• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

CHESTER

drwhoman

Member
Joined
30 Jun 2008
Messages
2,658
I suspect that the council have acted as a combination of political pressure from the Labour/Plaid Cymru Welsh government and stirring from Wrexham fans within their area, but who knows? It is certainly out there as a live issue now, the genie won’t just go back into the bottle.
It is the Welsh Govt being paranoid about it all. A possible super-spreader event at the Deva! Crazy but that is the world we live in right now!
 

bigmart

bigmart
Member
Joined
29 Jul 2009
Messages
7,110
Player
Ian Muir
It is the Welsh Govt being paranoid about it all. A possible super-spreader event at the Deva! Crazy but that is the world we live in right now!
No more a super spreader event than an Wrexham away game, it's a load of rubbish
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
I doubt the government at national level are remotely interested. I think it is just due to over-officious local councillors.
It was raised in the Welsh Assembly by a Plaid Cymru member of the ruling Labour/Plaid coalition, so unsure that your feeling it is all down to Flintshire council is a fair reflection of the situation. You might expect the council would be happier to keep Chester City open to fans to ensure they don't fall behind with the business rates, which go into council coffers.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
It was raised in the Welsh Assembly by a Plaid Cymru member of the ruling Labour/Plaid coalition, so unsure that your feeling it is all down to Flintshire council is a fair reflection of the situation. You might expect the council would be happier to keep Chester City open to fans to ensure they don't fall behind with the business rates, which go into council coffers.
Raising it in the Welsh Assembly is not the same as government policy. Is there any evidence Drakeford has intervened directly ?

The Plaid member said yesterday he was going to 'raise it with the leadership next week', which does not suggest there has been any pressure from the top of government.
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
Raising it in the Welsh Assembly is not the same as government policy. Is there any evidence Drakeford has intervened directly ?

The Plaid member said yesterday he was going to 'raise it with the leadership next week', which does not suggest there has been any pressure from the top of government.
It's a matter of fact that the Welsh leader is the instigator of the current regulations in relation to limiting crowds at sporting events to 50. This is currently causing consternation in terms of where the forthcoming Wales rugby internationals are to be played.

The original statement put out by Chester City in relation to the meeting with local councils and police said

We were informed this was based upon direction from the Welsh Government that the premises of Chester Football Club are governed by the Welsh Regulations.

Other newspaper reports have quoted a Welsh government representative asserting that their regulations apply to Chester FC.

All this suggests to me, that it is not Flintshire County Council going off on a tangent, but following directions from Mark Drakeford's national government.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
It's a matter of fact that the Welsh leader is the instigator of the current regulations in relation to limiting crowds at sporting events to 50. This is currently causing consternation in terms of where the forthcoming Wales rugby internationals are to be played.

The original statement put out by Chester City in relation to the meeting with local councils and police said

We were informed this was based upon direction from the Welsh Government that the premises of Chester Football Club are governed by the Welsh Regulations.

Other newspaper reports have quoted a Welsh government representative asserting that their regulations apply to Chester FC.

All this suggests to me, that it is not Flintshire County Council going off on a tangent, but following directions from Mark Drakeford's national government.
So what ? It is the council that have raised the issue, not the central government.

Just because the government have confirmed that the regulations technically apply to Chester FC - which of course, they do - that does not mean that Drakeford was insisting on them being applied prior to the intervention of the council.

Your comments about the popularity - or otherwise - of the measures with the Welsh population are an attempt to distract, and are irrelevant.
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
So what ? It is the council that have raised the issue, not the central government.

Just because the government have confirmed that the regulations technically apply to Chester FC - which of course, they do - that does not mean that Drakeford was insisting on them being applied prior to the intervention of the council.

Your comments about the popularity - or otherwise - of the measures with the Welsh population are an attempt to distract, and are irrelevant.
It hasn't been made clear how this started, I'm guessing that it was raised by a member of the public going to either their councillor or directly to the local authority. However, I can't see that the "upon direction from the Welsh government" phrase can be interpreted in any way other than the local authority sought guidance from the Welsh government and were told by them that the regulations did apply to Chester FC, as you agree above they do apply. If they were given that advice, Flintshire are hardly going to ignore it!

Both the County Council and the Welsh Assembly are Labour controlled, so I'm puzzled why you seem to want to put all the responsibility onto Flintshire rather than the Senedd, which doesn't seem entirely consistent with what Chester FC have been told. Have you other dealings with the county council, which has led you to this viewpoint?
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
It hasn't been made clear how this started, I'm guessing that it was raised by a member of the public going to either their councillor or directly to the local authority. However, I can't see that the "upon direction from the Welsh government" phrase can be interpreted in any way other than the local authority sought guidance from the Welsh government and were told by them that the regulations did apply to Chester FC, as you agree above they do apply. If they were given that advice, Flintshire are hardly going to ignore it!

Both the County Council and the Welsh Assembly are Labour controlled, so I'm puzzled why you seem to want to put all the responsibility onto Flintshire rather than the Senedd, which doesn't seem entirely consistent with what Chester FC have been told. Have you other dealings with the county council, which has led you to this viewpoint?
I agree with you that the council sought the advice and the national government gave it to them, which is different to Drakeford proactively instructing the council to take action.

You were implying that the controversy had been concocted by Drakeford in order to antagonise the English authorities, which I don't believe to be the case. He is not a Welsh separatist so I don't see how antagonising the English of the other side of the border benefits him at all, particularly as Chester is a Labour marginal.

I had already said that the dispute was the result of incompetence on the part of the local council.
 

drwhoman

Member
Joined
30 Jun 2008
Messages
2,658
I agree with you that the council sought the advice and the national government gave it to them, which is different to Drakeford proactively instructing the council to take action.

You were implying that the controversy had been concocted by Drakeford in order to antagonise the English authorities, which I don't believe to be the case. He is not a Welsh separatist so I don't see how antagonising the English of the other side of the border benefits him at all, particularly as Chester is a Labour marginal.

I had already said that the dispute was the result of incompetence on the part of the local council.
From afar this looks like pedantry from someone at the local Council maybe with a grudge against Chester but who knows? The Welsh Govt were never going to say anything, when asked, other than that the ground is in Wales so their rules apply. I think we would all agree that having different rules like this is a nonsense. Mind you, we have the same issue in Australia with different state goats applying their own rules!
 

drwhoman

Member
Joined
30 Jun 2008
Messages
2,658
From afar this looks like pedantry from someone at the local Council maybe with a grudge against Chester but who knows? The Welsh Govt were never going to say anything, when asked, other than that the ground is in Wales so their rules apply. I think we would all agree that having different rules like this is a nonsense. Mind you, we have the same issue in Australia with different state goats applying their own rules!
I see I inadvertently referred to the state goats - how appropriate! On the local Council there was probably also an element of backside covering.
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
I agree with you that the council sought the advice and the national government gave it to them, which is different to Drakeford proactively instructing the council to take action.

You were implying that the controversy had been concocted by Drakeford in order to antagonise the English authorities, which I don't believe to be the case. He is not a Welsh separatist so I don't see how antagonising the English of the other side of the border benefits him at all, particularly as Chester is a Labour marginal.

I had already said that the dispute was the result of incompetence on the part of the local council.
The situation has arisen due to the different regulations operating in England and Wales and Chester FCs strange geography. I have tried to steer clear of the debates arising on here in respect of vaccination passports and mandatory jabs for people, as I am unsure about the merits of that approach, despite personally having all jabs available. The Welsh government has chosen, as it is entitled with devolved powers, to operate a different regime to England, including effectively keeping spectators out of sporting events. While the effectiveness of that in slowing the progress in the spread of the omicron variant is debatable and the Plaid Cymru AM who is raising this has made some valid points regarding that, my instinct is that Mr Drakeford took the decision mainly because he felt it would help, rather than to distinguish Wales from England. So while I don't think he initiated the controversy, it has been allowed to escalate. I would guess that many of the councillors on Labour-run Flint CC know the Chester MP Chris Mathieson and are more protective of his interests than the South Wales based assembly leader.

I think we'll just have to respect each other's differing opinions and move on.
 

drwhoman

Member
Joined
30 Jun 2008
Messages
2,658
I see that Fulham are the first team in 88 years to score 6 or more in three consecutive games. The last league team to do this? Chester in 1933-34! How things can change!
 
Joined
24 Jul 2017
Messages
4,185
Player
aldo
yea 19 goals in 3 games must be Amazing to watch at the moment they have scored 7 Three times this season Alone crazy and we say our LG is poor the championship must be sht compared LOL
 
Top