Chester City FC: Former boss Jim Harvey on the Blues’ plight and City Fans United’s efforts

Feb 18 2010 by Alec Doyle, Chester Chronicle

FORMER Blues boss Jim Harvey says he doesn’t want to be remembered as one of Chester City’s last ever managers – but he has encouraged fans to continue preparing to relaunch the club in the event it is expelled from the Football Conference today.

Harvey was a hugely popular figure during his brief and turbulent spell in the Deva Stadium hotseat, and Blues supporters would have been delighted by his return to management late last week with Blue Square North side Stalybridge Celtic.

Harvey said: “I don’t know what the result will be from the Conference meeting but I really hope they can find a way to continue.

“Chester is a club with a lot of history. If you lose a club, all you are left with is the memories – the history, the achievements, it all goes.

“I don’t want to be remembered as one of the club’s last managers. No-one wants that kind of label. I would think that if anything can be done to keep the club going it should be done.”

But Harvey, who had to contend with players and staff not being paid for all but two weeks of his three-month tenure at City, encouraged Blues fans to continue to plan for the worst.

“The club going out of business is the worst case scenario,” he said. “But it happens. In all walks of life things fail and need to start again.

“What the Chester fans are doing is the right thing. They need to be prepared to start from scratch and rebuild the club.

“Primarily what is important is preserving the original football club. If that cannot be done, then preserving football for the fans must become the goal.

“I wish the club and the fans all the best and hopefully they can recover and preserve that history.”