Following last night’s City Fans United board meeting we can confirm that David Harrington-Wright has stepped up from the Vice Chair role to become Chair of CFU.
Fellow board member Mark Jones has assumed the role of Vice Chair.
Both roles were ratified at the meeting.

The board of City Fans United are both surprised and disappointed at the recent resignations of Simon Olorenshaw and Mark Howell.
In Simon Olorenshaw’s statement, he referred to the fact that his views differ dramatically from the majority of the current board. We do not recognise this as an accurate reflection of recent events, and as such efforts were made to ascertain the substance of any perceived differences, unfortunately Simon Olorenshaw declined the offer.
Mark Howell decided to stand down due to a perceived lack of board support for Calvin Hughes following offensive Twitter postings over the weekend, for which we requested and have now received an apology; We have further requested a full retraction of the original comments made. The board are fully supportive of Calvin in his role as Director and lead of the Football Working Group who in recent weeks have been working hard to significantly reduce ongoing financial liabilities in the playing squad.
There have been a number of positives happening over recent months, including the fantastic fundraising, increase in City Fans United membership, development of a draft strategy and improving commercial relationships.
The City Fans United board are united and wholly focussed, and together with the working groups are committed to delivering the immediate and long term future of Chester Football Club under fan ownership. We ask that all fans continue with the great support that has been especially demonstrated over recent weeks. We are not out of the woods yet but together we can ensure the survival of our football club through these difficult times.
The City Fans United board of directors

Chester Football Club can confirm that First Team Manager Marcus Bignot will leave the club upon the expiry of his contract in May 2018.
The decision was made by the City Fans United Board of Directors at a meeting last Monday.

The board would like to place on record their thanks to Marcus for remaining professional throughout his tenure – especially of late – given the challenges currently being dealt with by the club.
This season has been an extremely tough one to endure for each and every Chester FC supporter. It has also been a challenging environment for Marcus to be involved with. The board wishes to emphasise that we understand the frustrations of all concerned.
We do thank the fans for their continued support and ask for their ongoing backing as Marcus manages the team for the remainder of this campaign. He has worked very hard in extremely difficult circumstances and it is vital that he retains our full support for the remainder of his tenure.

The board of directors
City Fans United

The board of City Fans United have decided that in light of the current situation at the club, and with the impending need to raise funds for Chester FC, we have reluctantly decided to free up more tickets for visiting Tranmere Rovers supporters for their match here on Saturday 7th April.
Visiting supporters will be allocated the entire Swettenham Chemists Community Stand, in addition to the South Stand, for this fixture.
It is not a decision we have taken lightly given our beliefs in looking after our own supporters, wherever they may be located inside the Swansway Chester Stadium.
We sincerely hope that those 187 supporters who hold season tickets in that area understand why the board have taken this decision, which will be the only occasion this season in which we make such a move.
As we want to look after our own supporters, we would like to invite all 187 supporters that hold season tickets in the Swettenham Chemists Community Stand, to come and select their choice of seat in the Red Insure Stand (not occupied by season ticket holders) prior to the date tickets go on general sale.
Following this date, supporters who have not selected a seat in the Red Insure Stand will be invited to occupy an unreserved seat for this game.
All Swettenham Chemists Community Stand season ticket holders have been contacted today via letter or email and we would like to thank Chester FC supporters for their cooperation following this announcement. Ticket sales dates will be released in due course.
The board of City Fans United

As part of our desire and commitment to improve our communications to CFU members and fans, our new Chair, Simon Olorenshaw has put a piece together to provide a bit of light Sunday reading…
“Following the turmoil of the past 5 weeks I am pleased to say that we now have a settled Board, with all four co-optees having been successfully approved by the FA. I am also very proud, and privileged, to confirm that, at the Board Meeting on Monday evening, I received the backing of the rest of the Board and was elected to the role of Chair of the CFU. As many of you will know this is a position that I occupied in 2015/16 when I had to step down due to work commitments, and this re-appointment gives me the fortunate opportunity to complete the work started at that time.
As recent times have shown it is vital that, as a fans owned football club, there is a structure in place that allows for the continual evolution of Board members. Our Constitution dictates that at least a third of the Board stand for re-election every year so a change of people is inevitable. But that should not mean that a change in direction, or the way that the club is run should follow. As a Board it is our responsibility to ensure that there is a clearly defined strategy, with underpinning objectives and action plans, that provides the blue print for those who are charged with leading the club. This will ensure continuity and enable us to rebuild our proud club in a controlled and sustainable manner. As you would probably imagine there is a lot for the Board to focus on at the moment, both short term and long term, and it us my role to ensure that we get the balance right, whilst also developing a robust governance structure.
Once we have stabilised the club we have a duty to look back at the past season to review how we ended up with the situation that we found ourselves in on that fateful night on January 25th. Not to apportion blame, but to make sure that we learn from those lessons and ensure that we never repeat those same mistakes again. To that end we have introduced a new role onto the Board, that of a Non-Executive Director. Rich Lynes, who heads up our Governance Team, has kindly agreed to accept this position, and his role, which has no voting rights, is all about ensuring that the Board are operating within the guidelines set down by our Constitution, our Strategy, as it develops, and good business practice.
On the playing side I can assure you all that we have not given up on this season. Our financial position has been much publicised, and we have had to make some very tough decision to secure the future of our club, but we are also extremely grateful to the various sponsors who have enabled us to strengthen the squad. Whilst it is still mathematically achievable we will be doing everything in our gift to achieve survival in this League, and recent performances have shown that the players still have that belief.
Over the coming weeks I look forward to hearing your views on how we are doing as a Board so look out for me at CFU meetings, in the Blues Bar and around the ground before games. I want to ensure that, moving forward we build on the momentum and good-will that we have seen over the past five weeks, as we get back to the spirit that built this club in the first place, Our City Our Community Our Club.”
Simon