Source: FOOTYMAD
Linwood's Own Goal
Former Chester City captain Paul Linwood has upset Blues fans by declaring his sympathy for the previous club's regime. Linwood, who left Chester City last summer to sign for recently relegated side Grimsbsy Town was speaking to the Grimsby Telegraph, when he told of his disappointment at Grimsby's relegation from the Football League. The Birkenhead-born centre-back was part of the Chester City team that suffered the ignominy of exiting the league 12 months ago as Grimsby survived just one place above the Blues. Linwood's future is now up in the air after being one of seven players transfer-listed this week. He remembers vividly how tough it was going through the survival experience and failing with Chester – but could do nothing to prevent Town suffering the same fate. But while results on the pitch mirrored the inconsistency of last season for both clubs, the man who joined Town last summer says stability off the field at Blundell Park is a big plus point as they prepare to try and bounce back. He believes that is a huge difference to the problems at the Deva Stadium last season. Linwood said: "There's nothing worse than a relegation battle to stay in the league. I went through it last season with Chester. It affects your personal life and everything about you. When you are at the bottom, it's all you can think about. "Chester was different circumstances to here – the club was ready to go down. It wasn't run right. Grimsby, on the other hand is a big club – it's a League One club. This is a big club with a big squad of players and a really good fan base. It's got the makings to be a great club – that's one of the reasons I signed. The season hasn't gone as anyone planned, though." Grimsby fans fearing the worst after an exit from the league for the first time in 100 years may be encouraged by the revival of teams like Torquay, Exeter, Doncaster and Hereford in recent times who have all bounced back into league football, albeit at different rates. But the warning signs are also there with clubs like Halifax, Boston and Chester themselves who went into liquidation after 125 years of history at the High Court in March. It was the death of a football club that gave former player Linwood mixed feelings, but he doesn't believe Town will go the same way after their own relegation into the Blue Square Premier. He went on: "It was mixed emotions really with the news Chester City had been wound up. All in all, it's a great little club. I spoke to a few of the lads down there and my heart goes out to them. They are owed a lot of money by the club which they won't get now." Linwood then went on to make some comments that are sure to annoy Blues fans who feel that the previous club's regime are to blame for the untimate demise of Chester City FC. "The chairman, Stephen Vaughan, works really hard there which people don't see. e doesn't get the credit he deserves sometimes. e didn't get a lot of luck there. I don't think he made money out of it – he put money in. I spoke to him once and he'd put £4-million in. "He loves the club and that's why he never walked away from it. But it didn't work out for anyone there. "Whatever happens to them now, I wish the lads there and the chairman all the best, though, because I had some good times at the club."
