City Fans United, the name given to the new supporters’ group for Chester City FC, have announced plans to amass a ‘War Chest’ to ensure the future of professional football in the City of Chester.
This would give the potential opportunity for all fans of Chester City to collectively own the club and would mean the club being owned by the fans for the first time in its 125-year history.
Following recent public meetings, fans of Chester City football club have called for contingency plans to be made should the football club face future financial difficulties. While City Fans United wish to see the club go from strength to strength, the fans realise that they must have a Plan B in place.
Chairman of City Fans United, Michael Poole, says: “While we do hope for the best, we must also plan for the worst. The club means just too much to the supporters, the kids and the community that we can’t tolerate any risk of it going under.
Poole continued: “We need contingency funds. We need to build a War Chest. To that end City Fans United are announcing an immediate campaign to amass this War Chest and provide a safety net for our local club. All of the fans of Chester will have the opportunity to potentially have a stake in the football club by purchasing loan notes from City Fans United. The precedent has already been set – clubs already owned by the fans include Brentford, Exeter, AFC Wimbledon and, most famously, Barcelona.”
City Fans United are seeking to raise donations, increase its membership and sell ‘loan notes’ to supporters. These loan notes will be sold at £100 and will give the purchaser a stake, should CFU ever purchase the club. As loans, each £100 note would be fully refundable to the purchaser.
“We believe that donations, fund-raising events, monthly subscriptions, sponsorship and the issue of loan notes are the best ways for us to amass the contingency fund the fans are calling for. We need to raise this fund very quickly, certainly within the next 6 to 12 months as the future of the club looks more and more precarious by the week.”