WHEN Gary Talbot came to Chester in 1963, he left behind a top job in Manchester as a photographer with the Daily Mail in an attempt to carve himself out a career in professional football. Fast forward 47 years and Gary remains one of the most revered players in the clubs history and newly appointed honorary vice-President of the newly reformed Chester FC.

For 72-year-old Gary, who after retiring from football ran a successful photography business in Chester, reformation of the city’s football club by the supporters group City Fans United (CFU) has re-ignited his passion for the team for whom he scored 83 goals in 153 games during two separate spells during the 1960s.

“I’m back into Chester again”, said Gary, who was the club’s record goal scorer until 1992 when he was surpassed by former blue Stuart Rimmer.

“What the members of the CFU have achieved in such a short space of time is incredible. The guys that run the club are not football directors in the sense of the word, they are football supporters who have made this idea work for Chester Football Club and the people of Chester.

“The way they are doing as a board is fantastic. They’re absolutely dedicated to Chester Football Club and they’re not in it for themselves or their own gain but just simply for the love of the club. It’s owned by the people of Chester, no-one else.”

Gary, who still lives just outside Chester in the village of Eccleston with his wife Chris, is adamant that the model of fan-ownership is something that should be implemented throughout the English football pyramid.

“There is no question that supporter owned clubs can be implemented higher up the leagues, even as high up as the Championship where there are a few clubs struggling financially”, said Gary.

“Anyone with money now seems to be able to get hold of a football club without any experience and within two years they have ruined it. Fan owned clubs, for me, are the only real way forward for football, especially in the lower leagues.

“The FA needs to look at the situation and I feel that they have neglected their duties towards lower league clubs. There is too much money higher up the leagues and it has to be spread out more evenly and the FA need to restructure themselves and their approach as the money involved in the game has gone mad.”

With regards to Chester, it could have all turned out so differently for Gary, who was spotted as a 25-year-old by the late Chester manager Peter Hauser during a charity match.

“When I came down here as a trialist in 1963 I never imagined that I would still be involved with the club nearly 50 years later”, said Gary.

“Peter Hauser had seen me play during a charity match in which I scored seven goals and asked me if I wanted to come down for a trial. I very nearly didn’t go but my father persuaded me to give it a go and the rest is history.

“I was on the bench for a game and was told I’d only be going on if there was an injury. Amazingly, Elfed Morris got injured towards the end of the game and I went on and scored two goals. If that wouldn’t have happened who knows where I would be now.”

Alongside Elfed Morris, Jimmy Humes, Hughie Ryden and Micky Metcalf, Gary was part of the ‘famous five’ who are written into Chester football folklore. The five strikers all netted over twenty times in the 1964-65 season where the blues amassed an amazing 141 goals in all competitions with Talbot bagging 35, including a then record three minute 30 second hat-trick against Crewe Alexandra in a 5-0 FA Cup triumph.

Now retired, Gary has re-found his love for the club which gave him his debut and has always held a special place in his heart, believing it will only get better.

“I had the chance to move to Newcastle, Aston Villa and Fulham but turned them down to stay at Chester. I’ve always had a feeling for Chester, I can’t explain it”, he said.

“I stopped going because of the clubs previous owners but now I love going again. To be named vice-President nearly 50 years on from when I first came here is something of which I am tremendously honoured and privileged.”

“They have a fantastic board, great manager and I see nothing but progress for the club. It takes time for teams to gel but this team is doing it far earlier than I ever expected them to. I have no doubt that they will get themselves back into the Football League again and I think it will be sooner rather than later.”