In the world of football, Chester is a very small planet, in the orbit of Liverpool and Everton (45 kilometers away), Manchester City and United (65 kilometers), and even their eternal rivals, the millionaires. from Welsh Wrexham (20 kilometers), whose fortunes have changed since it was acquired by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Bob McElhenney, and is now the subject of documentaries and has fans even in the United States.

The Chester is one of the smallest fish in an ocean dominated by sharks like the Chelsea and whales like the Arsenal. But it has two attributes that make it curious and touching: the border (real but invisible) between England and Wales passes precisely through its stadium, and it is a cooperative owned by the 1,800 members who have paid a modest fee of fourteen euros that entitles them to vote on all decisions: the design of the shirt, the sponsors, the composition of the board of directors and, if the case arises, the acceptance or rejection of the individual or company that wants to buy it.

But to say that its followers have been scalded by previous owners is an understatement (one of them precipitated the decline by insisting on being a coach without having the slightest idea). The historic club from the northwest of England, founded in 1885, disappeared in 2010, liquidated by the British Treasury when it could not pay thirty thousand euros in taxes. But it wasn’t the only one he owed to the treasury. Also to local businesses, to some fans who had tried to help him, to the gas and electricity companies. When the bus company they were using refused to take the team to Forest Green for a league match if they did not first collect what they were owed, Chester City’s fate was definitively cast, and the blinds were lowered. By then, the players had not received their salaries for a long time and were taking cold showers.

In football parlance, a phoenix team is one that rises from its own ashes, like the bird of legend (the most notable example being Glasgow Rangers). Chester City officially died in 2010, but a few weeks later Chester FC appeared, playing in the same stadium (owned by the City Council, theirs was sold to satisfy creditors), but three categories below, in the sixth step of the league. English organized football, a far cry from the almost obscene riches of the Etihad, Old Trafford and the Emirates. Regulations force you to generate two pounds for every one you spend, in order to avoid another bankruptcy.

An average of two thousand fans attend home games, some of them schoolchildren from schools in the city who receive free tickets to provide a bit of atmosphere, create fans and for children to support the local club as well as Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City or Manchester United, the giants of the region. The derbies against Wrexham were among the most intense in British football (due to the proximity and because one team is English and the other Welsh), but the dream of them resuming in the short term future is very remote. Currently one plays in the fourth category, and with possibilities of promotion, and another, in the sixth.

Everything is very frugal in Chester. The cooperative only has five employees on staff (one of them, the one in charge of maintaining the grass, and another, a lady who cleans changing rooms and stands), the managers do not receive a salary and the rest of the tasks are carried out by volunteers, including the bar operation on match days. Just in case there is something to celebrate.