2006-07 Season

18th in League Two
League Cup: 1st round; Leeds United a. 0-1
FA Cup: 3rd round replay; Ipswich Town a. 0-1
JP Trophy: 3rd round; Chesterfield a. lost 3-1 on penalties.

Highlight:
2-1 win at MK Dons, 23/9/06

Low Spot:
0-3 home defeat to Macclesfield Town, 26/12/06

Good:
John Danby
Big strapping keeper who has impressed since moving from Kidderminster.
David Artell
Consistent defender.

In Brief:
Chester are one of several teams who seem unable to force their way from the bottom half of League Two and can raise expectations no higher than simply avoiding relegation.
Form was steady enough through the first half of the season but without ever threatening a play off place and only 1 win from the last 14 games was a depressing way to finish.
The season ended with Mark Wright parting company with the club for the second time and Bobby Williamson is the latest man charged with what seems a thankless task at the Deva Stadium.

Chester City Football Club was formed in 1884 when King's School Old Boys merged with the Chester Rovers club.

The club did not gain entry into the Football League until 1931 when they were elected into Division Three North. Chester started strongly in the league managing a top four finish in the northern section in five of their first six seasons. The club also finished 3rd in 1946-47, the first season after the war.

After that, however, Chester began to struggle in the bottom half of the table and when the north and south sections merged in 1958 they entered Division Four. It would be 1975 before the club managed promotion.

The 1970's were a fine decade in the modest history of Chester City. In 1971 the club missed out on promotion from Division Four by a single point.

In 1974-75, however, Chester finally won their first ever promotion after pipping Lincoln City on goal average to 4th place. They also enjoyed a fantastic run in the League Cup, making it all the way to the semi finals. Chester defeated Walsall, Blackpool, Preston North End, Leeds United 3-0 and Newcastle United after a replay.

They then drew the first leg of their semi final with Aston Villa 2-2 at Sealand Road before losing out at Villa Park 3-2.

In 1977 the club made it to the 5th round of the FA Cup beating Southend United and Luton Town before losing 1-0 at Molineux against Wolves.

The following season Chester finished 5th in Division Three, their best ever league finish, just two points off a promotion place. They also enjoyed taking three points off the runaway leaders of the division, their great rivals Wrexham, including a 2-1 win at the Racecourse Ground.

In 1980 Chester again won through to the FA Cup 5th round. They won away at Newcastle and at home to Millwall before losing narrowly at Ipswich Town 2-1 in round five. Three of their cup goals had been scored by a promising youngster called Ian Rush and by the end of that season Liverpool had paid Chester £300,000 to take him to Anfield. This remains a club record fee received for Chester and an absolute bargain for Liverpool.

Chester endured a miserable season in 1981-82 to drop back into Division Four but were promoted as runners up behind Swindon Town in 1986, the goals of Stuart Rimmer helping them on their way.

Chester spent seven seasons at that level before suffering another emphatic relegation in 1993. The club recovered to win promotion at the first time of asking but were relegated again in 1995 and have yet to climb out of the basement since.

Indeed in 2000 Chester were relegated into the Conference, dropping below Shrewsbury and Carlisle after losing at home to Peterborough on the final day of the season.

The club spent four seasons in the Conference before returning to the league as champions in 2004.

Their fans will be hoping that the club can re-establish themselves in the Football League after some turbulent times both on and off the field in recent years.

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