FM2010 - Official Chester City Thread -25pts :eek:

Chester Football Club were founded in 1885 as an amalgamation of Chester Rovers and Old King's Scholars and initially played their home games at Faulkner Street in the Hoole area of the city. For the first five years of their existence they only played friendlies until joining the Combination League in 1890. A first senior trophy, the Cheshire Senior Cup, was won in 1895 and in 1898 the club relocated to the Old Showground also in Hoole. The stay was only brief as, twelve months later, the club were forced to temporarily disband when the ground was lost to housing.

In 1901 a new home was found in Whipcord Lane and the club went from strength to strength, winning the Combination League in 1909 after finishing runners-up in the preceding five seasons. The early 1900s saw the first of Chester's Welsh Cup victories, against Connah's Quay in 1908, (further victories followed in 1933 and 1946). By now the club had moved to the much loved Stadium, in Sealand Road, which remained home for 84 years until the final game against Rotherham in April 1990.

In 1910 Chester were elected to the Lancashire Combination and after the First World War were founder members of the Cheshire County League which they won in 1922, 1926 and 1927. The appointment of Charlie Hewitt as manager in 1930 saw a concerted effort to attain League status and crowds flocked to the Stadium to see the goalscoring exploits of Salford school master Arthur Gale who scored an incredible 73 goals in 39 League games.

On June 1st 1931 Chester were elected to the Football League, in place of Nelson, and throughout the 1930s never finished outside the top 10 in Division Three North. In 1933 Chester hammered Second Division Fulham 5-0, their finest FA Cup performance, and in 1936 the club achieved their highest League victory, a 12-0 win over York City.

Chester struggled in the years following the Second World War but were well served by stalwarts Ray Gill (a record 406 appearances), Ron Hughes, Eric Lee and Tommy Astbury. In 1964/65 the ”Famous Five“ forward line of Talbot, Metcalf, Ryden, Morris and Humes scored 116 of Chester's record 119 League goals while, in the FA Cup, the club were narrowly beaten 2-1 by League champions Manchester United after leading at half time.

Promotion from Division Four was achieved under Ken Roberts in 1974/75. The club also reached the League Cup Semi-Final where they were narrowly defeated by Aston Villa following wins over League champions Leeds United (the 3-0 victory is arguably the club's greatest result) and Newcastle United. The late 1970s saw the emergence of Ian Rush, who became the club's record transfer when he moved to Liverpool for £300,000. Relegation in 1982 was followed by a name change, to Chester City, in 1983 and three years later Harry McNally led the club back into Division Three.

The sale of the Sealand Road ground in 1990 saw Chester forced to play their home games at Macclesfield for two years. Unfortunately a return to the city, and the new 6,000 capacity Deva Stadium, culminated in relegation although there was one bright spot when Stuart Rimmer broke Gary Talbot's league scoring record. The popular striker went on to score a total of 135 League goals for Chester. In 1994 Graham Barrow led City back to Division Two but the yo-yo existence continued with relegation in 1995.

Former Everton and Wales captain, Kevin Ratcliffe, led the club to the play-offs in 1997 and was also in charge during the traumatic 1998/99 season when the club went into administration and almost folded due to financial problems. In July 1999 controversial American, Terry Smith, purchased the club and quickly installed himself as manager. However, Chester struggled at the foot of the table and despite the belated appointment of Ian Atkins the club were relegated to the Conference, after 69 years in the Football League, following a heartbreaking home defeat to Peterborough United on the final day of the season.

By the 2001/02 season Chester were facing a further relegation down to the Unibond League but fortunes finally took a turn for the better when Smith sold the club to Liverpool businessman Stephen Vaughan in October 2001. Mark Wright, was appointed manager at the start of 2002 and as results improved on the field, Vaughan and his new management team started to turn things around behind the scenes.

The revival continued into the 2002/03 season when a host of new signings took Chester to the Conference play-offs. Two hard fought games against Doncaster Rovers, in the semi-final, saw Chester face a devastating defeat on penalties but the club were to bounce back strongly from this setback. Based around a strong defence, and the 49 goal partnership of Daryl Clare and Darryn Stamp, City took the Conference by storm in 2003/04 and with only four defeats in 42 games deservedly secured a place back in the Football League. Promotion was guaranteed with a 1-0 victory over Scarborough in front of a delirious capacity crowd at Deva Stadium who celebrated Chester’s first championship in 77 years.

The day before the start of the 2004–05 season Mark Wright resigned. Ray Mathias was left as the caretaker charge and by the end of August, Chester were bottom of the League. New manager, Ian Rush, helped the club avoid relegation, but was criticised by opposing managers for using "long ball" tactics.

In April 2005, Keith Curle took over. A series of poor results saw Chester fall from fourth to bottom in Football League Two. Mark Wright surprisingly returned to the club and a run of five successive wins late in the season secured another campaign in the Football League. The 2006–07 season was most notable for the club's reinstatement in the FA Cup after Bury, who had beaten Chester 3–1 in a second round replay, were thrown out for fielding an ineligible player, Stephen Turnbull. Wright was sacked in April 2007, being replaced by Scotsman Bobby Williamson. Williamson was sacked as manager in March 2008, after Chester had won only one of their last fourteen games. Club coach Simon Davies replaced him after a spell as caretaker manager. Survival was clinched in the penultimate game of the season after a 0–0 draw with Stockport County. They ended their season at 22nd, their lowest position at the time since returning to the Football League in 2004-05.

A poor start to 2008–09 saw Davies sacked in November 2008 with the club out of all cup competitions and struggling in the league table. Mark Wright returned for his third spell as manager on a non-contract basis. Beset by an ongoing transfer embargo, Chester continued to struggle throughout the remainder of the campaign, and a 2–1 home defeat by Darlington on the final day of the season sealed Chester's demise and a return to non-league football after five years back in The Football League. Two weeks after the final match the club entered administration.

The following month, creditors voted in favour of a rescue package by Stephen Vaughan's family, ahead of the Football Conference board's AGM where the club was accepted into the Conference National with a 10 point deduction He was replaced as manager by Mick Wadsworth.

In the summer of 2009 Chester City was placed into the hands of administrators with debts of £7m, inclusive of Stephen Vaughan's £5.5m investments, which, which incurred a 10 point penalty. A new buyer was found for the club on 26 May 2009 in the shape of Chester City FC (2004) Ltd which was a company set up by former chairman Stephen Vaughan and his family. The Football Association withheld the transfer of the affiliation membership from Chester City Football Club to Chester City Football Club 2004 Ltd, and on the eve of the new season have stopped Chester City FC playing the first game of the 2009/2010 season away at Grays Athletic. This came less than 24 hours since the Football Conference released an 'interim' press release stating Chester could take their place in the fifth tier of English football. The club has now reluctantly cut back on the Center of Excellence youth training scheme by retaining only their youth team. Fans waited at the Deva Stadium for a meeting with Stephen Vaughan and other board representatives to find out the truth regarding the future and showed their support for the club by meeting in the city at the time that they should be kicking off the new season.

Chester City FC released a press release on Monday 10 August 2009 describing the meetings that have taken place between the club, FA and Football Conference regarding the transfer of the FA membership at the beginning of the 2009-2010 season. They confirm that Tuesdays home match versus Gateshead FC has also been called off by the Football Conferences, and that the FA had asked the other clubs to vote on whether Chester City should be allowed to continue in the division - 100% "yes" vote[28]. The press release ends with We have now been informed that we must again await an FA decision which will be taken at some time on Thursday [13 August 2009] and can do no more than publicly express our ever increasing frustration with the entire process.

The FA granted the transfer of membership to Chester City Football Club 2004 Ltd at 16:00hrs on Thursday 13 August 2009 and Saturday's game against Cambridge United went ahead after the FA fined the Football Conference for breach of its rules although they still had to start the season on -25 points.

[center]
[color="RoyalBlue"][size="4"]Goalkeepers[/size][/color]
[color="RoyalBlue"]1[/color] John Danby, [color="RoyalBlue"]13[/color] Andrew Murphy

[color="RoyalBlue"][size="4"]Defenders[/size][/color]
[color="RoyalBlue"]3[/color] Rhys Meynell, [color="RoyalBlue"]4[/color] Tim Ryan, [color="RoyalBlue"]6[/color] Michael Lea, [color="RoyalBlue"]7[/color] Stephen Vaughan
[color="RoyalBlue"]11[/color] Neil Ashton, [color="RoyalBlue"]15[/color] Chris Lynch [color="RoyalBlue"](Loan)[/color], [color="RoyalBlue"]17[/color] Shaun Kelly
[color="RoyalBlue"]22[/color] James Vaughan, [color="RoyalBlue"]-[/color] Adam McKenzie

[color="RoyalBlue"][size="4"]Midfielders[/size][/color]
[color="RoyalBlue"]2[/color] Kevin Roberts, [color="RoyalBlue"]5[/color] Anthony Barry, [color="RoyalBlue"]8[/color] Ben Wilkinsom
[color="RoyalBlue"]9[/color] Adam Kay [color="RoyalBlue"](Loan)[/color], [color="RoyalBlue"]12[/color] James Owen, 
[color="RoyalBlue"]18[/color] Glenn Rule

[color="RoyalBlue"][size="4"]Forwards[/size][/color]
[color="RoyalBlue"]14[/color] Lloyd Ellams, [color="RoyalBlue"]20[/color] Gregg Blundell, [color="RoyalBlue"]28[/color] Nick Chadwick[/center]

Reserved for future posts....

Reserved for future posts....

Ok, so i have obviously started a save with Chester, only played 2 games into the season with 2 wins, home & away. I will tell you how i have gone about pre-season and the players i have signed.

First i set myself a plan, With this team i aint gonna win the league, maybe if i had been on level playing field regarding the points situation, maybe, but -25pts to start of with is going to be hard. So my main aim is mid-table/top half finish. I told the board that and boosted my wages up a staggering 1k. Woo hoo.

So with that in place, i moved on to sorting the club out. I sacked all my back room staff and brought in my own, at Chester your allowed 4 coaches so i brought in a Fitness coach, Goalkeeping Coach and 2 more coaches to do everything else. Also brought in a new Assistant Manager, Physio and 3 Scouts.

I set up my training using Tugs Training as i have always used his training in past FM's, you can find it here http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=159331

So with my coaches put in place, and training set up, i moved on to transfers. With no money for transfers it looks like it was time to dive into transfer market and find players who would want to join Chester, and i found this was very hard, even looking through the threads here for players on a free to join BSP clubs, but still hardly anyone wanted to join, Even players from my Parent club didnt want to come, or any of the people i offered loans to

So i had a look around, and seen i few players i thought looked good enough to help with my quest for mid to top half finish in the league. I had to adjust my budgets around to sign a few players.

[color="RoyalBlue"][b]Player              Club           Fee     Position[/b][/color]

Josh Falkingham     Leeds          0k      DM, MC     
Graham Carey        Celtic         6k      AM(L,R,C)
Bryan Gilillan      Free Transfer  0k      D(R,C) MC
Levi Porter         Leicester      10k     AM(L,C)
Steven Craig        Ross County    0k      ST
John White          Colchester     0k      D(L,R,C)
David Armstrong     Hearts         0k      DC

                           [color="RoyalBlue"] Total[/color] 16k

I would recommend looking at the Irish First Division for some players, i have offered a contract to a few players that the scouts reckon are Leading BSP players or League 2 quality, Just waiting to see what they say.

So, they are my transfers, Still looking for a free GK, AMR, ST if anybody knows of any willing to join Chester on a Free or Loan, please let me know.

With my newly aquired players i set up tactic. On a another save with Souhampton i have been playing 4-4-2 Diamond, So i thought i would use that but bring the AMC to MC, and play a 4-1-3-2, and so far, its been good.

Here how i have set my team up

                        J.Danby

J.White      D.Armstrong        B.Gilfillan       T.Ryan


                     J.Falkingham


G.Carey                   A.Kay                  L.Porter


                  S.Craig    G.Blundell

Tactic has been solid so far, winning 2-0 away to Grays, and a 2-1 win at home to Gateshead. Porter getting 2 assists and Carey getting 1. Adam kay has scored 2 from midfield, Craig has 1, and one from Chadwick.

Really happy with the start we have made, although the finances are pretty bad after my spending and currently 1k over on wages. Good thing is i have closed the gap already on 20th place to 20 pts, and having +GD is gonna be a bouns once i catch them teams above me up.

Look forward to hearing about your saves with Chester.

i have finished my first season at chester, going unbeaten in the league and winning it =D star buys has to be dominic green (loan), milko Pieren (free), Rafael Rebelo (free, must buy this guy scored 55 in 56 for me) and marcin tarnowski (free, very good pacy winger)

Im currently half way in to my second season with Chester, the first was a mixed bag, i over turned the -25 easily and did end up finishing 12 yet i won the FA Trophy. In the league i had problems beating the side below me and thrashed those above me, ended up 25 wins, 10 draws and 11 lost.

Nick Chadwick was my star striker in all of it, bagged the top goal scorer. As for other players, the majority was loans but i did buy some

Bought (all freebies)

James Younghusband (RB & MR Cover)

Paul Brooker (AMR but played alot of AML)

Michael D'Agostino (AMR & MR, took alot of wages to sign)

Pavol Suhaj as a third striker but became main after a Greg Blundell injury.

Loaned

Will Atkinson (hull)

Henrik Ojamaa (derby)

Dale Stephens (oldman)

Nicky Ajose ( Man U)

Scott Wootton (Man U)

The two Man U youngsters i got after canceling my parent deal with Man City and setting a new one with Man U instead.

Season two, Trying for a top half but my wage budget was slashed from 10k to 9k so i had to ditch alot of plays and then to top things off only days after the transfer window was opened the club called the receivers in and i was dock 10 points so Ive from the bottom again . So far so good with Season two, im sitting 11th and only 3 points off 7th.

Just fnished my 2nd season with Chester, got promotion to league 2 via the play-off's after finishing 5th. Squad will need a lot of strenghtening for league 2, have Yoann Folly and Jackie McNamara coming on frees and the end of the season.

Starting XI for second season was:

--------------------Lee Butcher----------------

Massacci(loan)---Lea---Connolly(loan)-----Rubiales

Feirrera--Roberts--Pogba(loan)-----Ashton

----------Chadwick---Suhaj-----

Same as Trevomac, finish 5th and gained promotion after beating Kettering in the play-off final and winning the FA trophey for the second time. Cant buy any players atm, i have a transfer embargo due to the fact that the club is in talks of been bought out by a consortium. Its been going on for three months now with no resolve. grrrr

right started a new save with chester as i did the last save pre patch and it seemed a bit too easy, this time round with patch 10.1 on. i did seem to struggle a lil bit more have only just started and my bank balance is already -219k =S i've added screenies of transfers and my team below:

Transfers:

Team:

So far played 1 won 1, Rebelo is still as god like as ever in this division with 2 in 1. will post sometime soon to update

ok so got promoted to league 1 by finishing second in the league, here are my transfers before starting season in League 1

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9207/league1s.jpg

astrialthealmighty. I see that the date on your Chester City save is 11th August '09. I am perplexed as to just how you manged to sign a whole new team in so short a time. perhaps you could enlighten me? Have you been able to stay within the salary limits? What are the boards expectations for the season?

morgan82. I have just started a save with Chester City. I am, as always, playing according to "Hoyle". I have transfers in the first window unticked, which means that I can only sign players on a "free" or as loanees. My transfer budget for the whole season is nil. I am allowed 35% of future incoming transfer funds for bringing in new players in the January transfer window. The first problem that I have become aware of, is that even on the first day, the salary limit has been exceeded. That means that I shall be unable to offload the anyone who will bring in much needed cash, Glenn Rule being one.

I am now checking out the "frees" suggested by my ass. man. but even assuming that they are worthy of signing, the salary limit will be an obstacle to me, in being able to sign them. The next task, tomorrow in game time, is to search through the loan players. I am also currently trying to improve my coaching staff, which is also rather difficult to do. I am now on the eve of my first friendly, v Chester city reserves. My ass. man. has suggested that the beat formatins for the team are as follows. [1]. 4-1-2-1-2. [2]. 4-3-1-2 and [3] 4-1-3-2. this is the exact point of where I am up to. This will be attended to in the A.M. of Friday.as it is now 0310, I think that it time to finish for the time being. I intend my next Chester City update post to be sometime in the P.M. of today, always assuming that anyone will be interested.

astrialthealmighty. I see that the date on your Chester City save is 11th August '09. I am perplexed as to just how you manged to sign a whole new team in so short a time. perhaps you could enlighten me? Have you been able to stay within the salary limits? What are the boards expectations for the season?

it's the way i play 1st day of the season i always make around 70-80 bids so it won't take long to assemble a new squad, and salary limits i'm 30 quid under ad my board expectation is to win the league, as i have set it as that to have enough wages to get certain players like rebelo

roosenburg and pieren.

astrialthemighty. As your board expectation is to win the league,are you playing without the patch? In my save, with the patch, the board "expect to fight against relegation". I first noticed the unreal board expectations in the demo. I then posted these in the general and the bugs forum. I was pleased when the patch and update was released. Good luck with the Seals.

astrialthemighty. As your board expectation is to win the league,are you playing without the patch? In my save, with the patch, the board "expect to fight against relegation". I first noticed the unreal board expectations in the demo. I then posted these in the general and the bugs forum. I was pleased when the patch and update was released. Good luck with the Seals.

this time i'm playing with patch, but when it asks you at the start with what you are going to achieve i set win the league/promotion so i can have more money for players as i wanted 2 players which could single handedly win me the league number 1 being rafael rebelo, this guy will score 30 goals in BSP minimum and main target number 2 is milko pieren if you haven't seen this guy's stats yet then i suggest you do because i don't think you can get better technical stats and mental stats than his for the BSP.

My end of season update:

Season 1:

BSP: Winners

FA Trophy: Winners

FA Cup: 3rd Round

Transfers:

League table

Key Man: Rafael Rebelo scored 54 in 51 appearences

2 friendlies into the league 2 season will post updates soon!

My end of season update:

Season 1:

BSP: Winners

FA Trophy: Winners

FA Cup: 3rd Round

Transfers:

League table

Key Man: Rafael Rebelo scored 54 in 51 appearences

2 friendlies into the league 2 season will post updates soon!

That is trully remarkable. What tactics do you use??

I'm in my first season with Chester and haven't sold many players. I've added some loans and free transfers.

My front strike partnership is Michael Proctor (Free transfer, 7 goals in 8 games) and Raphael Nade (Free transfer, 3 goals in 8 games).

After a tricky start I have only lost once in 8 games. My record to date is played 15, won 5, drawn 5 and lost 5. I expect play-offs are now out of reach, but with a really good run who knows!

Other good signings have been Jamie Devitt (RM on loan from Hull) and O'Connor (RB on loan from Blackburn)

Some rubbish signings have been made too, most notable is Kevin Townson who's pants!

well, i've been using my tactic since fm 05 only had a couple tweaks in 08, only made one minor change this year due to new tactic system in place

as you can see this is for league 2 atm, but it was just same tactic with different players, one thing this tactic relies on is the wingers, as i like to play very wide leaving space for the 2 Cm's and opposing winger to help with the striker!

Plus, if you look at my team, you see i get rid of all the deadwood which is basically the whole team and replace them with much much better players, and i don't think i can stress enough how important it is to allow the wages to bring in REBELO and PIEREN one look at their stats will show you why i have dominated the league!

well, i've been using my tactic since fm 05 only had a couple tweaks in 08, only made one minor change this year due to new tactic system in place

as you can see this is for league 2 atm, but it was just same tactic with different players, one thing this tactic relies on is the wingers, as i like to play very wide leaving space for the 2 Cm's and opposing winger to help with the striker!

Plus, if you look at my team, you see i get rid of all the deadwood which is basically the whole team and replace them with much much better players, and i don't think i can stress enough how important it is to allow the wages to bring in REBELO and PIEREN one look at their stats will show you why i have dominated the league!

Cheers for the info,

I have only used a 4-4-2 formation so i think i'll give your system a go, as since yesterday i've had a poor run of form and also experienced some injuries to key players. I'm now into January and still a fair way off getting out of the relegation places!

I must admit i kept most of the original squad and only signed 4 or 5 additional players, so I think i need to address this during the transfer window. Hopefully i'll escape the drop and will go for promotion next season.

Unfortunatley, as i don't have the South American leagues loaded on my database, Rebelo isn't on my game so can't sign him. I'll have to stick with Nick Chadwick for the time being :confused:

well, tommy mooney is an adequate replacement for rebelo or even jean pierre papin!

Well i've just completed my first season with Chester and I got RELEGATED :mad:

Looking at other posts, everyone seems to have got Chester safe at the very least, so not happy at all!!

So, i'm going to have to do it the hard way and get promotion from the Conference North (if i don't manage that, i'll officially give up!)

All of my squad has stayed so i should walk it, but my transfer budget is £0 and max wages for a key player is £120 per week! I will need to try and bring one or two loans in to the squad and see what happens.

I think i'll also bring in new coaches/assistant manager and really try to improve the training.

I'll post updates soon....

After 13 games in the BSN, Chester are 1st and clear by 3 points.

I managed to sign Julio Eduardo Santa Cruz (brother of Roque) on loan for the season from Blackburn and he's my top-scorer so far.

After starting unemployed I joined Chester in January and face the impossible.

Only have 6 points. About 20 off promotion and I lost my first game 4-1. BSN here I come!

what leagues has everyone loaded?

ive started as chester, lost all my friendlies so far

loaned onome sodje from barnsley hes alright ha

Into my second season with Chester and I'm 2nd in the BSN.

Scott Rendell is a legend, you have to sign him on a free. 19 in 23.

'mon promtion!

Transfers:

Who did you sign Jim Ablancourt from?

ive been playing a 4-1-2-1 as posted earlier in this thread had some excellent results beating luton and mansfield who were 2nd and top - away

started to lose a few now though!! and draw!! loads

im on -7 atm drew with sailsbury which was a massive stain to my supporters

any ideas of another tactic or formation??

Ablancourt is immense as a CB and white from colchester!

any advice lads cant get a win for beans always end up drawing 1-1 or losing 1-0

it depends what you system you play and what players you have alkmaar =S

update of the game so far:

League 2 Season:

Finished Champions see table below:

also won JPT

Currently in League 1 on dec 4th as you can see on the calender bar!!

here's the current table and transfers for this season:

Notable transfers for league 2 were: Gregorz Szamotulski, Ramires, Mladen Stoev, Alessandro Frau (he maybe old but he is a god in an AMC role), Vitor Lima, Margaca and Luis Manuel (these 3 and ramires were deadly as a midfield all portuguese so communication was no problem)

Notable League 1 transfers so far:

Joetex Frimpong- this guy is just a daemon!!! 17 pace, 15 accel and finishing and composure isn't that good but his pace gets him the goals!!!

Cocito- probably the best defensive mid i've ever had, lacks pace but his technical makes up for it

Drissa Diarra- Midfield maestro, very very good in the centre of the park and can get a few free kicks in too! brilliant technical stats physical stats lacking again =/

Erling Knudtzon- 17 pace, 18 accel don't think anyone is as fast as this guy in my league xD very pacy winger technical let's him down though, BUT!!! he did score against man u in my friendly xD

BUMP

Their club has officially folded, so any takers?

I'd like to play a Chester City game before FM11 comes out.

I've started a game with them on the latest patch, all the best players have gone since the club folded so i'm left with youngsters, this will be hard!