31 May 2000
BARROW RETURNS
Graham Barrow has today returned to the Deva Stadium as manager, he’s been given a two year contract. Barrow first approached Terry Smith regarding the job back in January prior to Ian Atkins appointment. Barrow will need no introduction to most City fans. He played 244 league games for Chester between 1986/87 and 1993/94. No doubt his finest hour was guiding City into the second division as runners-up in 1993/94 (12 months after relegation).

He left the Deva "over a matter of principal" following promotion and took over from Kenny Swain as manager at Wigan Athletic in September 1994, lifting the Latics from bottom of the table to a respectable 13th in his first season. Since then Barrow took over at Rochdale in May 1996 before being sacked and joined Notts County as assistant manager.

Speaking on radio Merseyside, Barrow cited the "poor form of several senior players" for Chester’s demise last season. "Five or six new players will probably have to be brought in". There has been no announcement at all yet from the chairman regarding the appointment.

Venue: The Windmill, 6-8 Mill Street, London W1 (in the back bar)
Time: 18.45
Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus.

The meeting isn’t confined just to members but is open to all City fans in the area. Please contact the Exiles secretary if you would like to come along.

Atkins stated: "I have been offered a deal but I need to discuss the offer that has been put to me. There are a lot of things there. There are two issues. My own personal stuff which is important because of my family. Then there’s the question of what we’ve got to play with if the club is to have a crack at getting out of the Conference. I need to discuss it all further with Terry Smith but the main crux is that I would love to have a crack at it. I want to find out what I’m going to have to play with to get the club up. I thought the players for me were magnificent and as for the fans, I’ve never known anything like it before even on a larger scale. The way they whipped themselves round and the whole city got behind the club was terrific."

CITY SEEK COMPENSATION
The club have registered a claim against Shrewsbury Town for an illegal approach and breach on contract when they took City coach David Fogg back in January. At the time Fogg was under a written contract at the Deva until the end of the 1999/2000 season. A Chester spokesman said: "We believe that there was a very serious violation by Sherwsbury in their taking of David Fogg from us. We believe that our loss of him, and Shrewsbury’s gain of him had to have a direct influence upon the Table, because an Assistant Manager is a very important position in a club". City are demanding that Shrewsbury be deducted League points thus re-instating Chester to the Football League.

At the open supporters meeting, those present voted unanimously to disassociate themselves with the club statement. Barry Hipkiss, chairman of the official supporters club said: "I am sad, because we could lose our good relationship with Shrewsbury over this. It is making the club a laughing stock."

Meanwhile David Fogg has stated: "I did everything by the book. I gave a month’s notice to leave Chester."

FANS MEETING
Chester City ISA will be holding a special meeting tonight at the Royal Mail Club, Station Road starting at 19.30, this is an open meeting not for just ISA members but anybody who has the good of Chester City at heart. We want as many people as possible to attend, and as many people as possible to speak.

Matchday Prices
Terrace: Adults �8, Senior Citizens & Unwaged �6.50, Under 16’s �5.
East & West Stands: Adults �10, Senior Citizens & Unwaged �8, Under 16’s �6.
Executive Lounge Matchday: Adults �20, Senior Citizens �15.

The Club has also suffered financially through legal disputes, which Mr Smith has handled himself, false economy on player signings and now through the impact of relegation itself. We feel totally vindicated by our caution over the supporters’ share issue, which lost the club a further �140,000.

The ISA Committee deplores the post-match comments made about Mr Atkins’ managerial performance. We applaud him and the players for their efforts in almost recovering the situation and believe that concerted attempts should be made to retain their services.

The Board of Directors, as custodians of the Club should now consider their positions carefully in the light of recent events. The honorable action would be to resign. We echo the opinion of loyal supporters in having no confidence that Mr Smith can lead us out of the Conference in the right direction.

All through this season my colleagues and myself on the ISA committee have wrestled with our consciences, we have been party to a lot of what has gone on at Chester City, but have been asked by the Ian Atkins to name but one to keep our council until the end of season, we agreed because we were desperate to help in anyway we could to keep Chester in the League, and we took some stick for this policy in many quarters.

The ISA will be making a statement in the next day or two, and I don�t want to pre-empt that but suffice to say we have spent a considerable amount of money this year helping Chester in areas that supporters should NEVER be required to do. I don�t want to end on a negative thought, because I know that Chester supporters will back us and I know that when the club eventually changes hand, and it will make no mistake, we as supporters will make sure we have a stake in the club and for the first time Chester City will be in the hands of people who will nurture and care for the club that we all love.

He would no doubt have played against Peterborough on Saturday and had been attracting interest from several big clubs during the season. The club has got no one available for comment.

City were dead and buried at the New Year when Atkins took over managing the team from Terry Smith. A complete clearout of players with 12 new ones coming in gave us real hope, and we finished the season as one of the top form teams in the division, that sort of record has to be recognised.

FOR THE RECORD
League game stats for our managers this season:

•Relegation Quotes

Ian Atkins has a full squad available to pick from with the exception of Jamie Robinson and Angus Eve for the match which has attracted a full house at the Deva.

Whatever the outcome tomorrow, we can all be proud of the way the team has battled against the odds since Ian Atkins was appointed Director of Football in the new year. The players have responded magnificently in recent weeks and one or two astute signings have made all the difference. The City fans can also congratulate themselves for getting right behind the team in recent weeks. The decision by the ISA to offer subsidised travel in recent weeks has proved inspirational also, 800 at Halifax, 500 at Leyton Orient and over 1000 at Cheltenham last week. There’s no doubt that the noise has lifted the players when they most needed it. So one more final effort tomorrow and, hopefully, we’ll have cause for celebration at 5pm.

REMEMBER ME? The May issue of the Match Of The Day magazine which contains the ‘Mission Impossible’ spoof concerning the Chester parrot mascot at Halifax is now on sale.