Chester City manager Wadsworth battling to keep Blues on track

By Dennis Wall

MICK WADSWORTH today admitted he felt frustrated by the problems his club were facing just two weeks before the Blues’ opening fixture at Grays Athletic.

Wadsworth is continuing to work hard behind the scenes to prepare his squad for the new season, despite being prevented by the Football Association from playing pre-season friendlies.

The FA insist that the club are not currently affiliated and have ruled that the Blues cannot play any matches until Chester provide the necessary paperwork required to obtain a licence.

Chester have so far had to cancel pre-season friendlies against Marine and Liverpool, and this weekend’s scheduled match at AFC Telford.

And City are now facing a race against time to salvage next week’s scheduled home friendly against newly-promoted Premiership club, Burnley.

Wadsworth said: “We’re in a tough situation at the moment and I’ve never experienced a pre-season like this.

"It is difficult trying to prepare for the start of a season without being able to play pre-season friendlies, but we’ll fight on.

“I’m not worried about the players because I know that we’ll be ready for the opening fixture against Grays Athletic on August 8.

It’s just a little frustrating that we can’t play any friendly matches.

“I’ve no idea whether we will be playing Burnley next week because of the situation that we’re in. We can’t give Burnley any guarantees at the moment.

“I know Burnley boss, Owen Coyle, very well and I’m hoping we can fulfil the fixture.

“It would be nice to try and get a few pre-season matches played before the season starts, but many league teams will be wanting to keep the week before the season starts clear of any games.”

Wadsworth is keen to see his players focusing on getting themselves ready for the opening Blue Square Premier Division fixture.

But former Bradford City centre back, Mark Bower, who had been on trial with the Blues, has now decided to accept a two-year deal at League Two club, Darlington.

And Wadsworth is now eager to see his squad in a competitive pre-season match in order to assess the possibility of making further signings.

He said: “Striker Glynn Hurst is currently on trial with us and he has been working really hard with the squad I have assembled.

“I was hoping to see Glynn in action for us at the weekend at Marine, but that match had to be called off because of the administrative issue with the FA.

“I’m sure Glynn can do a job for us at Chester because he’s an experienced forward who has always had an eye for goal wherever he has played.

“But I now want to see how he looks in a match alongside other strikers like Gregg Blundell, Lloyd Ellams, and Fabian Yantorno.”

Richie Partridge has signed for MK Dons after a successful trial with the League One side.

FA expresses match-fixing concerns as Chester City players receive bans

Disciplinary chiefs have expressed "serious concerns" that a Football League match may have been fixed after four players -including Chester’s Jay Harris and David Mannix - were banned for between five months and a year for betting on the outcome.

The four players have been suspended and fined after betting on the outcome of the League Two match between Accrington and Bury on May 3 2008 - three of the players were with Stanley at the time and the other at Bury, who won the game 2-0.

Harris has been banned for a year and fined a total of £5,500 by an independent FA regulatory commission, Mannix has been given a 10-month ban and fined £4,000, and Robert Williams suspended for eight months and fined £3,500.

Andrew Mangan, who was then a Bury player, has been banned for five months and fined £2,000 for betting on his team to win.

Nicholas Stewart QC, chairman of the regulatory commission, said in a statement: "The regulatory commission have serious concerns that the outcome of the match may have been fixed although none of the players were charged with these offences."

Post-match interview with Chester City boss Simon Davies

The Evening Leader speaks to Chester city manager Simon Davies straight after Chester's 1 - 1 draw against Bury at the Deva Stadium.

http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/chester-city/VIDEO-Simon-Davies-postmatch-interview.4469183.jp

Video interviews with Chester City's Simon Davies

We've just uploaded two video interviews with Simon Davies - manager of Chester City.

- One is a pre-match interview with Simon Davies before Chester City's match against Barnett FC this weekend

http://www.chesterstandard.co.uk/chestercity/VIDEO-Chester39s-Simon-Davies-answers.4437387.jp

- In the other Simon Davies answers readers' questions about Chester City.
This is proving a really popular feature of the Evening Leader's website, and our sister site www.chesterstandard.co.uk.
If you have a question for Chester's Simon Davies email it to digitalnews@nwn.co.uk

http://www.chesterstandard.co.uk/chestercity/VIDEO-INTERVIEW--Simon-Davies39.4437827.jp