An update from the General Manager

    Chester FC General Manager Albert Davies provides an update from the Deva Stadium…

    Happy New Year everyone! As we enter 2025, we also enter the ‘business end’ of the season on the pitch for our Men’s and Women’s Teams as well as our Academy.

    Here’s just some of the things that are going on at the Deva:

    COMMERCIAL

    It’s been another successful campaign so far for us commercially. For example, we’ve got a fantastic 50 different businesses supporting us with groundboard advertising, and combined between our Men’s, Women’s and Academy Player Sponsors we now have over 100 – which is a record since we reformed.

    It goes without saying that we are always looking to improve though and are still on the lookout for the likes of stand and stadium sponsors. As everyone reading this will know, as a fan owned club, the backing of our commercial partners makes a significant difference to how successful we can be, so that support is always hugely appreciated.

    Just prior to Christmas, we launched our mid-season commercial brochure. With 18-month deals on offer for a wide range of sponsorship opportunities, this could be a cost-effective way for businesses of all sizes to carve out a long-term partnership with their local football club.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR MID-SEASON COMMERCIAL BROCHURE!

    INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

    First and foremost, we hope supporters in the East Stand noticed that toilets on this side of the ground now have hand dryers in operation and will no longer be stocking paper towels. This will significantly reduce our usage of towels which were previously provided, and it contributes positively to our Net Zero targets. These hand dryers are still to be installed in the Harry Mac and also the West Stand in the coming weeks and months.

    On a Fanzone front, plans still are ongoing for a long-term, phased development behind the Harry Mac. Planning continues to be ongoing for this and work has been undertaken in a wide variety of key areas. However, we are now looking for a quicker solution to make our bar areas more efficient on matchdays over the coming weeks and months, hopefully we will have positive news on that front in due course. It needs to be highlighted how much time Board members Nick Phillipson and Ollie Hill continue to put into this project as volunteers – it is greatly appreciated.

    In terms of the Disabled Viewing Platform, firstly a massive well done to everyone involved in the Blacon Seals 23.4 mile walk to Marine on Boxing Day. They smashed their £10,000 target and are now beyond the £11,500 mark in fundraising for this project which is absolutely incredible.

    It is always worth repeating that Chester FC is about how we can ALL make a positive difference to support our football club. At this stage, planning has now been submitted and it’s currently full steam ahead on funding. There’s plenty of ideas in the pipeline, which is being driven so brilliantly at Board level by Steve Jones. I know that Steve is open to any ideas that can support this scheme, so if you do have any thoughts then please drop him an email at steve.jones@chesterfc.com.

    There’s so much happening on an infrastructure front that it would be impossible to cover everything in this piece! But finally, we continue to generate strong sums of revenue on the site from schemes such as the Revolution Laundrette and InPost lockers.

    These two things have come in at zero cost to us, and the income it generates are substantial amounts. We are a unique football club, and we have to continue to think outside the box to explore as many income streams as possible, and we will continue to do so.

    CESTRIAN XI

    Last month, we launched our Cestrian XI half-season ticket offer, which again underlined our commitment to making football affordable for our fans of the future, with 18-21 year olds able to get a Half Season Ticket on the terrace for just £4.54 per match, £25 across the board for 12-17 year olds and Under 12’s continue to be completely free with a full paying Adult.

    It was great to see a positive take up at all levels and it was a really simple but effective process to take on with our Ticketing Partners, Fanbase.

    We continue to be in regular dialogue with Fanbase on further exploring how we can make the supporter experience the best it possibly can be. They have recently launched features such as seat swaps, half season tickets, promo codes and push notifications, and this is just the beginning. Longer term, we hope Season Ticket sales for 2025/26 will be the most seamless experience yet for our supporters.

    ON THE PITCH

    Just finally, I touched on us now entering the ‘business end’ of the season. We currently are in a 10-day period without a game in terms of our Men’s First Team, and I know Calum and his staff are working hard to add to the current group during this spell to ensure we continue to improve.

    The Women’s Team are back in action on Sunday after a winter break. They have games in hand in the league and are still aiming for a top three finish, plus one of their three home games in January is a Cheshire Cup Quarter Final against Runcorn Linnets. Please get down to the Deva and support them if you can!

    Our Academy also had a break over Christmas, but at the back end of 2024 had their Academy Race Night which raised an incredible £2,600 and then a Bucket Collection at the game against King’s Lynn on 21st December – a big thank you to everyone who contributed.

    The Scholars are back in action on Wednesday with a trip to Oldham Athletic, and they still have some sponsorship opportunities available from just £50+VAT – please drop me an email if you are interested.

    On a Juniors front, the club has welcomed new, fully qualified, lead coaches this season and our respective age groups are all performing well. Feedback from parents is great to hear too, and we’ve had a lot of positive comments on the games programmes with the Junior sides visiting the likes of Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and hosting Fleetwood Town.

    Last one from me, but we recently launched a fundraiser for a great player and also a great man in Matty Wiliams. Matty’s devastating injury that he sustained in September requires surgery, and you have been brilliant in raising almost £4,000 so far. We need to keep pushing this total up if possible – the quicker funds are raised the quicker he can have surgery which means it is sooner rather than later he will be back out there doing what he does best. We appreciate it is not the easiest time financially coming out of the festive period, but any contribution no matter how big or small will make a difference – we can all play our part. Thank you!

    CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE MATTY WILLIAMS FUNDRAISER!

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    As always, if you have a question regarding anything written above or indeed anything else related to the club, feel free to drop me an email on albert.davies@chesterfc.com. UTS!

    Albert Davies, General Manager.