CHESTER CITY face a troubled week with players threatening strike action.
The crisis-hit club reached an all-time low after they crashed out of the FA Trophy following their 1-0 home first round defeat against part-timers Fleetwood Town on Friday night.
City, who remain anchored to the foot of the Blue Square Premier Division table, were watched by just 518 spectators for their FA Trophy loss – their lowest home crowd of the season and a figure which included 110 visiting fans.
Cash-strapped Chester, who started the campaign on minus 25 points, continue to be owned by the Vaughan family after previous owner Stephen Vaughan bailed the club out earlier this month by loaning City £36,000 to help pay the club’s footballing debts.
Many Chester supporters have boycotted home matches and protested against Vaughan’s stranglehold of the club, which resulted in the abandonment of the home fixture against Eastbourne Borough this month.
One Chester player, who refused to be named, revealed that managing director Bob Gray spoke to the team after Friday night’s defeat.
The player said: “A number of us met Bob Gray after the game against Fleetwood Town and were told wages due at the end of November will be paid on Friday.
“This situation isn’t a one-off, it is happening regularly. We have told Mr Gray we wouldn’t turn in for training this week, and if outstanding monies weren’t forthcoming as promised, we would consider not playing against Rushden this weekend.
“We will take advice from the PFA, but the situation appears to be getting worse. The lads are fed up.”
The worrying situation underlines the enormity of the task facing Blues boss Jim Harvey who admits his inexperienced side face a daunting battle to survive.
“All our games are very tough, and I would think that will be the case from now on,” said Harvey.
“But I haven’t done an awful lot of work with some of the younger boys who have just been drafted into the squad, and I could see against Fleetwood that we were short of ideas, so we’ll do a little bit of work with them and see if we can improve things, but I do think it is going to be tough going.