Ross Hannah admits Chester's players 'let the club down' last season which ultimately resulted in relegation from the National League.

The 32-year-old striker was one of several summer signings made by then-boss Jon McCarthy, but the wheels quickly fell off during a miserable campaign which saw the club relegated with four games to spare.

McCarthy was fired after just eight matches with Marcus Bignot appointed in September, but he couldn't stem the tide as Chester's slide towards National League North gathered force.

“In pre-season it felt positive, we’d brought in some good signings and the training was very positive,” said Hannah, who is set to depart the club this summer as part of a series of cost-cutting measures on a vastly-reduced budget.

“In the summer there was a feelgood factor, but it didn’t last.

“From a personal point of view, I did my calf in pre-season and that set me back. I thought I was back fit again and broke down. I had a decent month or so where I scored goals, but it just never really got going.

“It’s the worst season I can remember in football. It started with the Solihull debacle and we had a bad start on the pitch. From there, we never really recovered.

“We had good players, but we didn’t live up to that. We’ve got to be brutally honest and we didn’t fulfil what was expected of us. We let the club down.”

Hannah felt there were two points in the campaign when the Blues looked like they could haul themselves out of trouble.

Firstly, when Bignot took charge and secured a 2-0 win over Maidenhead in his first game at the helm, and secondly after excellent away results at Ebbsfleet and AFC Fylde in January, although joy quickly turned to anguish as the true extent of the club's financial crisis were revealed.

"Marcus lifted us massively, that Maidenhead was probably our best certainly in the first-half of the season. We thought it would kick-start our season," continued Hannah, who has scored 35 goals in total for the Blues.

“But usually the ‘new manager bounce’ lasts a couple of months at least. With us it quickly disappeared, and we found consistency was a big problem.

“When the revelations came out in January behind the scenes, there was quite rightly a new approach on things. Saving the club and having a club there for the fans to support was far more important than if we got relegated or not.

“We yes, we did take our eye off the ball in terms of the relegation fight. We still had a fighting chance at that point, we’d won at Ebbsfleet and got a good point at Fylde.

“But we weren’t just playing against the opposition from then on, we were playing against what was happening at the club off the field and the financial problems caught up with us.”

Hannah headed out on-loan to Kevin Davies' Southport side in March, but the Sandgrounders lost seven consecutive matches to become embroiled in a relegation scrap, Hannah netting in a 4-2 win at Darlington to spare their blushes. Davies has since been sacked while former Chester boss McCarthy remains at the club.

“I’ve got used to losing football matches,” he added. “For the first time in my career I’ve been scrapping at the wrong end of the table and it’s not nice.

“We lost seven on the bounce when I went in at Southport, so maybe it’s just me! I was on the bench for most of it, you could see they were a few quality players light in key areas.

“It went from being a play-off push to a relegation battle. Thankfully, when I got my chance I scored three in two games and we stayed up. I’d like to think I’ll score goals wherever I go.”