Cheshire Phoenix

Cheshire Phoenix
League	British Basketball League
Established	1984
History	Ellesmere Port Jets 1984–1988 Chester Jets 1988–2007 Cheshire Jets 2007–2012 Cheshire Phoenix 2012–present
Arena	Cheshire Oaks Arena (Capacity: 1,400)
Location	Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
Team colours	Blue and White
Head coach	Colin O'Reilly
Website	CheshirePhoenix.com
Uniforms
Home Away

The Cheshire Phoenix is a professional basketball team based in Ellesmere Port, United Kingdom. Founded in 1984, they are members of the British Basketball League and play their home games at the Ellesmere Port Sports Village. Under previous ownership, the team was known as Cheshire Jets, but due to financial difficulties the franchise was withdrawn from the League in November 2012 and was replaced by the Phoenix. From 1993 until 2015 the team was based in Chester, where they enjoyed their most success.

At the end of the 2014-2015 season, John Coffino left the team and was replaced by John Lavery, whose tenure came to an end in May 2016. Following the 2015/16 season, the Phoenix replaced John Lavery as head coach with former player and Irish National coach Colin O'Reilly.

Franchise history

Origin

The team was first formed from the ruins of the Ellesmere Port team, the St Saviours in 1984. The team was initially named after their sponsors 'Motocraft Centre Ellesmere Port'. However, after the loss of their sponsor, they renamed themselves Ellesmere Port Jets.

The Jets were admitted to NBL Division 2 in 1986 and finished last in their first season, with just a single victory. Edging up to seventh in 1987–88, they then changed their name to Cheshire Jets, though still continuing to play in Ellesmere Port. They continued a steady mid-table development until, in 1991, they won the divisional title despite suffering five defeats. The same year, the Jets moved up into the BBL joining in with Britain's elite basketball teams. Later however, the arena in Ellesmere Port became unsuitable, and so in 1993 the Jets were forced to move to Chester, and into the Northgate Arena. The move was reflected in another name change to the Chester Jets.

The real turning point for the Jets came in 1996, when the application of the Bosman ruling to basketball resulted in the departure of many of the top English players to European clubs, and the BBL changed its eligibility rule to entitle teams to use five non-national players.

Trans-Atlantic recruitment by coach and co-owner Mike Burton resulted in a team which finished fifth in the League table in 1997. Subsequent seasons have seen their best-ever performances in 2002 (Northern Conference Champions) and 2003 (3rd in the re-unified League), and a string of successes in the BBL trophy (4-times winners, from 2001 to 2004), culminating in the League Championship in 2005.

On 7 April 2007, prior to the Jets' season finale at home to Guildford Heat, an 81–102 defeat, club owner and head coach Mike Burton announced that he would be retiring from the franchise at the end of the 2006–07 season. Burton's announcement, after 19 years at the helm, raised serious doubts of the clubs' future,^[1] with mounting debts and lack of financial backing. Shortly after the announcement, fans formed a committee to help save the club and received the backing of players including former Jet James Hamilton.^[2] Following a sponsorship deal agreed during the summer of 2007 with local firm BiG Storage to save the club and preserve their future, the Jets was renamed as the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets to cover the wider demographic of Cheshire county in line with BiG Storage's market coverage. When BiG Storage terminated the sponsorship, the managing director of the company arranged a successor sponsor; Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The club was plunged into chaos in November 2012 when, after only 7 games into the season, the British Basketball League withdrew the club's franchise from owner Haydn Cook after he notified them that he was going to cancel the players contracts and cancelled all future fixtures.

A statement from the BBL said: "The BBL have withdrawn the Cheshire franchise from its operating company with immediate effect.

"The decision follows an urgent review of the franchise following notification from the club that they were unable to fulfil their fixture this weekend. The BBL is currently exploring a number of options to ensure the continuation of the franchise. It is anticipated there will be a further announcement in the coming days." (Cheshire Chronicle)

The club had until the end of November to find £50,000 to preserve its status in top-flight basketball. Local businesses were found to donate money and become sponsors, thus saving the club and fulfilling its fixture list as planned.

Arena

The Phoenix have secured anchor tenant status at the new Ellesmere Port Sports Leisure and Village which is due to open in 2015 and this will be their new home with a brand new 1400 seat arena.^[3]

Home arenas

Ellesmere Port Leisure Centre (1984–1993)

Northgate Arena (1993–2015)

Cheshire Oaks Arena (2015–present)

Season-by-season records

Notes: From 1999 to 2002 the BBL operated a Conference system where Chester Jets competed in the Northern Conference.

Initially, the 2012-2013 season saw the franchise start the campaign as Cheshire Jets, until the franchise changed hands and the club was forced to rebrand. The supporters were given the opportunity to vote for the new club name, where "Cheshire Phoenix" was selected going forward.

• DNQ denotes Did Not Qualify
• TBC denotes To Be Completed
• (*)Current season

Trophies

League

• NBL Division One Winners: 1990–91 1
• BBL Championship Winners: 2001–02, & 2004–05 2
• BBL Championship Runners Up: 2000–01 1

Playoffs

• BBL Championship Play Off Winners: 2001–02 1
• BBL Championship Play Off Runners Up: 2003–04, & 2004–05 2

Trophy

• BBL Trophy Winners: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04 4
• BBL Trophy Runners Up: 1996–97, 2009–10 2

Cup

• National Cup Winners: 2001–02 1
• National Cup Runners Up: 2000–01, 2009–10 2

Players

Current roster

Cheshire Phoenix roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. 3.5 !F 5000000000000000000♠0 USA ! Roster TBC 5000000000000000000♠0 ft 0 in (0.00 m)	Head coach Colin O'Reilly Assistant coach(es) James Brice Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 05 July 2016

Notable former players

To appear in this section a player must have either:

• Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
• Played at least one official international match for his senior national team or one NBA game at any time.

Retired numbers

• 11 Dave Gardner, C, 1990–1995, 1997–1998 & 1999–2003

See also

• Basketball in England
• British Basketball League

References

External links

• Official Cheshire Phoenix website
• Cheshire Phoenix on Facebook
• Cheshire Phoenix on Twitter
• Cheshire Phoenix news from the Chester Chronicle

British Basketball League
Bristol Flyers Cheshire Phoenix Glasgow Rocks Leeds Force Leicester Riders London Lions Manchester Giants Newcastle Eagles Plymouth Raiders Sheffield Sharks Surrey Scorchers Worcester Wolves
Competitions	BBL Championship (Play-off Finals) BBL Cup BBL Trophy Cup Winners' Cup (defunct) Women's British Basketball League
Seasons	1972-73 1973-74 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 1977-78 1978-79 1979-80 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86 1986-87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17
Awards	Individual: Coach of the Year Most Valuable Player Team: British Team of the Year Defensive Team of the Year Team of the Year
Other	BBL TV Expansion British Basketball Union English Basketball League Scottish National League National Cup National Basketball League