Jeff Banks believes Chester’s recent new signings have given the club a ‘big lift’ and remains confident season ticket sales will hit their target.

Four summer signings – Matty Hughes, Steve Howson, Grant Shenton and Dominic Smalley – have been met with a certain degree of positivity from the Blues’ faithful, who have responded in tow with season ticket sales pushing past the 500-mark.

Chester board member Banks is ‘hopeful’ of doubling the current number of season ticket sales before the start of the new National League North campaign under new managerial duo Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley.

“I think the new signings have given everyone a big lift,” he said.

“The new managers have come in and are beginning to make their mark with the players they’ve brought in. I think our fans can see that and that’s sparked off the feeling of positivity around the place.

“Matty Hughes was a great signing in that regard as he has a connection with the fans and he’s a good player to bring back to the club.

“Bern and Jonno are just getting on with things. They have hit the ground running and the fans seem excited by the calibre of players we’ve been able to recruit so far.

“We set a target to try and match or better last year’s figure,” he continued.

“We’re hopeful at this stage that will hit that figure. We’ve had a month so far and there’s a couple of weeks of the early bird left to go.

“We’ve just sold over 500 and it would be nice to see the current flow of sales continuing as we near the season itself.

“The positive thing for me is the number of new season ticket holders we’re getting. We feel we’ve delivered an attractive pricing structure and the fact people have bought a ticket for the first time is great to see.

“There’s lots of new and existing season ticket holders yet to renew but there’s plenty of time for them to do so.”

There is also a need to increase City Fans United membership numbers, with some 650 members from last year yet to renew after their memberships expired on May 31.

Memberships are available for just £12 per year, and Banks stressed what a difference large membership numbers can make for the fan-owned club.

“Last year’s CFU membership expired on May 31 and there’s still 650 members out there who haven’t renewed,” he said.

“What I’d say to those people is we hope they will renew as soon as possible, as it all helps Bernard and Jonno’s budget for next season.

“It’s just £12 a year which might not seem like much but imagine multiplying that by 650 and it’s a significant amount of money for the football club.

“We’d love to reach 2,000 members. We’re over 1,000 now and it really makes a massive difference to have as many members as we possibly can.”

The Blues first-team squad will report for pre-season the week commencing June 25 and a stellar friendly at home to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool follows on Saturday, July 7, with the visitors having committed to playing some of their first-team stars not on World Cup duty.

Banks described the game as a ‘feather in the cap’ for Chester and hopes a bumper crowd can boost the club’s finances ahead of the new campaign. Tickets are set to go on sale next week.

“It’s a real feather in the cap for the club,” he explained.

“To get Liverpool in their first game, their first game since the Champions League final, it’s a big boost for us.

“It will be the first glimpse of some of Liverpool’s new signings and it should be a good day for the club both on and off the pitch, as the draw of Liverpool will hopefully get a big crowd in.

“Ticket details will be announced next week. We’re just working through the logistics regarding how it is going to play with the allocations.”