Category: News

Select a news topic from the list below, then select a news article to read.

Have you renewed your CFU membership yet?

Posted by Jeff Banks on

We’ve entered the month of June which means a brand new membership period, which runs from June 2018 through to May 2019, and many of you will have renewed your membership for another year, which we thank you for.

 

If you haven’t renewed your CFU membership yet, then it’s very simple and straight forward to do so – just following the link below to retrieve your details and click Renew Now and away you go – it takes less than a minute to do, and you’ll be signed up for another year as a co-owner of Chester FC!

 

Click here to renew your membership or to sign up

 

This year our Fan Engagement Working Group (FEWG) have come up with a #One2OneChallenge – all we ask is that every member asks one person not yet a member to do so – and when they’ve joined, you can broadcast this on your social media account with the #One2OneChallenge hashtag to show your support!

 

We have now hit 1000 members for this year’s membership period, and we still have around 700 members still to renew their membership – so if you are one of those 700 people, then please renew today via the link above.

 

We are aiming to hit 2018 members for the year 2018 as soon as possible, so please don’t wait any longer – renew today!

FREE Chester FC Season Ticket up for grabs!

Posted by Jeff Banks on

Two of Chester FC’s Legends Lounge members and long time Blues fans have offered one lucky season ticket holder that buys or renews their season ticket before the Early Bird deadline expires, the chance to win the cost of their season ticket back!

The club are aiming to sell 1000 season tickets before the end of June, and supporters Alan Case and Ian Swettenham have decided to offer an incentive to help encourage more fans to get their season ticket with nearly 400 having been purchased already since sales began in May.

Alan, a well known and popular figure amongst supporters who has followed the Blues for 63 years said, “Ian and myself will be delighted to personally present the lucky winner with free football for the coming season”.

Ian, a fan since 1969, who sponsors the Swettenham Chemists Stand at the Swansway Chester Stadium and also provides fantastic financial support to the Chester FC Youth Academy was also keen to help cover the cost of one lucky fans season ticket. Ian said “There was a great suggestion on DevaChat to support the Early Bird offer and Alan & I are very happy to make it happen. I hope every fan can support the club with a Season Ticket purchase, it’s vital to the future of the club and appreciated by all involved.

Jeff Banks, Director of Fan Engagement said, “On behalf of the Fan Engagement Working Group (FEWG) and of course Chester FC, I’d like to thank both Alan and Ian for their fantastic gesture. It certainly demonstrates great unity amongst the fans when two come forward to offer to cover the cost of someone else’s season ticket, and anyone who has purchased one so far, or yet to get their ticket will no doubt be looking forward to hearing if their name has been pulled out of the hat!”

The Draw sponsored by Childrens Bed Centres & Swettenham Chemists will take place shortly after the Early Bird on sales ends, so fans are urged to get their season tickets before this deadline to be in with a chance of winning.

Chester FC Youth

Posted by Mike Day on

The board of City Fans United would like to place on record it’s congratulations to the Chester FC Youth Academy.

In what has been a fantastic season of achievements, we would like to pay tribute to everyone involved with the Academy, who have all played a magnificent part in delivering success.

This season has seen seven first team debuts for Academy Graduates. Both James Jones and Tom Crawford have earned international honours with England C, Nathan Brown’s solo effort against Bromley was voted the club’s goal of the season with Alex Downes, Matthew Thomson, Rhain Hellawell and Cain Noble all featuring in the first team. Cain Noble became the youngest player to represent the club since reformation and marked the occasion with a headed goal in front of the Harry McNally terrace.

To have five trophies to show for their hard work and dedication this season is a seriously impressive effort, especially when you consider that on a great number of occasions this season their opponents have been at an older age.

Whilst not wishing to single any one person out, we feel it would be remiss of us to not mention the achievements of Calum McIntyre, who as well as masterminding the Youth teams to their successes, also took on the additional responsibility of first team manager for the last three games of the season, culminating in a fully deserved 2-1 win at Barrow.

CFU Director with Youth portfolio Mike Day said: “I had the privilege of travelling with this seasons Youth team scholars last summer on the annual Scotland trip. The team spirit developed in just those few days both on and off the pitch made us realise that this season was going to be something special.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to be even a small part of our Youth setup and see those early promising signs develop into much deserved success.

The whole Youth Academy at Chester FC is certainly something to take great pride in, and seeing so many of the youngsters breaking through into the first team shows just how much effort has been put in to making this a real success.

We would like to thank Calum, all of the coaches across the various age groups, and of course the parents who play a major part in the development of the players involved.

Finally, congratulations to all of the players involved in the Academy, all of whom deserve all the plaudits for their successes this season.

The board of City Fans United

 

City Fans United Members (Formal) Meeting – Tuesday 5th June

Posted by Jeff Banks on

The next City Fans United members meeting is set to take place on Tuesday 5th June, in the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium.

The meeting was originally scheduled for Thursday 24th May, however, we have rescheduled the date to allow the board to bring members updated information around the donation by Stuart Murphy, and also non-executive director Richard Lynes will also be presenting his findings on the review he has been carrying out on CFU matters relating to the last 12 months.

We are also hoping to be joined by the new management team at Chester FC on the evening too, so plenty of reasons to come along!

The meeting will start at 7.30pm with the bar open from 7pm on the evening and as it’s a members meeting only, we will be taking new membership sign ups on the night and you can also renew your membership on the night too.

Although to help us with renewals, please visit the following link where you can actually renew or sign up online prior to the meeting.

Renew your membership here

Sign up here

We look forward to seeing you on the night!

Membership Notification – Investment Proposal

Posted by Mike Day on

Further to the statement of the 11th April 2018, the Board of City Fans United are now able to provide a further update to members.

Due diligence information has been shared between the two parties and within the last 24 hours a “Heads of Agreement” has been approved, with a view to completing all legal processes by the end of May 2018.

To avoid any further speculation, we are pleased to announce the identity of the proposed investor as Mr. Stuart Murphy.

Commenting on his association with Chester FC Stuart added

“I’m thrilled to be able to help Chester FC – I love the City and wanted to give something back.

I want to make it clear from the outset that this is not a money-making exercise.

“Both myself and the CFU Board have some really great ideas as to how we could spend the donated funds for the benefit of the club – focusing on improving the infrastructure and maximising revenue streams. Dare I say it, but there are some really exciting things in the pipeline and fans have every right to be excited with what the future may hold!”

We don’t have a city centre location, but we can use that to our benefit and create a vibrant hub to create a real buzz around the area. I’d like Chester FC to be an exciting place for new fans to visit and crucially – a better place for existing fans to enjoy.

As a supporter myself, I look at the things the club do well and also what the club could do better. Last season was a tough one to take as regards the first team – but we must never forget that Chester FC is more than just the first team. Look at the brilliant work of the Academy and the Community Trust and volunteers. It’s truly humbling to see how football can inspire people from all walks of life and we should never underplay the role a football club can play in the community.

It’s important that we keep that fire in our bellies and now focus on making Chester FC the best it can possibly be”.

Stuart Murphy – 10th May 2018

The Board of City Fans United will Keep the membership updated of further developments in this matter

 

Informal CFU Meeting Update: Change of Venue and Meet Marcus Bignot

Posted by Mike Day on

The next informal CFU members meeting, scheduled for Thursday 23rd November, will be a bit different than usual.

We are switching venue from the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium to:
The Anchor Pub in Saltney.

Members of the CFU board will welcome manager Marcus Bignot and CEO Mark Maguire with fans able to ask questions of everyone.

The change in venue to The Anchor in Saltney is part of a wider move by the board of directors to start encouraging more people to attend CFU meetings and to help raise the profile of City Fans United across Chester, Cheshire and North Wales.

Jonny Hughes, Chair of City Fans United, said: “In football if you want success then you have to perform home and away, and that’s exactly what we have identified we need to do.

“We have seen attendances at CFU meetings go down slowly over time, so it’s about time we did something different.

“By taking more of a fan forum type approach to informal CFU meetings and switching venues to social clubs, halls and pubs in the places and areas our fans live in, we’re hoping to encourage more members to attend.

“But, not only that. We need to start engaging with our fans and the wider public more, so the plan is to open up future fan forums to non-members also to help raise our profile and drive our membership forward.

The meeting will start at the usual time of 7:30pm.
The address for The Anchor is 5 High Street, Saltney, Chester, CH4 8SE.

We hope to see you there!

CFU Members Meeting Thursday 14th September

Posted by Mike Day on

The next City Fans United owners meeting is next Thursday, September 14th in the Blues Bar at the Swansway Chester Stadium with a 7.30pm start.

This is a formal members meeting.
Meeting Agenda available through this link

The streaming service will available for any owners who can’t make it down to the stadium on the night. You must have renewed before the day of the meeting to eligible to watch the streaming service so don’t hesitate if you haven’t signed up already! Please email neil.bellis@chesterfc.com by September 13th if you want to watch the stream but haven’t previously signed up.

Membership Renewals for 2017-18

Posted by Mike Day on

Membership of City Fans United expires on May 31st, so if you haven’t already renewed for 2017-18 you should do so soon!

 

Membership of CFU is just £12 per year (an equivalent of £1 per month)

New Members

If you haven’t already joined City Fans United please fill in the online form here …
Membership Form

or Join at the Deva Stadium. Membership form (PDF) is available here to print out

Existing Membership Renewals
To renew your membership account, please follow the step by step instructions below: 

Renew Online :

  • Please visit www.cityfansunited.com and log in via the spaces provided (Username & Password)
  • Click on My Account section under the User Menu on the left of the page – this will take to your ‘dashboard’
  • Under the ‘Your Membership’ section, click on the words [Renew Now]
  • Then, fill in the details on the Membership Form screen beneath where it says ‘RENEW MEMBERSHIP’ (most of your details will be pre-populated if you already set up your CFU account online last time) – if you are planning to set up a standing order for your membership or pay manually at the Deva Stadium then please tick the box where it says “I will send payment separately”
  • Click the Confirm Contribution button at the bottom of the page
  • Then verify your information, by clicking the Continue button at the bottom of the page
  • This will take you to the Paypal page for you to make a one off payment, click ‘Pay Now’ once in your Paypal account
  • This will complete your membership payment

If you need help please contact membership@cityfansunited.com

Renew Offline :

You can download the CFU membership form below, complete, print off and take to the Deva Stadium with your payment

Membership Renewal Form PDF

At the Lookers Vauxhall (Deva) Stadium :

You can of course renew your CFU membership at the Deva Stadium, just complete a form at the ground together with your payment (please make cheques payable to City Fans United) .

New contract for Jon McCarthy

Posted by Mike Day on

The CFU Board are delighted by Jon’s decision to commit his future to Chester Football Club.

Our excellent on-field form is testament to Jon’s hard work and dedication to our football club and by securing his services until May 2019, we now look forward to moving on to the next stage of our exciting journey with him at the helm.

CFU Chair Alan Povey said “Having worked with Jon for some time now, I know first hand how passionately he feels about the club and how he much he buys into our community ethos. The board’s hope now is that all supporters continue to get behind Jon and the players, and help us in achieving his goals” .