Results tagged “Jimmy Harvey” from Chester Chronicle - Deva Fever

How many twists and turns can one football club's supporters take?

Chester fans have been well and truly put through the mill in the last two decades, and any hopes that the 'tens would be any better than the Noughties & the Nineties have already been thrown into doubt following the latest crisis that has seen the entire playing squad fail to be paid for two months - and who can blame them walking into other clubs after such a dismal offering from the current owner(s) of Chester City, who have decided that they do not want to pay anyone without a surname called "Vaughan", and are happy to see young professional players struggle with their finances, and be in a position where their mortgages won't get paid, and possibly result in houses being repossessed thanks to non payment.

Remember though, the Vaughan Family have Chester City's best interests at heart.

Jim Harvey, who has done such a great job in shocking circumstances, in keeping the squad together up to this point, must be wondering what on earth he must have done to deserve this from the Vaughan family, who were seeking him out prior to the end of Mick Wadsworth's short stint as Blues manager, who remember said he had not experienced anything like this at any other football club. All the false promises made to Harvey, getting new players in - well we did see Mark Beesley return on loan of course - and who else? Errrm?

If that wasn't bad enough, in comes Morell Maison, who disrupts the team half an hour before the Boxing Day fixture after being announced as Director of Football, which anyone of us with an ounce of sense knows that this is always the killer blow for any Manager's hopes of staying in the hot seat. How many managers can you remember who avoided being replaced by Director's of Football? Then came the revelation that he was looking to bring in two players from Mansfield, without consulting team manager Harvey on the players, and this after claiming he would not be involved in team affairs.

Remember though, the Vaughan Family have Chester City's best interests at heart.

The club also recently had their capacity of the Deva Stadium reduced yet again, after failing to ensure that crush barriers were tested, meaning that the Harry McNally Terrace would no longer be open to home fans, what a tragic insult to the late, and great, Harry McNally. A stand named after the legend himself, yet the current ownership refuse to maintain the home end, imagine the scene at Sealand Road (RIP) if all of a sudden they said they were going to close the home end to home fans, there would have been riots.

The CCTV is not up to standard at the ground, no wonder, if it was, it would probably record the soul being ripped out of the club in the last few years, certainly since the Vaughan family went on a campaign to drag the club down to it's lowest ebb.

Remember though, the Vaughan Family have Chester City's best interests at heart.

This season, we've had attendances plummeting quicker than the temperature gauges around the area of Chester, and many have now most definitely had enough, with the arrival of a person who's last involvement in football was to send a club into Administration. The happiest people at the arrival of Morell Maison will surely be the Halesowen Town fans, who must be relieved that he has ended up at another club other than their own again, after racking up debts at a previous debt free club. Is that what the surely relatively short future of Chester City FC has in store for it?

Maybe, but let's remember, the Vaughan Family have Chester City's best interests at heart.

It's been a real busy time recently as far as my involvement with CFU goes, and I've been pleased that we finally seem to have burst through onto the media scene, with appearances on BBC1, The BBC's Non League Show, and BBC Radio Merseyside, which can only bode well for the group, added to the fact that we have a strong relationship developing with the local press. It's been pleasing to see the membership head towards 500, and this needs to continue upwards, but what is also great is hearing that the CFU Junior Blues are approaching 100 members, a fantastic figure, and one that the JB's Commitee deserve a hell of a lot of credit for.

Remember, City Fans United do have Chester City's best interests at heart, and are showing it, unlike the Vaughan Family.

Until next time.

How refreshing it is to be starting this week's Blog with a win to talk about!

Before the season, a double over Gateshead would have been pretty much expected, however arrogant that sounds, anything less would have been seen as a failure on the part of Chester City.

However, since the belated start of our season, expectations of wins have gone out of the window, with us more hoping we'll take 3 points rather than expecting to.

The doubts did creep in on Thursday prior to Saturday's game, when Daryl Clare signed for Geordie boys, but thankfully he allegedly signed an agreement to not score against City for his new club - nice touch that DC!

So, Jimmy Harvey managed to get off the mark with a win, which coincided with his return to the dugout. I did have to laugh when Shane from Dee 106 told me last week that Harvey was indeed banned from the touchline, great hey, a new manager, who can't really manage on the day!

Now that we've managed to make it Lucky Seven on the away trips, let's hope that we can clinch back to back league (or non league) wins for the first time since 1947, and we can see off AFC Wimbledon on October 31st - maybe the witches will arrive early and turn the Deva into a cauldron of noise in the afternoon!

It's the FA Cup to look forward to next weekend, and despite us not being in the First round just yet, it still brings back memories of the Cup matches we've had down the years - I don't care what anyone says, the magic of the FA Cup is still there - maybe not with the big teams, but for us it is.

Remember those days where we reached the 4th Round, and after beating Wrexham in the snow in their own back yard, we played Sheffield Wednesday at Sealand Road - i remember the place went made when John Kelly stuck one away in the 7th minute - dreams of Wembley started to increase, but then Lee Chapman got the Owls back on level terms - although I'm still convinced it was a foul!

What about the time when we saw Bradford & Hull off, and the prize was a ruddy trip to Plymouth, that was a day and a half, all the way down on the coach, being stuck on the away end, with it chucking it down, losing to a 84th minute goal, then being kept in the ground for 20 minutes after the final whistle, to then being taken on a trek through the Argyle stand just to get back to our own coach.

Having got back on it, most people were portraying the image of a human sponge, and I remember quite a few of us just sat there with boxers on, having whipped the soaking wet jeans off - and then a nice 6 hour journey home - they were the days hey??

Let's hope City can get the win we all badly want up at Barrow, it will certainly be an interesting day for our owner that's for sure.

It's a huge week this week too for City Fans United, as firstly, the Chester City ISA meet tomorrow night to vote on whether to become part of the CFU along with the Supporters Trust, who have already voted in favour of that, then Thursday night, sees the formal launch of the CFU at Divas Show Bar on Station Road (8pm ko), when hopefully they'll be a great turnout for what we hope will be a great Supporters Group, and one that will have a say in the future running of Chester City FC.

In recent weeks, I've been working on contacting ex-Blues to appear on the Legends Night in December, and I'll reveal some of the names hoping to come along on December 3rd, and there are some belters in there!

That's it for now, so City boys, go and get that win in Barrow, so we can be part of the First Round Draw, when who knows, we could end up drawing Wrexham if they are lucky enough to get past FC Halifax - come on the Shaymen!

So, another week in the life of a Chester fan passes by, a no score draw against nine men, a newspaper report claiming that we have six weeks to live, another Manager installed at the Deva, and the worst thing of all....I've got that killer bug, known as Man Flu.

So, I'm drugged up to the eye balls with Lemsips & Beechams typing this blog, so please forgive me if this blog goes off at a tangent somewhere, and I start singing songs by The Doors!

So, Jimmy Harvey is the latest man to sit on the much used ejection seat inside the Managers office at the Deva Stadium, it's just got to be like that one in Austin Powers that Doctor Evil uses - it's been tipped up that much recently, the hinges are starting to get a little bit stressed, a bit like your average Chester fan, although I think we're a bit further down the stress line don't you?

Back on subject, I hope that Jimmy Harvey does well in the hot seat, it's clearly a poisoned chalice, but I hope he can make good of it, though recent history at the club suggests otherwise.

So the Blues then failed to see off the nine men of Hayes & Yeading last saturday, and that evoked memories of the late Derek Mann's nine men of 1995, where City famously pulled a draw from the jaws of a potential drubbing, on a drama filled night at the Racecourse in that place up the A483.

What a night that was, Gary Bennett, who I used to idolise both at Sealand Road & Moss Rose (and of course later at the Deva), in the side for the Goats, and having a penalty saved by Dave Felgate (**** tash as he used to get called by the opposing supporters when taking a goal kick), then "Eddie Eddie Eddie" Bishop put us one up from the spot to send us joyous Blues mad in the away end.

It was of course all to change later in the half as City then managed to end up 2-1 down just 15 minutes later, and thanks to some appaling refereeing at the Racecourse - hmmm, now there's an unusual thing as far as derby games go - we ended up having not one, but two players sent off before the break, and the language was pretty choice from the stands after that one minute of lunacy from the ref.

So, we expected a barrage in the second half, but the Chester lads kept on fighting to the end, to stop it being a humiliating night for us Blues fans, but then they surpassed everyones expectations, and most especially Andy Milner, who levelled things up late on after a great solo run!

Even then, the Wrexham thought they'd won it with Bennett scoring in the last minute, but an obvious foul on Felgate was spotted (amazingly) by the linesman (ahh that would explain it) and City held on to gain an unlikely draw - a moral victory for the Blues.

All that proved that you should never give up on Chester City, and as low as we are at the moment, we, the fans, can save Chester City Football Club.

It's going to be a hard slog, but we can do it, I want my old club back, the one where I used to get so revved up for on matchdays, singing songs til I was blue in the face, and getting behind the lads from start to finish.

Many fans have fallen out of love with the club (and in particular it's owners), but one day we will get Chester City that we all knew & loved, back.

One day.

Now where's them Lemsip's again!