A FANZINE has raised hundreds of pounds for fan-owned football club Chester FC.

The latest issue of The Blue & White would normally have been available for purchase as a printed copy to Chester FC fans at the Deva Stadium on a matchday.

But with all competitive football called off until further notice, editors Neil and Richard Bellis have made the latest issue available to download digitally, online and through mobiles.

And despite the issue technically being free to download, plenty of Blues fans have chipped in to pay at least the £2 donation suggested for the issue, with all proceeds going to the club.

As a result, more than £500 has been raised for Chester FC, which is much-needed income at a time when all the club's remaining fixtures for this season have been called off and a return to football is as yet not known.

Fanzine editor and former Chester Standard reporter Neil Bellis said: "We had nearly finished putting the fanzine together when lockdown started so we had a chat about what we should do.

"We decided that we wouldn't print it and we'd give it away for free online and ask for donations to help the club out.

"We've been blown away by the generosity of fans and also our advertisers who have also donated the cost of their normal ad.

"We are just over £500 now, which is more than we usually make on each edition.

"We hope it'll go some way to keeping our fan owned club going in these strange times and hope we've alleviated the boredom for Blues fans for an afternoon."