R.I.P Chester City

£26,000 seems like a rather paltry amount to wind a club up. Cardiff are need to pay £1.9 million to the taxman and I see Farsley Celtic have been disbanded.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/8559656.stm

On the subject of Cardiff. How in christ's name is Peter Risdale allowed to stay in Football?

If, like me, you believe that a "football club" is a something spiritual rather than just a limited company then this is not the winding up of a football club - just the winding up of a particularly rotten limited company set up by a particularly rotten individual .

£26K would not have been enough to wind up a GOING CONCERN of a football club. I'm quite certain that Chester fans could have got together that kind of money quite easily to save THEIR club.

The £26k owed to HMRC was a spit in the ocean compared to the money "owed" to the extremely unpleasant Mr Vaughan himself - who now seems unlikely to profit from his dealings. He would have paid up the £26k quite happily if he could still see a return on the horizon.

But his company was a "football club" in name only - no league to play in, no players, no fans and facing eviction from its council-owned ground for non-payment of rent and rates. He would have stitched somebody up if he could and flogged a pup to some innocent, but by the end it was obvious to everybody that his game was up.

The fans of Chester who have followed goings-on are actually pleased that the plug has been pulled on Mr Vaughan. If he had paid the £26k, it would have given him time to cause more mischief and wreck the hopes of a phoenix club starting next season at the Deva.

It is now the beginning of a new era for football in Chester. They have enough time to put together a new club to play at a decent level next season. For me, the new club will absolutely be a continuation of Chester City - just as I believe Newport, Aldershot, Wimbledon and Halifax to be the "same" clubs as their predecessors and that Billy Wright and Derek Dougan played for the same Wolverhampton club as exists today.

Add Weymouth to your list Chris, not so long ago they owned 250 grand and I was told on Monday while in Weymouth that has shot up to 800 grand. I'm sure they will be wound up in the not to distant future.

Farsley Celtic`s Chairman was clearly very upset by what had happened when he was interview! Chester could have done with that pairs benefits of £26,000 who were on that t.v programme Wolfie mentioned in another thread!