Cheshire Phoenix

	Cheshire Phoenix
Founded	1984
Hall	Northgate Arena
Homepage	www.cheshirephoenix.co.uk
Trainer	John Lavery
league	BBL ; 2012/13: 10th place
Colours	Blue / white / golden yellow
home	Away
	successes
	BBL play-offs 2002; ; BBL Regular Season 2002, 2005; ; BBL Trophy 2001 to 2004; ; National Cup 2002

Cheshire Phoenix is a professional basketball club based in Chester , England . The club was founded in 1984 in neighboring Ellesmere Port as Jets . After changing its name to Cheshire Jets in 1988, the club was accepted into the closed professional league British Basketball League in 1991 . In 1993 the venue was changed and its headquarters were in neighboring Chester, the administrative seat of today's Unitary Authority Cheshire West and Chester . After the relocation, the company started out as Chester Jets , before adopting the old name Cheshire Jets again in 2007. The club was temporarily suspended from league management in November 2012 and resumed its game operations as Cheshire Phoenix after a change of ownership.

history

Started until moving to Chester (1984 to 1993)

The Jets were founded in Ellesmere Port in 1984 after the predecessor club Saint Saviors withdrew from gaming. Initially, the Motocraft Center was named as sponsor , but after its withdrawal it was only called Jets. In 1991 they won the championship in Division 2 of the English Basketball League, then called the "National Basketball League", and was accepted into the closed professional league British Basketball League (BBL). There they achieved only two wins of the season in the first year and ended up on the last place in the table in the final table. Since the previous venue, Leisure Center in Ellemore Port, did not meet the requirements in this league , the company moved to the Northgate Arena in Chester in 1993 and was henceforth called Chester Jets .

Chester Jets (1993 to 2007)

The club used the change in the foreigner restrictions in the BBL resulting from the Bosman decision to establish itself from 1996 onwards among the more powerful teams in the BBL. In previous years the season had always ended in one of the last three places in the table, but in 1997 the qualification for the play-offs for the championship was achieved for the first time . Here they lost the semi-finals against the Greater London Leopards just after extra time . The following two seasons were rather narrowly missed the play-offs. In 2000 and 2001 they reached the play-offs and won their first title in the BBL with the league cup BBL Trophy .

After the first title success in 2001 they won all relevant titles to be awarded in the BBL in the 2001/02 season. In the regular season you won the Northern Conference of the BBL with the best record of all teams and could not be beaten in the BBL play-offs. The BBL Trophy, which was preceded by a group stage, and the National Cup had previously been won without defeat. Dave Gardner , who had played up to three seasons since 1990 for the Jets, ended his career with 38 years and his jersey number 11 was (in his honor "retired" German retired ). After Loren Meyer had been voted “ Most Valuable Player ” (MVP) of the 2000/01 season as a Jets player , John Thomas succeeded him in 2002. Kenny Gregory was the third Jets player in a row to become MVP of the 2002/03 season . In that season, however, it was only enough to defend the title of the BBL Trophy, which was won for the third time in a row. After losing the final in the National Cup against the Brighton Bears , they were eliminated in the BBL play-offs against eventual champions Scottish Rocks early in the quarter-finals.

In the 2003/04 season they won the BBL Trophy for the fourth time in a row. As a main round fifth you won in the play-offs initially with three points against defending champion Scottish Rocks and then just under one point against the Brighton Bears, against whom you had won in that order in the play-offs of the Trophy. In the final, however, the Sheffield Sharks , who had previously won the cup competition now known as the BBL Cup, won their first play-off title against the Jets. In the main round of the 2004/05 season they achieved the best record of all teams, but were eliminated in the cup competitions before the final. In the play-offs it was enough with BBL MVP Trey Moore to move into the final, where they were inferior to the Newcastle Eagles , who had dethroned the Jets in the semi-finals of the BBL Trophy. This ended the most successful time of the jets in the BBL.

Cheshire Jets (2007 to 2012)

While they had just reached the play-offs in 2006, a year later in ninth place in the final table, for the first time since 2000, it was no longer enough to qualify for the championship finals. Mike Burton, who had been the owner and trainer of the Jets for 19 years, resigned from his position and the lack of financial resources was initially made up by the entry of the new name sponsor BiG Storage , who was responsible for the name change from Chester Jets back to (BiG Storage) Cheshire Jets caused.

After missing the play-offs in 2008, they were eliminated in 2009 as eighth in the first round against eventual champions Newcastle Eagles. After the departure of the sponsor BiG Storage, the administration of the newly established Unitary Authority Cheshire West and Chester was now supported. In the 2009/10 season they were also eliminated in the first play-off round against eventual champions Everton Tigers , but in the cup competitions it was enough to make it to the final, both of which were lost. In the 2010/11 season, Jeremy Bell was the BBL MVP, but apart from a play-off semi-final defeat by defending champion Mersey Tigers, no significant successes could be recorded. The same happened in the following season 2011/12, when they were eliminated in the play-off semifinals against eventual champions Newcastle Eagles.

Cheshire Phoenix (since 2012)

The financially troubled jets were taken over by the new owner Haydn Cook in September 2012. However, after the start of the 2012/13 season at the end of October 2012, the latter declared that he would not be able to compensate for the significant deficit and that he wanted to terminate all player contracts. The league management then suspended the franchise after seven match days in the 2012/13 season and enabled the license to be transferred to the new Phoenix franchise with support from local sponsors, as the naming rights to the old franchise were still with Cook. The Phoenix ended the season in penultimate place in the table before the beaten and winless Mersey Tigers. For the following 2013/14 season you could commit John Lavery as coach, who had already looked after the team in the 2011/12 season. At his side is Mike Burton, the long-time trainer from the most successful days of the jets. With the realization of the new arena in Ellesmere Port, which is to replace the original venue of the jets, a return to Ellesmere Port is also possible in the future, as the previous venue Northgate Arena in Chester with a capacity of just over 1,000 spectators no longer meets the requirements corresponds to the BBL.

Web links

Cheshire Phoenix - British Basketball League BBL - Profile on the BBL website
Cheshire Phoenix basketball - team details, stats, news, roster - profile on the websites of Eurobasket.com (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Alec Doyle: Cheshire Jets: Season thrown into doubt as club has BBL Championship franchise withdrawn. Chester Chronicle , October 30, 2012, accessed May 23, 2013 .
↑ Alec Doyle: Cheshire Jets: Steering group sets target of £ 50,000 in 22 days to preserve future. Chester Chronicle , November 8, 2012, accessed May 23, 2013 .
↑ David Triggs: Basketball: Jets legend Mike Burton returns to take on assistant coach's role with Cheshire Phoenix. Chester Chronicle , May 16, 2013, accessed May 23, 2013 .
↑ David Powell: £ 14 million sports center a step closer. On: Ellesmere Port Standard website; Chester, UK, September 28, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
↑ Alec Doyle: Basketball: Big plans for Cheshire Jets to return to Ellesmere Port. Ellesmere Port Pioneer: www.ellesmereportpioneer.co.uk, September 29, 2010, accessed May 23, 2013 .

[1] Alec Doyle: Cheshire Jets: Season thrown into doubt as club has BBL Championship franchise withdrawn. Chester Chronicle , October 30, 2012, accessed May 23, 2013 .

[2] Alec Doyle: Cheshire Jets: Steering group sets target of £ 50,000 in 22 days to preserve future. Chester Chronicle , November 8, 2012, accessed May 23, 2013 .

[3] David Triggs: Basketball: Jets legend Mike Burton returns to take on assistant coach's role with Cheshire Phoenix. Chester Chronicle , May 16, 2013, accessed May 23, 2013 .

[4] David Powell: £ 14 million sports center a step closer. On: Ellesmere Port Standard website; Chester, UK, September 28, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2019.

[5] Alec Doyle: Basketball: Big plans for Cheshire Jets to return to Ellesmere Port. Ellesmere Port Pioneer: www.ellesmereportpioneer.co.uk, September 29, 2010, accessed May 23, 2013 .