ian Rush made two changes from Saturday’s starting line-up bringing in Ben Davies at the expense of Stewart Drummond and Cortez Belle for Kevin Rapley. Davies did a man-marking job on Paul Gascoigne in the second half and manager Rush was full of praise for the midfielder’s work-rate.

Rush said he “Couldn’t ask any more from the players in the second half, everyone worked hard.” and “I think we have to look at yesterday’s defeat in a positive way. I thought we were superb in the second half after I changed things round at half-time”.

Manager Ian Rush and assistant Mark Aizlewood will be meeting the players today as they prepare for tomorrow’s Bank Holiday game at Boston United. Rush was introduced to the crowd prior to yesterday’s 0-3 defeat at the hands of Darlington and watched the match from the main stand throughout. Newly appointed Director of Football Ray Mathias took charge of team affairs on the day.

The Blues gifted all three goals and were content to play the long ball, and creating nothing, until the introduction in the second half of Ben Davies, Cortez Belle and later Paul Carden. Then City started to play football, passing the ball about on the ground and carving out several chances. It was all too late by then of course.

Chairman Steve Vaughan said: “Ian is a high profile appointment for Chester City. His illustrious playing career is well chronicled and without doubt our strikers particularly can only benefit from his appointment. He brings with him a wealth of experience and I know our supporters will be excited by the appointment.”

New manager Rush said: “I have learned a lot in the last few years about coaching and I learned so much in my time on the coaching side at Liverpool, particularly from Gerard Houllier. I have been offered four or five managerial jobs in the past few years, but now I think is the right time to take a chance. This is the start of a new era. This is an opportunity I couldn’t miss. Chester have an excellent chairman in Stephen Vaughan who is extremely loyal and with his assistance I am sure we will make progress.”

Mark Aizlewood will be assistant manager and Ray Mathias has been appointed Director of Football.

Aizlewood’s career began at Newport County and took him to Luton Town, Charlton Athletic, Leeds United, Bradford City, Bristol City, Cardiff City, Aberystwyth Town, Cwmbran Town and Carmarthen Town where he was appointed coach in December 2003.

The draw for the first round of the LDV Trophy has taken place and Chester have been given an away tie against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. The game will take place in the week commencing 27 September.

Chairman Steve Vaughan has said that a decision on the appointment of City’s new manager will be made next week.

The announcement comes as ex-Liverpool assistant manager, and former player, Phil Thompson is the latest name to be linked with the vacancy along with Steve McMahon, Ian Rush, John Aldridge and Stan Ternent. Four points over the bank holiday weekend will no doubt boost Ray Mathias’ chances of getting the job on a full-time basis as well.

It looks like Ray Mathias may have to venture into the loan market again as City are suffering an injury pile-up with their strike force. Michael Branch was substituted with a knee injury at Sunderland and strike partner on the night Cortez Belle also picked up a knock. With Daryl Clare (hernia), Darryn Stamp (ankle) and Kevin Rapley (ear infection) all sidelined

The Blues make the trip to the Stadium of Light today for a first round Carling Cup tie at Championship side Sunderland, kick-off 20:00hrs. Manager Ray Mathias will be hoping that on-loan signing Alan Navarro can shake off the cramp he suffered towards the end of the game on Saturday in time for the tie.

Ray Mathias has returned to one of his former clubs to sign 23-year-old midfielder Alan Navarro on a one month loan from Tranmere Rovers. He made 33+11 appearances for Rovers last season, no goals scored.

Navarro began his career in the summer of 2000 as a trainee at Liverpool before being loaned out to Crewe Alexandra for two spells where he scored 1 goal in 14+3 appearances. He had a short loan spell at Tranmere where he scored 2 goals in 4+0 games before signing permanently from Liverpool for £225,000 in January 2002.

City chairman Steve Vaughan and his board have given Mathias permission to bring in one or two loan players should he need them. The current ankle ligament injury to Darryn Stamp and impending appointment with the surgeon next week for Daryl Clare have left City short on attacking options and that will be one area Mathias will consider strengthening. Whether anyone is drafted in in time for tomorrow or Tuesday’s match at Sunderland remains to be seen.

City’s vice-chairman Darren Liversage confirmed: “We have given Ray Mathias permission to inquire about the availability of certain players, and bring them in on a loan basis if he desires. The board backs Ray Mathias, and we have been impressed with the way he has adapted to the role of caretaker-manager, in what can only be described as extremely difficult circumstances.”

The Shakers currently lie 15th with four points following a 3-1 home win over Yeovil and a 2-2 draw at Bristol Rovers. However, they were thrashed 5-1 at Grimsby Town last weekend and will no doubt be looking to bounce back at Gigg Lane tomorrow. Ex-City player Colin Woodthorpe is expected to return to the side following suspension to play alongside another former Deva player David Flitcroft.

Bury, of course, are managed by former City player and manager Graham Barrow (left) who spent eight years from 1986-94 at Chester and is one of the most popular figures the club has ever had. He recently returned to Deva Stadium for Wayne Brown’s testimonial.

Barrow has sympathy for his opposite number at the Deva: “Chester fans must remember that Ray Mathias is a good manager and he had a good track record as boss during his time at Tranmere Rovers. Ray is in a difficult situation because Chester fans would have been used to winning games last season. I don’t think anyone can appreciate the position Ray is in – only managers can possibly understand what Ray Mathias is going through.”

The draw for the first round of the LDV Trophy will take place live on SKY TV on their Soccer AM programme on Saturday 28 August. Dates for the first three rounds are:

Rd1 week commencing 27 September
Rd2 week commencing 1 November
Rd3 week commencing 29 November

Chester City have moved to clarify their position on the departure of manager Mark Wright earlier this month. Last season’s Nationwide Conference champions have kept silent on the reasons behind the former England defender’s decision to walk out on the eve of the new season almost a fortnight ago.

However, Wright’s decision to go public at the weekend with his side of the story has promoted Chester to issue their own statement.

“Mr Wright refused to sign a contract offered by CCFC to protect his own interests,” said the statement from board of directors.

“At the commencement of the 2004/05 season Wright was again offered an improved three-year contract. This contract remained unsigned as at the time of his departure. The club insisted that it be signed before the season commenced.”

City striker Daryl Clare could well be out of action for up to six weeks after it was revealed that he requires a hernia operation. Clare saw a specialist on Friday who diagnosed the hernia and surgery is imminent for the striker who bagged 30 goals last season. City will be hoping that Clare’s absence may coincide with the return of Darryn Stamp who has only played one pre-season game before suffering an achilles injury.

Fans will be pleased to see the return of Kevin McIntyre tomorrow following the defenders three match suspension. McIntyre will go straight into the City starting X1 against a Mansfield Town side that has lost both its opening matches, at home to Bristol Rovers last Saturday (0-2) and at Oxford United 0-1 on Wednesday night. Caretaker manager Ray Mathias, who watched tomorrow’s opponents on Wednesday night, will be insisting on an improvement after Tuesday night’s poor showing against Wycombe Wanderers in front of Stags manager Keith Curle.

City captain Andy Harris had this message for the fans ahead of tomorrow’s game: “Our supporters have got to realise that there won’t be any weak teams coming to play us this season. There will be times when it won’t be pretty, but we’ve got to dig in, fight, and we’ve got to be organised and get results quickly.”

City entertain Wycombe Wanderers tonight in their first home game of the season (kick-off 19:45hrs). Tony Adams’ side, who were relegated with Notts County last season, opened the League campaign on saturday with a 2-1 win over Cambridge United. Both their goals came from Naythan Tyson was was later stretchered off with a rib injury and may be doubtful.

Still without the suspended Kevin McIntyre, City caretaker manager Ray Mathias looks set to name the same squad that gained a point at Notts County on Saturday, Ben Davies the only doubt with a foot injury.

Caretaker manager Ray Mathias will also no doubt have been pleased with the result, especially considering he took charge of the team only 24 hours before. This was a gutsy performance from City, who, in truth, failed to create any chances of note in the 90 minutes, against a strong side playing two divisions higher than them this time last year.

Half of Saturday’s team, Darren Edmondson, Kevin Ellison, Stephen Vaughan, Stewart Drummond, and Michael Branch were making League debuts for the Blues.

City were somewhat fortunate to go in at the break level, the home side missing a series of good chances and Vaughan heading clear off the line. But the Blues fell behind on 62 minutes when a Wayne Brown foul on Gavin Gordon resulted in a penalty, Julian Baden sending Brown the wrong way with the spot-kick.

Chairman Steve Vaughan told the press: “The manager’s resignation is not a disappointment, not at all. No individual is bigger than this club. The players and everyone at this club are as determined as ever to go out and challenge the title for the new league. Chester City is going to be OK and I have no concerns that this latest event will have any effect whatsoever on the club. It will be business as usual this club is used to drama. The fans do not have to worry, because I, Stephen Vaughan, will remain at this club and continue to invest in the club financially. The time for fans to worry is when Stephen Vaughan leaves this club.”

Wright told the Liverpool Echo: “It was my decision. The position was untenable. I did not want it to happen, but it has. It’s not the right time and I apologise for that. It’s a very sad day. I know the side is a good side.” Assistant manager David Moss and Alan Lewer have also left the Deva Stadium with him. Wright had been at Chester for two and a half years and took them to the Conference Championship last season.

Only yesterday Wright was talking of the challenge ahead in League Two and of bringing in extra cover for the injured Sean Hessey, he said: “We’ve worked extremely hard to get this club back into the Football League and everyone was pleased to see us win the Conference Championship last season, but there are no rewards anymore. I’m now looking forward to seeing Chester playing in the Football League, holding our own and challenging for a top-seven spot in the table at the end of the season. My priority at the moment is the right side of centre half. I still think that position is a problem for us and I’ve got a couple of options, but I don’t want to just bring anyone in. We want to get the right person in the side and that right person can sometimes cost a lot of money, but we’re not prepared to do that. I’m not prepared to go to the chairman and ask him for a lot of money because I don’t think we need to just yet.”

Chester play their last scheduled pre-season friendly tonight when they entertain a Blackburn Rovers side at Deva Stadium, kick-off 19:45hrs.

The Rovers squad for tonight’s game has been released on their website and is as follows: Yelldell, Peers, Morgan, Danns, McEveley, Bruce, Harkins, Donnelly, Jansen, Gallagher, Douglas. Subs: Taylor, Drench, Watt, Johnson, Derbyshire.