Milton Graham and Ronnie Hughes, stars of very different eras in the history of professional football in Chester, are to be inducted into the Chester FC Hall of Fame.

They will both receive the honour at the upcoming home match against Southport on Saturday, January 23. Milton will attend in person and Ronnie, who is aged 85 and in poor health, will be represented by his son David.

Milton Graham joined the club at the start of season 1985-86 from Bournemouth, one of Harry McNally’s first signings.

He was part of a team which put together an impressive start to the campaign, scoring in a 4-0 triumph over Burnley as a line-up which also included Stuart Rimmer and Gary Bennett mounted a strong bid for promotion.

Despite a serious knee injury to Rimmer, the Blues duly clinched promotion with Milton - despite falling out with referees more than once - playing a leading role with 37 appearances and three goals.

Among the highlights of the following season was a 2-1 win in the FA Cup at Wrexham where Milton won the penalty from which Gary Bennett scored after initially seeing his kick parried.

Milton’s midfield skills were also prominent as Chester reached the Northern final of the Freight Rover Trophy - one tantalising step from Wembley.

He didn’t miss a league game till the middle of April and was voted the fans’ player of the year. The 1987-88 season was blighted by a serious knee injury sustained in training and injury problems also kept him out of the first half of the following season. But when Milton returned he helped McNally’s team reach a final placing of eighth in Division Three, Chester’s best finish since 1977-78. He was one of the scorers in a remarkable 7-0 win over Fulham in April.

Milton left Chester when Peterborough made an offer of £70,000, leaving memories of an outstanding footballing talent and a successful promotion-winning team.

Prior to joining Chester, Milton Graham scored a famous goal in Bournemouth's 2-0 win over Manchester United in 1984
Prior to joining Chester, Milton Graham scored a famous goal in Bournemouth's 2-0 win over Manchester United in 1984

Ronnie Hughes made more appearances for Chester than any other player apart from the record-holder Ray Gill.

Mold-born Ronnie signed in 1950 at the age of 20 having completed his national service in the army and made his debut at right-back in March 1952 - a memorable occasion as he helped the defence keep a clean sheet in a 5-0 home win over Rochdale. T

Ten years later he left Sealand Road for Mold Alexandra having played 399 league games and 446 matches in total. Coincidentally, Ronnie left the club at the same time as Ray Gill himself, both long-serving men released after Bill Lambton took over as manager.

In the intervening decade Ronnie became one of Chester’s most dependable players, cementing his reputation at right-back but also turning out many times at wing-half and, at the start of season 1954-55, at centre-forward where he cracked in seven goals in six games.

Thereafter Ronnie made most of his many appearances in defence but he did score from the penalty spot against Wrexham in the Welsh Cup Final in 1958, a season when he was ever-present in the number two shirt.

Ronnie also had the distinction of playing in Chester’s first-ever match in the Football League Cup when the competition was launched in 1960 – and it was quite a baptism as Chester came from 2-0 down with four minutes remaining to draw 2-2 at home to Second Division Leyton Orient, only to lose the replay 1-0.

It was a long time before Chester supporters got used to seeing a Chester team without Ronnie Hughes in the line-up.

Chester Former Players Association makes nominations for the Hall of Fame, which are then approved by the club's board of directions.

Current members are Grenville Millington, Gary Talbot, Daryl Clare, Peter Jackson, Stuart Rimmer, Trevor Storton, Derek Draper, Iain Jenkins, Mike Metcalf, Elfed Morris, Ken Roberts, George Horan and Michael Wilde.