Author: Jeff Banks

Football clubs are nothing without their fans

Posted by Jeff Banks on

This day back in 2010, City Fans United were awarded the lease to the Deva Stadium by Cheshire West and Chester Council, a move which was greeted with celebration by Chester fans.

 

 

Recent events in English football have demonstrated just how important it is that fans have a voice and input into decisions and the running of their football clubs.

 

At Premier League level, we have seen what can happen when clubs fail to consult with their supporters before making decisions, which don’t just affect their own clubs, but risking the future of the entire football pyramid.

 

Chester FC is wholly owned by its fans and as those familiar with our story will know, the pitfalls of private ownership can be significant  if supporters are not consulted or represented when it comes to the running of their club.

 

Following the liquidation of Chester City FC in 2010, Chester fans vowed to safeguard the future of football in the City and reformed as a 100% supporter-owned community football club.

 

We have made great strides in the 11 years since, winning three league championships, enjoying the occasional FA Cup run, and building friendships across the non-league pyramid, but more importantly remaining a sustainable club that recognises its responsibility to the community.

 

 

Since 2010, clubs have been extremely welcoming to us and our tremendous supporters, appreciating our circumstances and contributing to our journey so far. The help we received from the likes of FC United of Manchester, AFC Telford United and AFC Wimbledon was vital to our development and we are now using the experience we have gained to help fans of other clubs such as Bury AFC.

 

The power of supporters is no better illustrated than in the efforts of Chester FC fans over the last decade, from the incredible tidal wave of our rebirth to helping us overcome the unprecedented challenges faced in the past 12 months. It is often said football clubs are nothing without supporters but in our case that is unquestionably true.

 

With growing awareness of the importance of fans and the need for reform across the game, Chester FC fully supports those pressing for change and for supporters to be given a greater involvement in their clubs.

 

City Fans United, the owners of Chester FC, have a strong membership that is dedicated to ensuring football in Chester is driven forward properly. We always welcome new members and you can sign up via the link below for just the equivalent of £1 per month, it’d be great to have you as our latest signing!

 

JOIN CITY FANS UNITED HERE

Our City, Our Community, Our Club.

CFU Board Summary – March 2021

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Summary of CFU Board Meeting held on 8th March 2021 by virtual conference at 7.30pm.

Present:- Andrew Morris, Jeff Banks, Paul Bodman, Adam Langan, Mike Vickers, Jim Green, Alex Owen, Nick Phillipson, Chris Robertson and Kieron Shiel.

Apologies: Alex Owen

 

Minutes of Meeting held on 8th February 2021 were recorded as an accurate record.

 

Andy Morris confirmed that the season had been made null and void and needed ratification by the FA. No mention had been made of a new league being formed for those Clubs wishing to try and continue. Our Club would choose to not be involved in that.

 

The summary which had been done independently by Richard Birchett regarding Stuart Murphy was to be put out on the members only website on 11th March 2021.

 

All staff furloughed full time at 80%, including contracted players. All players staying at the Club would be furloughed until June.

 

Chris Robertson had circulated a paper to the Board regarding the Management accounts. For January. There is a big drop in payments. Expenditure is relatively high compared to income. Projections expect this to continue until furlough and null and void are fed into the numbers. Next year will be more of a challenge. Club is waiting for decision on the application for the grant/loan. As Chris will be leaving the Treasurer’s post at the end of March, he had put together a simple framework for the budget to the Board.

 

With regards to commercial events, Paul Bodman stated that the Young Drivers had booked for another six months. A company had confirmed dates for showing films in the car park. The car park potholes will be sorted out in April or May. This work will be done by Vinci at zero cost.

 

Nick Phillipson had started to undertake a general review of the facilities at the stadium. Will create a maintenance schedule to help with future budgeting plans, prioritising floodlights, heating and painting. The caterer Aaron was considering catering on non-matchdays. Health and Safety survey to be done in May.

 

Jim Green had a conversation with the managers regarding scouts. Would like to take on Neil Hart. With regards to the Talent ID Event, had received a possible 180 sign ups. Hopefully, this can be whittled down to about 40. With regards to the Community Trust, waiting to announce the funding to the public.

 

Adam Langan stated he was holding a zoom meeting on 11th March 2021. Has asked Calum from Academy to join the meeting.

 

Jeff Banks had asked Kaizen whether it was possible to have stadium seat by seat on the system ready for season 2022/23 as with current Covid restrictions this could mean a similar situation to seating for the 20/21 season until we know more about restrictions post June 21st. Will revisit pricing when we know the size of the league. Membership renewals were launched on 1st March 2021.

 

Kieron Shiel was getting a design for the membership cards priced. A mail shot would e going out to CFU members only for the “Away Kit” design. The Club had achieved nearly £70,000 with regards to orders over the last year.

 

Andy asked Kieron to convey the Board’s thanks to the volunteers who had helped him out during COVID for all their efforts.

 

Under “Any other business”, Mike Vickers had circulated to the Board a paper regarding the Academy Scholarship and budget for 2021/22. After discussion, Mike said he would come back to the Board with more information. Andy asked Mike to let Calum know that the Board appreciates all his hard work commitment to the Academy.

Seals Lottery – February Draw

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The February Draw of the Seals Lottery took place recently, and we are delighted to announce the following winners:

 

1st Sue Orford No 632 £466.00

 

2nd Peter Wright No 1093 £349.50

 

3rd Tony Pate No 1153 £233.00

 

The drawn was done on the 19th March by Barbara Rogers lottery administrator and witnessed by David Parry

CFU Board Summary – February 2021

Posted by Jeff Banks on

Summary of CFU Board Meeting held on 8th February 2021 by virtual conference at 7.30pm.

 

Present:  Andy Morris (Chair), Jeff Banks, Paul Bodman, Adam Langan, Mike Vickers, Jim Green, Nick Phillipson, Chris Robertson and Kieron Shiel.

In Attendance:- Christine Robson#

Apologies:- Alex Owen

 

Due to the Coronavirus lockdown, the football club is still closed.  All official meetings are still being held by virtual conference once a month and the Board are meeting every other week informally to keep abreast of what is happening.  The Minutes of the official Board Meeting held on 11th January 2021 had been read and approved as being a correct record.

 

Review of Actions:  Andy Morris went through actions which Board members had been asked to complete and several were now closed.  Nick Phillipson was sorting out the cleaning contract and awaiting to see the outcome of the National League vote and whether club would stay closed.  Adam Langan was involved in the Seals Lottery and this is ongoing.

Finance – Chris Robertson stated that he did not have much to report as he was still waiting for the decision from the NL regarding the vote as to whether to null and void the season.  The Club had received payment from the streaming.

Update on Operational Issues – Jim Green stated that it was all quiet.  Had been picking up some of the work that George had done.

Portfolios – Mike Vickers stated that the Youth Academy were trying to get new players for next season.  Timetable has been set at the college for scholars.

Jeff Banks said that not much was going on with Fan Engagement.  If the Club stops playing, will use the time to do some fundraising online and also concentrate on the Season Ticket rebates as well as planning for Season Tickets for the 2021-22 campaign.

Adam Langan was going to decide about doing a virtual lottery once he knew where the Club stood regarding the season.  The new logo will be going out through the main Chester F C Club.  Draw needs to be seen by everyone.

Jim Green said that Will Goodwin had gone to Stoke.  Managers, though disappointed, agreed with the Board to null and void the season. Continue to be fully transparent with fans on the funds that the club currently has.  Boost the Budget needs maintaining and explain why to members.  JG would have a meeting with managers and players once the decision was known about the season.  Had been successful in the grant for the King George V scheme from the Westminster Foundation.  Hopefully building will start in March with a possible finish in September.

Paul Bodman stated that everything was so different now with matches being played behind closed doors and not knowing whether the season would continue.  Need to try and sell the club’s facilities on non-matchdays.

Independent Review – Executive Summary

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In November 2020 the previous Board instigated an independent review into Stuart Murphy’s involvement at the club, and any lessons that could be learnt from the process. Richard Birchett has now produced this review which the Board have accepted, and his Executive summary is shown below for Member’s information.

 

On Behalf of the current Board, Andrew Morris Chair of City Fans United stated ‘I would like to thank Richard and all those who participated in the Review for their time and effort to complete this piece of work as it is important that we as a Club continue to learn from everything we do’.

 

Independent Review – Executive SummaryDownload

Seals Lottery – January Draw

Posted by Jeff Banks on

The January Draw of the Seals Lottery took place recently, and we are delighted to announce the following winners:

 

1st Colin Statham No 872 £473.00

 

2nd Alan Davies No 336 £354.75

 

3rd Stephen Rigby No 956 £236.50

 

 

The drawn was done on 27th February by Barbara Rogers lottery administrator and witnessed by David Parry

City Fans United Membership Renewals – Renew Today!

Posted by Jeff Banks on

It’s the 1st March and from today City Fans United members not currently on Direct Debit can renew their memberships which will then run through to the 31st May 2022. 

Given the challenges that have been faced at Chester FC over the coming 12 months, we are aiming to provide the strongest possible start to next season for the club and by renewing now you will be helping the club to do just that. 

This year, we’re also asking City Fans United to help choose the new 2021/22 away kit with details to follow shortly on that, so even more reason to renew your membership! 

There are also a number of member discounts available including offers on holidays, food and drink and other great products. 

If you pay your membership on Direct Debit or have a recurring payment set up on Paypal then you don’t need to do anything as your payment will continue into the next membership year.  

If you have a standing order in place with your bank, we would ask you to cancel this and set up a Direct Debit.

To set up please email : nick.phillipson@chesterfc.com  

If not already on Direct Debit: 

To renew your membership, simply follow the instructions below: 

Visit the link – Members Section – City Fans United 

Select Renew Membership 

Log in to your account 

Complete the Renew Membership form including the amount which you would like to pay (the minimum being £12). 

Complete the transaction 

Your membership will be renewed until 31 May 2022. 

CFU Board Summary – January 2021

Posted by Jeff Banks on

Summary of CFU Board Meeting held on 11th January 2021 by virtual conference at 7.30pm.

 

Present:- Andy Morris (Chair), Jeff Banks, Paul Bodman, Adam Langan, Mike Vickers, Jim Green, Alex Owen, Nick Phillipson, Chris Robertson and Kieron Shiel.

In Attendance:- Christine Robson and George Delves

 

Due to the Coronavirus lockdown, the football club is still closed. All official meetings are still being held by virtual conference once a month and the Board are meeting nearly every week informally to keep abreast of what is happening. The Minutes of the Meeting held on 30th November 2020 had been read and approved as being a correct record.

 

Portfolios – Andy Morris had set out portfolios for all Board Directors and went through each of them. Most of them were still a work in progress.

 

Partnership – The Board had set up an independent review regarding the relationship with Stuart Murphy. A gentleman called Richard Birchett had done a report after speaking to everyone at the Club, present and past, who had any involvement.

 

The outcome of his findings was that the Board had done their very best under the circumstances, especially as they were also dealing with the outcome of COVID and how this would affect the Club.

 

In the future, the Board must have concrete and detailed proposals in writing: all decisions must be made by the whole Board and each person must be held to account, including the donor for their actions.

 

Finance – Chris Robertson stated that he was still working with the figures for the Club after receiving feedback from all portfolio holders. Was hoping to receive some news about the grant from the Government.

 

Update on Football – When the fans had been allowed to attend, there had been no issues regarding COVID regulations, but unfortunately, this had now been stopped again. There are no volunteers attending the Club.

 

National League – Due to a great deal of misunderstanding and the way the grans had been allocated, the Club found itself worse off regarding the grant it had been given for October, November and December. Several letters have been sent to the NL regarding the monies, but they do not seem to want to liaise with the Clubs on specific issues. A suggestion about putting a resolution in to the National League regarding Salary Caps had been discussed. The resolution would need to be sent in to them by 31st January 2021.

CFU Meeting

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Due to the offensive material that appeared during our Zoom meeting this evening, we were forced to bring our meeting to a close earlier than anticipated.

City Fans United would like to apologize to anyone that was offended by the material that suddenly appeared on the meeting, and we removed it as quickly as possible, but unfortunately repeated attempts meant we had no alternative but to close the meeting.

We were at the point where Anthony Johnson was about to do a Q&A, so we will put a separate article together to provide you with the answers that he was going to give to your questions, in the very near future.

Again, apologies for the events that were completely out of our hands this evening.

CFU Meeting – Zoom Instructions

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Tomorrow night it’s your chance to tune into the City Fans United informal meeting, which will be held via Zoom at 7.30pm.

 

There will be brief updates from the board including the very latest from Chester FC with regards to the current situation in the National League North. We will also have Chester FC manager Anthony Johnson on the call as well, who will be there for a Q&A and to bring you an update on how the squad and management team are dealing with the current climate.

 

If you have a question for the board or manager, then please email this to jeff.banks@chesterfc.com by 3pm Thursday 11th February.

 

We’re sure there will be plenty of questions on the same subject, and whilst we’ll be monitoring the CHAT function on the call, we would like to be able to bring you the answers to the questions received by 3pm.

 

This will also help reduce the amount of duplicate questions asked on the night.

 

Thursday night’s meeting is open to non-members too, so please join from 7pm where you will be placed into a meeting room before being admitted into the meeting close to 7.30pm.

 

Usual etiquette on the Zoom meeting applies, and all microphones will be muted during the meeting unless invited to un-mute.

 

Here’s the link for the meeting: https://zoom.us/j/92243332658?pwd=SW1qRlNtTFZxNGlmcnV5Zi95RHBwUT09

 

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow night!