Chester City F.C. were a football club which existed from 1885 until 2010, being formed as Chester FC before the suffix "City" added to the club's title in 1983. From 1931 until 2000, and again from 2004 until 2009 they were members of the Football League, playing in the third or fourth tiers of English football. The club persistently had one of the poorest playing records of any Football League sides, and was re-elected to the League on no fewer than seven occasions. From the early 1980s onwards, the club was plagued with financial troubles, selling their Sealand Road ground in 1990 to clear debts and spending two seasons playing at Macclesfield before returning to the city to play at the new Deva Stadium.
Following their second relegation from the Football League to the Football Conference in 2009, these troubles came to a head, and the club was wound up by HMRC in March 2010.
Non-league football (1885–1931)
Formation and early years
Chester City F.C. were founded in August 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 Chester. Chester's first recorded game was a friendly defeat against Earlestown on 12 September 1885, with their first home match a 3–0 defeat to Northwich Victoria. In 1886, Arthur Turner became Chester's first professional player when the club bought him out of the Army for £25.
Prior to 1888, there were no football leagues in England, and Chester's matches consisted of friendlies, the Cheshire Senior Cup, which they reached the final of for the first time in 1887/88 (losing 9–0 to Crewe Alexandra), and the Welsh Cup. In 1886/87, Chester entered the FA Cup for the first time, but was disqualified after the second round victory against Goldenhill due to fielding an ineligible player. In 1889/90 Chester reached the last 32 of the competition where the club was eliminated by Lincoln City.
In 1890/91 Chester joined the Combination League, and put in a strong performance in their first season, finishing third, while reaching the last 16 of the FA Cup, where they were eliminated by the eventual winners Blackburn Rovers. The next few years saw Chester as a mid-table Combination side, although by now success in the FA Cup proved more elusive, with five first qualifying round exits in six years. At the end of the 1897–98 season Chester were forced to leave Faulkner Street due to buildings encroaching on the ground, and moved to land which had previously been used for the Royal Agricultural Show in 1893.
Unfortunately, the stand at the Old Showground ground blew down three times in a matter of months, and the club did not have any security of tenure, leaving Chester looking for a new ground for the 1899–1900 season. The search proved fruitless, and the club disbanded for the next two seasons.
For 1901–02, however, Chester secured a ground at Whipcord Lane, and returned to the Combination. However, this ground was also to prove problematic: in the first round of the FA Cup, Chester were ejected after beating Birkenhead 5–4 in a replay, due to the pitch being too short to meet FA Cup requirements. Chester did not play again in the FA Cup until the 1905/6 season.
In the Combination, after finishing bottom on their first season back, Chester improved considerably, and managed the feat of being runner-up for five seasons in succession between 1903–04 and 1907–08 to four different teams. At the same time, in December of the 1906–07 season Chester moved to a new stadium on Sealand Road, which had considerably more space than Whipcord Lane, and on Good Friday 1907 Chester set a new attendance record of 6,670. Also in 1907–08, Chester won the Welsh Cup for the first time, beating Connah's Quay 3–1.
In 1908/9 Chester finally made the breakthrough of winning the Combination, losing only two games out of 30 in the season, and finishing eight points ahead of second placed Saltney. They also returned to the Welsh Cup final, although on this occasion they lost the final 1–0 to Wrexham. The 1909–10 season was less successful in league competition, with Chester finishing third, although they once again returned to the Welsh Cup final, where there were again beaten by Wrexham, this time 2–1.
For a number of years, Chester had been applying unsuccessfully to move to a league which offered a stronger standard of football, but in the summer of 1910, they were finally successful, and switched to the second division of the Lancashire Combination, with the reserve side remaining in the Combination. The switch proved a beneficial one, as Chester were promoted in their first season after finishing third.