Chester FC chairman David Harrington-Wright remains hopeful that the work to repair the damage at the Swansway Chester Stadium will be completed in time for the Bradford (Park Avenue) game on September 8.
Chester have been without a home game since the opening day of the season (August 4) following severe damage to parts of the football club’s infrastructure during a torrential rain on Sunday, August 12.
Water ingress at the stadium in the control room and PA room wreaked havoc, with CCTV and PA systems damaged beyond repair, with both needed in order for the club to stage home games.
Such was the extent of the damage to the electrics the East Stand had to be closed for a period. But with the electrics now dried out and work well underway to get the football club back up and running and ready to host games again, Harrington-Wright was cautiously optimistic.
“Everything is dried out now and work has started and we’ve got power up and running now,” said the Blues chairman.
“The new PA system is being built as we speak and we have the CCTV people coming in from 4pm to midnight each day until the work is complete and we would hope to install that on Friday.
“It has been a massive job, it really has.”
The damage at the football club is set to reach well into the tens of thousands, with all the work covered by the football club’s insurers.
The damage has hit Chester hard in August, losing games against Kidderminster Harriers (twice), FC United of Manchester and Hereford FC, all three of whom would have brought a big following on a Saturday afternoon.
Those games will now be played on Tuesday evenings, with the FC United and Kidderminster games rearranged for September 11 and 18, respectively.
Chester’s Academy side have a game scheduled at the stadium on Wednesday, September 5, and Harrington-Wright says that it is a case of many hands make light work in the build up to that game, with Blues officials aiming to test the new equipment at that match.
And the chairman himself will be making sure he puts in the hours to ensure the job gets done.
“New wiring needs to go in throughout the building and that is a job that basically needs plenty of bodies to get it done quickly as it is a case of pulling wires through,” he said.
“We’ll be working hard down here late into the night over the next week and I’ll certainly be down here myself in the evenings and helping to get the job done as quickly as possible.
“We’ve done what we can to move things on as quickly as we can and another pleasing aspect is that we have used local companies to carry out the work. Our PA system is being built by a local company based in Chester.
“We remain hopeful of everything being ready for the Bradford (Park Avenue) game on September 8."
