The launch event for City Fans United took place last night at the Divas Showbar on Station Road. The event was superbly chaired by Charlie Lambert and was well attended by the City faithful with over 150 estimated in attendance.

 

After the opening statement, interim chairman Mike Poole explained the purpose of City Fans United to unite the fanbase with a view to securing the long term future of professional football in the City of Chester.  He explained the fans would set the aims and objectives and that the committee were there to listen and be directed by the wishes of the membership.

This was followed by a from-the-heart speech by former ISA chairman Mark Howell, who explained eloquently the passion he and other City Fans have for the football club and the strong desire to secure its future for the next generation of supporters.  He urged all supporters to get behind CFU to ensure the club’s survival.

Peter Mitchell then gave a presentation to Barrie Hipkiss as a thank-you from all the fans for the years of volunteer work which Barrie has provided for Chester City. Barrie was presented with a plaque in his honour and some vouchers to buy garden furniture on which to place it. A bouquet of flowers was also presented for his wife, Pam, who has supported him through all his years of hard work for the club.

David Cartwright then gave details of the Junior Blues scheme. Junior Blues is for the younger CFU members aged 0 – 15 years and all members will receive a goodie bag of items in time for Christmas. More details on Junior Blues will be available on this site shortly.

Finally for the formal part of the evening, Jeff Banks gave details on the first big social and fundraising event for CFU, which will be a Legends Night to be held once again at the Divas Showbar on 3rd December. 17 legends have confirmed their intention to attend so far with more to follow.  The evening will be compered by Bobby Brown and will include a disco later on plus the chance to mingle with the Chester greats. Tickets cost £8.  More details will be available on this site shortly.

After a break it was the turn for fans to have their say with a lengthy discussion about the situation the club now finds itself in and on various ways forwards.  The overwhelming desire from those present was for their pride in their club to be restored through proper stewardship of the club. Whilst it was hoped that some way can still be found to achieve this through the current club there was also acknowledgement that there may come a time when we need to pick up the pieces and follow in the paths of AFC Wimbledon and AFC Telford United.

The discussion over-ran by some considerable time before Charlie brought proceedings to a close at 10.30pm to wide applause.

The evening was a great success in bringing City fans together to start preparing for whatever the future may hold. The working party of CFU would like to thank Charlie for chairing the meeting and everyone who attended for helping get City Fans United off to a flying start.

You can also read Charlie’s thoughts on the evening’s proceedings on his blog.