September 2010 Archives

It has been a while since I last blogged on the Chronicle's Deva Fever page, and in that time, one or two things have happened at the club...

One of the reasons I had not contributed to this page so often over the past year or so was the sheer depression at the state Chester City FC (as it was then) had plunged into. The club was sinking fast, and eventually became possibly the only football club ever to increase its points tally (from minus three to zero!) after seeing its results expunged for the whole season when Chester City FC was wound up quicker than you could say "If only we had a cup run."

Thankfully, during my absence, some bloke called Jeff Banks wrote a few pieces on here documenting the club's demise, but for some reason he seems to be a bit more busy these days...

All joking aside, it has been an unbelievable rollercoaster of a year for the club, one which will live in the minds of all fans of Chester FC (as it is now). Despite the relatively lowly Evostik Division One North league the club now finds itself in, the team, the structure, the atmosphere and everything associated with the club has been reborn, reformed and revitalised.

Yes, the Blues are Back, with a capital 'B'. And what a delight it has been to see the club in action over the past few weeks, attendances dwarfing our rivals- relatively, we are titans in this division, which is such a novel feeling it'll still feel good at the end of this season!

Personally, any doubt I had over the new club passed upon attending the club's first home friendly to Aberystwyth Town, in front of a respectable crowd of about 1,000. Positive play on the pitch was rewarded with good-natured applause, Chester's opening goal was greeted with plenty of cheers, but the absolute clincher for me was Mark Peers (then only a trialist, I believe), who scored from just past the halfway line in a David-Beckham-against-Wimbledon-esque way.

It wasn't just the fact that goal was worth the admission fee alone, or that the fans were in fine voice afterwards, but also the way the team celebrated together, like they'd known each other for years, lifting Peers off the ground in jubilation. For the first time in a long while, I was again *proud* to be a Chester fan!

It says something that the only point this season I've been disappointed/angry/spitting feathers has been at the recent Chester vs Chorley clash, where Chorley escaped with a lucky 2-1 win (no thanks to The Penalty That Was Not A Penalty, Mr referee), and they were a little 'off' on the general sporting nature Chester had almost become accustomed to from other rivals this season. But it's nice to get heated on footballing matters, and footballing matters alone!

The next task for the Blues is simple. Just win the division, and get revenge on Chorley...

Just seven days after a failure to take their chances cost them dear against unbeaten leaders Chorley, Chester dissected an out-of-form Salford side with clinical precision on Saturday to move up to fourth in the standings.

Neil Young said: "We were very clinical. Look at the first half - we had three or four chances and we took two of them. If that would have happened against Chorley it would have been a different game.

"Today we have taken our chances and I think if we continue to take our chances we will get stronger and teams will find it hard to live with us.

"All credit to the lads as they've bounced back. We could have had more in the end but 4-0 away from home is a very good result."

With all the changes that's been going on at the club that last few months, our bloggers have found themselves with more important things to do (like running a football club!).

As a result, poor old Deva Fever's been on the backburner.

Not any more though... even the fact that it's not called the Deva Stadium any more isn't going to stop us!

I'll be adding updates and talking points at various points throughout the week.

Madowl has assured me he'll be on the case too - hopefully some of our exiles will get back as well.