'I'm sad, I'm not going to hide that' - McIntyre thanks fans after emotional Chester journey ends
Former Blues boss speaks to The Seal after leaving his role on Saturday evening
There is a picture that exists out there in the ether of a fresh-faced Calum McIntyre watching a Blues game on the Harry McNally Terrace.
Dig a little deeper into the internet time machine and there has been at some stage a picture of McIntyre on Frodsham Street circa 2008 after he stopped then Chester City midfielder, the nomadic French enigma that was Damien Mozika, to ask for a photograph after Mozika had been doing his usual commute to the Deva on his club-provided pushbike.
That’s 18 years ago now, and the journey that McIntyre, who declares himself a “proud Cestrian” has been on with his hometown club is the kind of thing that kids who played Football Manager dreamed of all those years ago. The chance to be the boss at their club, and be able to try and deliver on the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the supporters who they’ve shared a journey with already on the terraces.
On Saturday, as McIntyre applauded the remaining fans who had stayed behind to clap of Chester after they secured a 2-1 win over Spennymoor Town in the National League North, he knew it would be for the final time, and that almost four years first-team manager, and an association that started with the Youth Academy a decade before that, would be over.
McIntyre already knew that his journey with Chester would be coming to an end. Having taken the club to the National League North play-off final in May last year, where they were edged out 2-1 by Scunthorpe United after extra time, and having a National League North Manager of the Year accolade on his shelf for 2022/23, his first at Chester that ended with defeat in the play-off semi-finals, this season’s struggles to replicate the feats of last year meant that the mood had turned and a decision had to be made over what the club felt best for the future.
It wasn’t how McIntyre wanted it to end, but in football there are few journeys for managers that end in the way that they would want, and when they would want it to. Ted Lasso, this isn’t.
