CITY Fans United have taken further steps towards achieving their ambition of restoring senior football to Chester.

The 1,300-strong Supporters’ Trust group is waiting for the green light from the council to take over the lease at the vacant Deva Stadium.

That would allow CFU to truly get their reformed ‘Chester Football Club’ off the ground – but the waiting game has not stopped them from making real progress this week.

CFU chairman Chris Pilsbury said: “We’ve continued to talk to potential sponsors of the club and we’re getting a really positive response from them. We’re moving ahead with this and it’s looking good.

“We’re also beginning to work on getting the infrastructure of the club in place. We’ve started to do this in the hope that we get the go-ahead from the council, and if we do it will allow us to hit the ground running on the football side.”

Cheshire West and Chester Council, the owners of the Deva, has given interested parties until April 19 to declare their intention to run a club based at the ground.

Chester’s footballers are going into Europe – and they’ll be rubbing shoulders with giants of the game like Barcelona, Hamburg and Everton.

Chester City Former Players Association (FPA) has been invited to the annual congress of the European Former Players Associations (EFPA) in Liverpool on April 16-17.

The club will be represented by legendary forward and Chester’s FPA president Gary Talbot.

He said: “We are still a new organisation but it’s been made clear that we will be warmly welcomed at the congress.

“These associations raise a lot of money to help their own members and other charities, and this is the direction we at Chester want to follow.”

The event, usually held in Barcelona, is being staged on Merseyside to mark the 10th anniversary of the Everton Former Players Foundation.

Anyone who has represented Chester City in a first team fixture is eligible to join the FPA. They can do so by logging on to www.formerchesterplayers.com or by emailing Chas Sumner at chas.sumner@formerchesterplayers.com

Blues supporters raised £626 for City Fans United following a bucket collection at AFC Telford United’s Blue Square North home clash with Gloucester City on Monday.