Former goalkeeper Reg Barton has sadly passed away at the age of 84. Reg not only proudly wore the shirt but he was also an enthusiastic supporter of the club and was a season ticket holder in the East Stand at the Deva Community Stadium. The Chester-born player made 14 Football League appearances for the club and had the distinction of being the goalkeeper on the day that Chester hammered Wrexham 6-1 in a Division Four fixture in February 1965.
Reg was brought up as a supporter of the club and first watched a game at Sealand Road towards the end of the 1940s. After playing for Chester Schoolboys and Saltney Juniors he was offered a trial at the Stadium and signed as an amateur in 1957. Over the next four years he worked his way up through the A team and Reserves before making his first team debut, against Doncaster Rovers, in September 1961 in a game Chester lost 3-2.
An agile keeper, Reg continued to appear regularly for the Reserves over the next four years while making occasional first team appearances as an understudy to John Hardie or Dennis Reeves. His most memorable game was the aforementioned victory over local rivals Wrexham and, recalling the game in later years, he emphasised how much it meant to him as a long standing supporter with the size of the victory making it even more special.
Reg in action against Wrexham in February 1965
A month after the Wrexham match Reg experienced the other side of the coin when he was on the receiving end of a 5-1 defeat at Crewe Alexandra. Looking back Reg admits that he had a bad game that day and realised that his chances of being retained at the end of the season were remote. As expected Reg was released at the end of the 1964/65 campaign and went on to play for Nantlle Vale, Holyhead and Penmaenmawr. He finished his playing career with Connah’s Quay Nomads in the early 1970s.
After leaving Chester Reg worked for Hawker Siddeley, British Nuclear Fuels and British Aerospace, lived in Buckley and rarely missed a home game.
Former goalkeeper Gordon Livsey has passed away at the age of 79. Standing at 5ft 10 inches he may not have been the tallest of keepers but he more than made up for this with his tremendous agility.
Keighley born Gordon started his career with Kettering Town in 1964 where he was spotted by Ken Roberts who was then assistant manager at Wrexham. He went on to make 79 appearances at the Racecourse Ground before Roberts, by now manager at Chester, signed him for £2,500 on the verge of the 1971/72 season as a replacement for Terry Carling. Making his debut at home to Cambridge United he went on to feature in 44 games, missing only two through injury.
Despite a poor season, where Chester only avoided re-election by the skin of their teeth, the defence emerged with some credit as the 56 goals conceded was the 4th lowest since joining the Football League in 1931 and Gordon kept a clean sheets in each of his last five games.
In 1972 Gordon returned to Kettering where he cemented his place as a club legend completing 315 first team appearances and keeping a club record 91 clean sheets. He briefly returned to the Football League with Hartlepool and also managed Workington after they left the Football League while also featuring for Leamington, Nuneaton, Corby Town and Scarborough.
Stuart Rimmer and Gary Talbot may be remembered as Chester’s greatest Football League goalscorers with 127 and 83 goals respectively but, prior to this, the record was held by Frank Wrightson who scored an impressive 73 goals in only 89 league appearances during the 1930s.
Born in the County Durham town of Shildon in January 1906 Frank, better known as Paddy, joined Chester from Exeter City in June 1936 for a fee of £350 with another £50 payable after 25 appearances.
Originally employed as a blacksmith Paddy represented Ferryhill Athletic in the Northern League before joining Darlington and making his Football League debut in March 1929 against Stockport County. Sixteen goals in 36 games attracted the attention of Division 1 Manchester City who paid around £2,000 for his services in March 1930. However, he never established himself at Maine Road and after 22 games moved on to Fulham in March 1932. It was the same story at Craven Cottage where he was a peripheral figure and in 12 months only played 18 league games prior to joining Exeter City for a record fee.
From a Chester perspective it is worth noting that Paddy was a member of the Fulham team that lost 5-0 at Sealand Road in an FA Cup 3rd Round tie in January 1933. At the time the Cottagers were competing in Division Two and it arguably remains one of the club’s greatest victories in the competition.
A move to Exeter City proved more productive and Paddy found his goalscoring boots with 25 goals in 71 appearances. He was also a member of the Grecians team that won the Division Three South cup against Torquay in 1934. He later had the distinction of featuring in the Chester team that won the Northern equivalent in both 1936 and 1937 scoring an 89thminute winner in the first of these finals, a 2-1 victory at former club Darlington.
After failing to agree terms with Exeter Paddy joined Chester with his contract specifying a payment of £4 a week in the close season and £6 a week during the playing season. He wasn’t the biggest signing of the summer as Charlie Hewitt also bought in Welsh international Ronnie Williams from Newcastle United for a record fee of £750. Both players featured in the initial game of the campaign with Williams scoring a hat trick in six minutes in an opening day 5-1 mauling of Southport at Sealand Road. While Williams remained in prolific form Paddy struggled to find the back of the net and was dropped at the end of October.
Relegation to the reserves rejuvenated Paddy who started to score regularly for the Cheshire County League team and when Williams in turn lost his form the north-eastener returned to the first team in the number nine shirt against York. It proved to be a game to remember as Paddy scored four times in a record 12-0 victory. He proved it was no fluke by scoring hat-tricks in the next two games against Barrow and New Brighton. It marked an incredible run of 18 goals in 8 league games during February and March 1936 and factoring in the Welsh Cup and Division Three North Cup Paddy scored 26 goals in 13 games.
This form continued in to the following season with Paddy comfortably finishing as leading scorer with 32 goals from 38 games as Chester finished 3rd in Division Three North. The 1937/38 saw Paddy score 13 goals in the first 16 games but after dislocating his shoulder against Oldham and missing a month he picked up a further injury at Rotherham and only managed four more games in the second half of the season. His bad luck with injury continued into the following campaign where he made only one appearance in August and was given a free transfer in summer 1939.
Frank Wrightson in action v Barrow – Oct 1935
With war breaking out in September Paddy’s football career appears to have ended and he passed away in 1979.
Former Chester winger Jimmy Rolfe has passed away at the age of 93. Jimmy made 50 Division Three North appearances for the club between 1953 and 1955 and also played in the Football League for Crewe Alexandra and Barrow.
Jimmy Rolfe
Jimmy started his football career at Eastham Athletic where his performances attracted the attention of Liverpool who signed him on amateur terms. Over the next two years he featured in both the A and B teams before being called up for National Service. While serving in Germany he represented the Combined Services and also played for Munster 08. After being demobbed, in July 1952, Jimmy returned to Anfield and signed as a professional before being released in summer 1953.
Debut v Workington in September 1953
The Liverpool born player became one of Louis Page’s first signings for Chester and he made his Football League debut in a 3-0 win over Workington at Sealand Road in September 1953. After playing in the following game at Darlington Jimmy returned to the reserves but nine goals in five games, including hat-tricks in consecutive games against Northwich Victoria and Mossley, saw him return to first team action in a side desperate for goals. Unfortunately Jimmy couldn’t translate his goalscoring form for the reserves to the first team and by February he was back in the Cheshire County League team before being reinstated at the end of the campaign when he won a Welsh Cup runners up medal after featuring in the final against Flint Town United.
Jimmy Rolfe returns to the team against Rochdale
The following season Jimmy featured 33 times on the right wing, adding one goal to his previous season’s tally of three, before surprisingly being given a free transfer in 1955. Standing at just over 5ft 6ins he made up for his lack of height with energy and enthusiasm but was probably unlucky to feature in a struggling team that finished bottom of the table in both 1953/54 and 1954/55.
Jimmy Rolfe in rightmost pale top 1954
After departing Sealand Road Jimmy went on to play more than 100 games for Crewe followed by Barrow and then had a very brief spell at Southport. Dropping into non-league football, in 1959, he featured for Runcorn, Buxton, Holyhead and New Brighton. After leaving the game he worked for Littlewoods.
Barney Daniels, who became Chester’s record signing in summer 1975, has passed away at the age of 74. A stocky striker with a powerful shot Chester never saw the best of the centre forward and he only managed nine Football League appearances for the club before departing for Stockport County where he was more successful.
Signed as an amateur by Manchester United Barney spent two years at Old Trafford before moving on to Salford Amateurs but it was his goalscoring prowess at Ashton United that attracted the attention of Manchester City who signed him for £1,000. He made an explosive start at Maine Road with two goals on his debut in a 4-1 televised win against Leicester City and went on to make 10 appearances in the 1974/75 season.
In July 1975 Ken Roberts brought Barney to Sealand Road in order to bolster the attacking options following promotion to Division Three. Chester paid a reported £25,000 for the Salford born player and Roberts saw him as a strong and quick striker who could cause defences problems. After making his debut as a substitute, in a League Cup tie at Wrexham, Barney made his first full start in Chester’s opening Division Three home fixture against Southend United. Although he was on target with a 25 yard effort this was as good as it got and his only other goal for the club came in an 8-1 thrashing of Kidderminster in the Welsh Cup. Four days after the Southend game Barney was substituted in the return leg of the League Cup tie against Wrexham and reacted angrily by throwing his shirt to the ground and storming into the dressing room. Although he apologised for the gesture he was disciplined by the club and thenceforth found it difficult to make an impact.
At the end of the 1975/76 campaign Barney was released by Chester and joined Stockport County where he showed Chester what they had been missing by scoring 11 goals in his first 11 league games. He went on to finish leading scorer for County and after dropping out of the Football League had further spells with Ashton United, Hyde United and Prestwich Heys.
Chester Football History 