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Next Game: Scarborough In The League At Edgar Street On Tuesday 19th November At 7.45pm

Wednesday, December 02, 2020

Chester Supporters At Game Against Hereford

Always assuming the regulations don't change and no one tests positive for Covid-19 beforehand, next Tuesday's fixture between Chester and Hereford is expected to have spectators watching.

And Chester chairman Andrew Morris feels that having supporters back at the Deva Stadium will be special.

"It is going to be fantastic," said Morris as reported by Chester-Live.

"It will be up there strangely enough with one of the greater days of this club. There were parts of this summer when you did wonder would we ever be playing in front of supporters again. That is because of the real financial challenges that we have had trying to run this club over that period.

"There is a huge unknown, our tier might change, we could end up in tier 3 and the rug would be pulled from under us again.

"Having spectators back into the stadiums is a huge step forward but it isn’t a magic bullet financially. Last season we averaged over 2,000. Based on the projections we have at the moment, we are looking at between 1,200 and 1,300. So financially there remains a real significant challenge. That’s why we continue to enter into dialogue with the National League around financial support.

"So, while we do appreciate some of this will put us into a better financial position. What we have to realise as a club and supporters is there are additional costs that come with the return of supporters, things like increased stewarding.

"So this isn’t the magic income stream, but it is a step to that return to normality and generating revenue streams again."

Recently the National League have been awarded a second amount of money to help clubs but some of this money is expected to be in loans not grants. In the first round Chester were granted £36K per month, the same as Hereford.

"The way that our business model is set up, we can’t access loans without an extraordinary general meeting of our members.

"We don’t have debt, we don’t have an overdraft or a mortgage, we don’t have any sort of loans like that.

"But what that does mean is we can’t access those things which nearly every other club may do. We have to operate within the income that we generate.

"So, it may be that the government central support does come in the form of loans. We have said,  both to the FA and the National League, that while we welcome the support, we won’t be able to access anything that is in the form of a loan without going to our members to authorise it."