NON-LEAGUE CLUB’S PLAYERS MAKING THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOUR-FREE-FREE Chester stars to play for NOTHING in promotion bid
CHESTER FC players are turning out for free today after the non-league club confessed they could not afford to take part in the National League North play-offs.
Joint managers Anthony Johnson (below) and Bernard Morley, who helped Salford City rise through the football pyramid, have been moved by the gesture.
While some players in the Premier League and EFL have refused to extend their contracts to enable them to play in end of season games, non-league players on only a fraction of their wages have not abandoned the cause.
“In all my time in football I’ve never felt so humbled,” admitted Johnson. “When you consider what the players have been through in the past few months, the hardships they have encountered, to come back and do all this for free is fantastic.”
The fans have also played their part, raising £110,000 for next season’s budget and £17,000 to help pay for the administrative costs of entering the play-offs.
At one stage it appeared that the club would forgo the opportunity of competing for a place in the National League – one step away from the EFL – after calculating the cost of opening up again following the Covid-19 lockdown.
It would mean bringing the seven contracted players off furlough and extending the contracts of the rest of the squad that had expired at the end of June.
And with the added cost of virus testing it looked a non-starter until the intervention of the players offering their services for free.
Defender Jamie Morgan said: “The players didn’t hesitate with our decision to put the club and success for the fans before anything else.”
Team-mate Scott Burton added: “We want to finish something we’ve started. If it meant playing for free, we were willing to do that for the gaffers, the club and, most importantly, the fans.”
Delighted chairman Andy Morris wasn’t prepared to risk the future of the club if it meant spending money they didn’t have after the original club went bust in 2010.
But he said: “This isn’t about deferring, this is the players donating money back to the club.
“It is an absolutely outstanding gesture and one that proves we are all in this together.”
Chester FC will make the short trip to face Altrincham in a play-off eliminator today, in a game streamed live.
Joint-manager Johnson added: “It fills me with great pride that the players have returned without pay, some with no guarantees about their futures, to try to see through what they have started.
“We’ve only had 10 days to prepare but they are focused and ready to go.”