CHESTER CITY were today aiming to clear up the confusion over a festive kick-off time with rivals Wrexham.

Blues club secretary Tony Allan confirmed that the club, the police, and the safety advisory group had all been in discussion to determine the kick-off time for the cross-border derby clash against Wrexham, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 28.

Allan said: “The Police indicated yesterday that they would prefer to see the match against Wrexham played at 12 noon rather than 7.45pm as originally planned.

“But the Football League have said that a 12 noon kick-off is not in keeping with their plans because December 28 is not a bank holiday.

“The safety advisory group have now also got involved and they have stated they, like the police, would like a 12 noon kick-off.

“And the Football League have since responded to the discussions by suggesting that an alternative could be to switch the fixture to Christmas Eve.

“The Football League’s Director of Operations, Andy Williamson, is now expected to try and resolve the situation as soon as possible because he is aware that arrangements have to be made and tickets need to be printed in advance of the fixture.”

Cheshire Police said: “The safety group, which comprises of the fire service, the ambulance service, and the police, say their preferred option for the Chester-Wrexham match is a 12 noon kick-off, subject to the approval of the Football League.”

Chester club chairman, Stephen Vaughan, emphasised that public safety remained his biggest concern.

He said: “As a club we would never put public safety at risk, which seems to be the concern of the local police.

“However, every club has high profile games during their season, the cities of Manchester and Liverpool being the best examples.

“The Chester against Wrexham fixture has been played for nearly 100 years and I don’t think there has ever been this amount of confusion over a kick-off time.

“All I want is a sensible and mature conclusion to the apparent impasse and, of course I don’t want public safety or Chester City Football Club to be disadvantaged.”

Meanwhile, Chester have announced that they are disbanding their scheme for under 7s to be admitted into matches free of charge.

Club officials made a decision to scrap the initiative because a number of people had been abusing the scheme, and parents of junior season ticket holders had also complained about the initiative.