Marcus Bignot says the manner in which Chester fans have rallied around the crisis-hit club has been ‘eye-opening’.

The full extent of the Blues’ financial difficulties have been laid bare in recent weeks, with the club needing to find £50,000 to secure its short-term future.

Chester supporters are well-versed in the consequences of fiscal mismanagement and have been asked to dig deep once more to avert insolvency at the fan-owned club.

Their generosity was clearly evident when a 1,065-strong crowd attended an under-18s cup game last week and dug deep to donate £12,800 to the ailing club’s funds.

And with their fundraising efforts now in excess of £35,000, Bignot has been ‘overwhelmed’ by the collective spirit of Blues fans.

“Before I came here there was a lot of talk about Chester being a fan-owned club and the unique connection the supporters had with their club,” said Bignot, who has seen assistant manager Ross Thorpe leave the club due to cost-cutting measures, although he is still set to remain part of the backroom team on matchdays.

“Maybe I hadn’t seen too much evidence of that when I first came here, but it’s certainly become clear in these last couple of weeks.

“The fundraising efforts of so many supporters have been phenomenal and pretty overwhelming to be honest.

“Everything’s come out into the open now and the financial problems are clear to see. But this crisis has really made me see the club at its best.

“Obviously nobody wants this kind of crisis to affect a club, but the way it has brought everyone together is quite remarkable.

“Getting that kind of a crowd for a youth game is testament to that and a huge amount of credit has to go to the great work of Calum (McIntyre) and his staff within the academy.”

Tight budget constraints meant that Chester’s transfer deadline day dealings were modest and limited to the loan signing of Bournemouth defender Shaun Hobson and an extension to Port Vale keeper Sam Hornby’s loan deal.

A deal for a third addition had been lined up, but was scuppered when the player opted for a move to a Football league club.

Bignot said: “We thought we were on course to bring another of our targets in, but it fell through at the 11th hour.

“It’s great that we’ve got Sam here on a longer term basis now and to get Shaun Hobson will definitely help strengthen us.

“He’s a Manchester boy and the financials behind him coming here meant he was a perfect fit for us.

“Credit to Bournemouth, who were very understanding of our current situation and we’re grateful to them for helping us bring the player in.”