Home of Chester FC
Opened 1992
Capacity 6,500
★★★★★
★★★★★
Old school type stadium. Very good atmosphere for a 6th tier football team. The only gripe is that the car park is a nightmare to get out of after full time. If the ground invested into a few more access gates which could be opened up after the game it would reduce the post game rush and panic!
a year ago
The away fan experience is terrible. I came as a neutral the other day, stood with a friend who supported Scarborough.
The stadium attendance that day was 2,300, about a fifth of this was away fans; dotted all around the perimeter of the ground are turnstiles, probably 10 open turnstiles around the ground and two tickets office attendants (for a 2000 attendance, really? Stop pretending you're a big club, you're in an industrial estate and you've been midtable Tier 6 for nearly a decade) In contrast, away fans herded through one gate, served by one ticket attendant, card only payment and then the WiFi for the card reader broke. All the while, as we're filtered through at treacle pace, we're flanked by five stewards. Insanity.
"Refreshments" queue also a joke. Four people working, but only one taking orders. I understand most people non-league are volunteering and so I'm loathe to be too hard on them, but whoever is organising the whole affair is ultimately making money at £20 a ticket, and guess what, you'd make even more if you divided labour with any thought.
When people are travelling 200 miles, to pay £20 to watch tier 6 football, to queue for 20 mins because there's only poor lady on the turnstile whose card machine isn't working, zero effort made on behalf of Chester to support with additional staff, so 50 people only got in with 5 mins already played, then you queue 20 mins for a bottle of coke, because there is apparently an alcohol ban. Alcohol bans at non league grounds are pathetic and only ever to do with a club's inability to prepare and resource appropriately, never because there is anything inherently sinister about alcohol, Borussia Dortmund serve 84000 drunks without incident every other weekend.
Overall, the whole experience felt very much like away fans were second-class Citizens. Very Tory. Will never come near this place again.
Good game though, congrats to Chester on their late winner.
5 months ago
History (from Wikipedia)
When a new owner took over Chester City in March 1990, plans were announced to sell its Sealand Road stadium for redevelopment as a supermarket and build a new stadium at nearby Bumpers Lane. While the new stadium was being built they played at Moss Rose stadium in Macclesfield, 45 miles to the east. Sealand Road closed at the end of the 1989–90 season, and Chester played at Macclesfield for the following two seasons.[3]
Construction of the new stadium began in January 1992 and it opened seven months later in time for the 1992–93 season.
It was the first English football stadium to fulfil the safety recommendations from the Taylor Report, which was commissioned after the Bradford Fire of 1985 and after the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. Walsall's Bescot Stadium had opened in August 1990, seven months after the report was published, but construction had started before the end of 1989.[4]
The stadium was officially opened on 24 August 1992 by Conservative Party peer Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare.[5]
The stadium hosted its first game the next day, when Chester lost 2–1 in the League Cup to Stockport County. 11 days later, Chester beat Burnley 3–0 in the first Football League match on the ground. On 13 October 1992, Chester beat a Manchester United XI 2–0. Its tenth anniversary in August 2002 was celebrated with a special friendly against a Liverpool XI, with Chester winning 1–0.
Between 2004 and 2007 it was officially known as the Saunders Honda Stadium for sponsorship purposes, before reverting to the Deva Stadium for the 2007–08 season.
On 2 May 2008 it was announced that as of the 2008–09 season, the Deva would be known as The Cestrian Trading stadium.[6]
In February 2010, The New Saints of the Welsh Premier League formally applied for a groundshare with Chester City, who had lost their league status the previous year and were by now deep in debt and on the verge of closure, at the Deva Stadium.[7] However, TNS ultimately decided to remain at Park Hall in Oswestry.
Chester City were dissolved with huge debts on 10 March 2010, two days after being expelled from the Conference Premier (to which they had been relegated from The Football League the previous season), and as a result the stadium was left without a tenant. In May 2010 the owners of the ground, Chester and Cheshire West council awarded the lease to the newly formed phoenix club Chester F.C.[8][9]
The first Chester F.C. match at the stadium was a 3–0 victory over Aberystwyth Town in a friendly on 24 July 2010.
Location[edit]
The stadium is located on the Sealand Road Industrial Estate, and lies on the border between England and Wales; the border runs along the rear of the east stand (the main stand) with the pitch itself located over the border in Flintshire. However, the ground's address is officially classed as being in England due to the location of the club's offices.[10]
Construction of the new stadium began in January 1992 and it opened seven months later in time for the 1992–93 season.
It was the first English football stadium to fulfil the safety recommendations from the Taylor Report, which was commissioned after the Bradford Fire of 1985 and after the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. Walsall's Bescot Stadium had opened in August 1990, seven months after the report was published, but construction had started before the end of 1989.[4]
The stadium was officially opened on 24 August 1992 by Conservative Party peer Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare.[5]
The stadium hosted its first game the next day, when Chester lost 2–1 in the League Cup to Stockport County. 11 days later, Chester beat Burnley 3–0 in the first Football League match on the ground. On 13 October 1992, Chester beat a Manchester United XI 2–0. Its tenth anniversary in August 2002 was celebrated with a special friendly against a Liverpool XI, with Chester winning 1–0.
Between 2004 and 2007 it was officially known as the Saunders Honda Stadium for sponsorship purposes, before reverting to the Deva Stadium for the 2007–08 season.
On 2 May 2008 it was announced that as of the 2008–09 season, the Deva would be known as The Cestrian Trading stadium.[6]
In February 2010, The New Saints of the Welsh Premier League formally applied for a groundshare with Chester City, who had lost their league status the previous year and were by now deep in debt and on the verge of closure, at the Deva Stadium.[7] However, TNS ultimately decided to remain at Park Hall in Oswestry.
Chester City were dissolved with huge debts on 10 March 2010, two days after being expelled from the Conference Premier (to which they had been relegated from The Football League the previous season), and as a result the stadium was left without a tenant. In May 2010 the owners of the ground, Chester and Cheshire West council awarded the lease to the newly formed phoenix club Chester F.C.[8][9]
The first Chester F.C. match at the stadium was a 3–0 victory over Aberystwyth Town in a friendly on 24 July 2010.
Location[edit]
The stadium is located on the Sealand Road Industrial Estate, and lies on the border between England and Wales; the border runs along the rear of the east stand (the main stand) with the pitch itself located over the border in Flintshire. However, the ground's address is officially classed as being in England due to the location of the club's offices.[10]
Things to do in Chester.