Wanted man

May 2 2008 by David Triggs, Chester Chronicle

CHESTER City are desperate to keep Paul Linwood at the Deva Stadium – but boss Simon Davies admits it would be hard to stand in the star defender’s way if a bigger club came calling.

Linwood is out of contract in the summer and his commanding performances at the heart of City’s defence this season have alerted several rival clubs.

But the Blues will make every effort to retain the services of the 24-year-old centre-back, who is the runaway favourite to land the club’s player-of-the- season title.

Davies said: “He’s a big player for us. He’ll be our club captain and he’s someone we need to get hold of.

“We’ll be sitting down with him as soon as possible.

“I’d suggest that if there was anybody in this division interested in him, then I’d hope he’d stay with us.

“If it’s somebody bigger and better in a higher division, then we might struggle. He’s a lad who wants to do well for himself in the game.”

Birkenhead-born Linwood joined Chester from Tranmere Rovers in the summer of 2006. Despite City’s poor defensive record this season, Linwood has impressed – particularly since taking over the skipper’s armband after Paul Butler lost the captaincy.

Davies has already held informal contract talks with the big defender – but that was before Chester had guaranteed their Football League status thanks to Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Stockport County.

The Blues boss said: “We sat down briefly three or four weeks ago and Paul wants to stay. He just wanted to make sure what division we are in.

“He’s really positive and he’s all for the club. He’s a real good lad. It would be sad if we didn’t retain him, but you have to do what’s best for him as well.”

Linwood is one of several Blues players set to become free agents this summer when their contracts expire. Davies has already made up his mind over who he wants to keep and was due to meet managing director Bob Gray yesterday afternoon to draw up a ‘retained’ list.

Those facing an uncertain future include Phil Palethorpe, Simon Marples, Kevin Sandwith, Dean Bennett, Sean Hessey, Tony Grant and Simon Yeo, all of whom are all out of contract this summer.

Experienced pros Butler and Tony Dinning, who were frozen out of the first-team frame by Davies at the start of the month, are also expected to move on.

Eight first-team regulars are under contract for at least another year – John Danby, Laurence Wilson, James Vaughan, Kevin Roberts, Mark Hughes, Kevin Ellison, Richie Partridge and John Murphy.

Chester’s player-of-the-season awards will be handed out at about 2.40pm tomorrow, before City’s home clash with Macclesfield Town (3pm kick-off).