Recap: Senior Blues August Meeting
The Senior Blues kicked off the new season with their first meeting on 1 August!
It was a an informative and successful meeting at the Deva Stadium, with the next one planned for 5 September.
Around 60 members arrived for the first meeting of the new season and upon registering and paying their meagre £10 subs were presented with brand new membership cards.
Kieron Shiel, CFU Chair
Chairman Chris welcomed everyone and introduced CFU Chairman Kieron Shiel as our first guest speaker. Kieron opened by expressing his delight to be returning to his favourite audience and explained his journey with the Board and how he succeeded Andy Morris as Chairman in Feb 2022 after being co-opted onto the Board in February 2019.
He explained his background, including his scouting and UEFA B coaching qualifications, though his Chairman’s role is focused on Organisation, Allocation and Prioritisation, with his specific portfolio concentrating on Retail and People. The core principles of the Club were listed as Respect, Integrity, Vision, Passion, Fans First, Belief and Reliability.
Unlike previous Chairmen, Kieron is not the public face of Chester FC. Jim Green, who has a background in journalism assumes that particular role along with the Football Portfolio. Kieron outlined the portfolios of the Board members and declared the Club to be in its best shape in the 7 years he has been on the Board, complimenting the Directors who like himself are volunteers.
He posted the preliminary 2024-25 finances which showed the Club to have exceeded its targeted surplus. He referred to the Fan Canopy, Boost the Budget, the 38 strong volunteer maintenance team and the reintroduction of both the Governance and Fan Engagement Groups. He also noted the strength of the team of Club employees starting with Albert as general manager, through media, finance and the Blues Bar and events.
In the Q&A that followed we learned, amongst other things, that the Club shop had virtually trebled sales and profit over the past 6 years and that the Deva capacity was 5,126 with circa 500 away fans allocated to the West Stand.
Kalvin Williams, Women’s First Team Manager
Les introduced Chester Women’s manager Kalvin Williams who told us how last season’s squad had been assembled from almost scratch following the departure of Martin Fitzsimons and several players.
Building up through the season, results improved, good signings were made, and we were able to punch significantly above our weight in the cup competitions, of which the FA Cup is financially lucrative.
Kalvin’s aim this season is to win the league and make good progress in cup competitions. Attendances at the Deva have been really encouraging with over 300 for the final game of last season. Interest has been tremendous with around 500 trialists this year through the age groups and important signings of players released by clubs higher up the pyramid have been made. We currently have both first and reserve teams as well as elite development status.
Financially there has been a big improvement through sponsorship with players no longer having to “pay to play” (at our 6th tier level) whereas players in the 4th tier and above are paid. All in all, things are going really well, boosted by interest in the Lionesses, and members were urged to get down to the Deva for the home fixtures.
Albert Davies, General Manager
After the raffle and Geoff’s announcements about possible trips and the Christmas lunch, Albert Davies took centre stage in his capacity of General Manager, having recently handed over his media duties to Tom Bird.
Progress takes time but, like Kieron, he was convinced we were heading in the right direction with a particularly strong team of staff and Board. Commercially, working with Will Lamb, three stands have been sponsored and almost 50 businesses have taken out pitchside advertising. Over 1,970 season tickets had been sold, player sponsorships were going well and income from renting space on the car park was becoming significant. A 20% discount scheme has been negotiated for all Chester FC supporters with KingKabs. The Padel facility is in the planning stage whilst planning permission has been obtained for the disabled viewing platform.
Albert took lots of questions on board. Attendances are centrally recorded based on people through the gates whilst turnstiles should be speeded up with the installation of Starlink wifi, Team profiles are in hand, as are plans to tidy up the pitch surrounds. Replacing the sprinkler system and completing the pitch maintenance has taken precedence.
The National League has now introduced a multiball system where balls must be replaced on cones around the pitch by the Ball Crew, so preventing us, as one member suggested, encouraging more flexible recovery times towards the end of the game dependent on the score.
Parking and the possible use of local businesses’ car parks was covered as were ongoing discussions about a shuttle bus from Chester Station. When questions had been exhausted, we thanked Albert for his contribution. Unfortunately, first team training apparently takes precedence over Senior Blues meetings, and an extended session at the KGV meant Mike Allcock was delayed in leaving and arrived just as we had closed the meeting. A great pity that, as Mike always makes time for the Senior Blues and gives us updates on First team and Academy matters.
Thanks again to all our speakers and our returning members, especially those who once again donated raffle prizes!