Historical Football Kits

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Chester City

Formed 1885

Elected to Division Three (North) 1930. Relegated to the Conference 2000.

Promoted to Coca Cola League Two 2004

Kit History

Background

In 1885 Chester Rovers and Old King's Scholars amalgamated to form Chester FC. For the first five years of their existence the club played only friendly matches until in 1890 they joined the Combination. Five years later, Chester won their first honour - the Cheshire Senior Cup. In 1898, Chester moved to a new ground but were forced to disband only twelve months later when the ground was sold for housing.

In 1901, the club was reformed, adopting dark green and white colours that earned them the nickname of "The Ivies." In 1920 the club moved up the the Lancashire League and adopted a black and white strip. After the First World War, the club became founder members of the Cheshire County League, winning the championship in 1922, 1926 and 1927. In 1930 Charlie Hewitt was appointed manager and he introduced the much loved blue and white stripes. A year later the club were elected to Division Three (North), taking the place of Nelson.

For the first ten years of their League career, Chester never finished below tenth place but after the war, the club struggled and when the regional divisions were scrapped in 1958, Chester found themselves in Division Four. A change to green and gold shirts in 1959 did little to change their fortunes. indeed, they had to seek re-election three times in succession between 1960 and 1963 and must count themselves fortunate to have retained their league place. During the Sixties the club turned out in a variety of strips but results stayed mediocre.

The traditional stripes returned in 1972 and three years later the club achieved promotion for the first time in their history. Seven years were spent in Division Three before relegation struck in 1982. The following year the club became Chester City to mark the granting of city status to their home town. A new strip of plain blue shirts and white shorts was introduced but results continued to be poor and in 1984 the club was forced to seek re-election for the seventh time. In 1986, however, City's fortunes improved and they returned to Division Three. In 1990, history cruelly repeated itself when the club's ground was sold for development and for two year's they shared Macclesfield's ground while their new Deva Stadium was built. Sadly, the year they returned to Chester also brought relegation.

In 1994, "The Seals" went back up to what was now (Nationwide) Division Two only to drop back to the basement after a single season. Five years later, Chester narrowly avoided closure due to financial problems. In July 1999 the club was bought by controversial American Terry Smith. At the end of the season the club finished bottom of Nationwide Division Three and were relegated to the Conference. In October 2001, with the club struggling near the bottom of the Conference, Smith sold the club to Stephen Vaughan, a Liverpool business man. After replacing the sky-blue and black strip with a more traditional design, Vaughan's new management team started to turn the club around. In 2004 Chester won the Conference championship and returned to the League to play in what was now League Two.

Sources

• (a) Chester City FC (Images of Sport)
• (b) Chester-City.co.uk Excellent unofficial website that includes a history of the club and their colours by Chas Sumner, the club historian as well as a collection of team pictures going back to 1930
• (c) Chester City Official Site
• (d) Pete's Picture Palace
• (e) David King
• (f) Derek Hart
• (g) Alick Milne
• (h) Ralph Pomeroy
• (i) jumpers4goalposts