Chesterfield out of the relegation zone

Chesterfield out of the dreaded drop zone with a late, late winner from Robbie Weir

They say football matches are won and lost on fine margins and it was never better illustrated than that, Robbie Weir in the 93rd minute finally grabbed the points for us, if he hadn’t taken that chance Chesterfield would still have been in the relegation places, along with our visitors Barnet.

After the game speaking to our birthday boy and match winner was an enlightening and sobering experience, he actually criticised his own game and said he wasn’t good enough. When I asked how he felt when Ian Evatt put him through to score, Weir suggested that with the way he’d played, most people would have expected him to hit the corner flag.
Compared to the bland nonsense coming from players and managers on TV that we see week in week out, it’s a refreshing change to hear some honesty. Robbie Weir also said that he thought The Blues could still mount a play off challenge, well it’s nice to hear some confidence coming from the dressing room.


So why were we so bad under Gary Caldwell?

Football is a closed world, as it should be, us non-football folk don’t expect to have to justify our performance at work in front of journalists. Steve Eyre’s interview on Peak Fm this week was nothing short of a revelation about what had gone wrong for Gary Caldwell. In our naivety many fans, myself included, simply assume that football people must know what they are doing, as it is their industry.

It looks as though Gary Caldwell wanted Graham Barrow to be his assistant all along, and the decision-making process behind the scenes really wasn’t the best. Eyre also suggested that Guy Branston had “infiltrated” the club by talking to both Gary Caldwell and Ashley Carson and playing them off against each other. Branston appeared to have taken the transfer decisions out of Gary Caldwell’s hands and signed “too many substitutes” according to our former assistant manager, who described Branston’s 2 match managerial tenure as “A PR farce,” harsh but true.

It’s also disturbing to know that Gary Caldwell thought that the team were super fit, but that Steve Eyre didn’t think the players were doing enough work on a daily basis, and that the tactics and player selections were often not right.
Robbie Weir says his fitness has improved and so has the whole squad body shapes have changed and they can last longer in a match. Surely it's just taken as a given that players are fit enough to do the job? It's what us fans expect, Barnet for example, were out on their feet for the last 10 minutes of the match. Jack Lester said that our fitness got us through the game, it's amazing to me that the previous regime weren't good enough to get players up to scratch, but of course Gary Caldwell dispensed with the last fitness coach. Stroll on, talk about amateur


Still mistakes will always be made in the game, Chris Turner has secured a new job in football and I’d like to wish Port Vale the very best of luck with that. Also ex-manager Gary Caldwell has commented that he thinks Kristian Dennis can play at a higher level of football, he did do Gary, before you got us relegated from League One remember? Anyway it’s nice to have Jack Lester in charge isn’t it?


Nearly Christmas we had a brass band at half time, it snowed near the end and got three points



https://www.barnetfc.com/news/2017/december/reckless-guide--chesterfield/

Check out this utterly hilarious Vlog from a Barnet fan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxySOgYMs54&app=desktop

Dementia and Football, Mansfield Town away

Football and dementia; are issues currently in the public eye due to Alan Shearer’s documentary, which aired last week. The FA have finally got round announcing that they are launching a study to see if there is a link between heading a football and suffering from dementia in later life.

We are all aware what is happening to Ernie Moss, former Mansfield player Kevin Bird is also suffering from a form of dementia, as are many others highlighted in Alan Shearer’s show. Football fans will of course say that this is something we have known all along, but science doesn’t work like that, things have to be proven in clinical tests.

For those reasons I’d like to highlight the great work undertaken by charity walkers who made it from the Proact to Field Mill on Saturday, organised by Mansfield supporter Mick Edge who raised money for Alzheimer’s and also Guide Dogs for The Blind.

Many people may ask why is there no known cure for Alzheimer’s, well science hasn’t got there yet, but it could do, if there’s enough money put into clinical trials and many think that’s where football could step in, football clearly isn’t short of money.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE MY REPORT ON THE UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER's BREAKTHROUGH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoE3I7qok8E&t=51s&list=PL5q5VCSdVadco-SccARdmKqP5dDrCf_pX&index=29


The University Of Lancaster under the leadership of Professor David Allsop and his team has actually developed a compound which they are confident will stop the onset of Alzheimers.
This compound can’t reverse the condition, but it is hoped it can stop things getting worse. However what is needed is money, in order start clinical trials on people who are in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, once the clinical trials are proven, then a drug could be made. How does that work? Well that’s where drug companies have to step in and decide to manufacture such a thing and put it on the market. It’s a long and costly process. Governments tend not to fund drug research it’s usually down to the private sector to do that.
There are many forms of dementia and Alzheimer’s is one of the major types that we know about, so this research is not a “cure all” but certainly a step in the right direction.

Defying Dementia http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/defyingdementia are slowly raising funds for what they hope will be a medical breakthrough which could help everyone, but they need £1-2 million pounds to even start getting clinical trials underway.

So where could that sort of cash be generated?
A fraction of the gate money from an England match, perhaps? The PFA sticking its hand in it’s pocket? A bit of spare change from a Premier League team, maybe? Football should take the lead, we really shouldn’t have to rely on blokes like Mick and his charity walk.

We won at home!

How much of a relief was the Exeter game? 3 months since our last home win,
one shot on target, one goal and three precious points.

Kristian Dennis has now scored in all of our last 5 league games, which must be some sort of a record; it’s not bad for a guy who was once loaned to Woodley Sports by Stockport County. Woodley Sports is actually a team, not a shop, if anyone was wondering. Also quite amazing to think that Dennis has not been our regular first choice striker for the whole season, he had been a sub for a number of early matches and came off the bench to score against Lincoln and Grimsby.

All the amateur pundits and rivals web sites are now wondering when we are going to sell him. Do other teams get this? Does anyone think Danny Hylton is bound to leave Luton, are teams queueing up to get Billy Kee from Accington Stanley?

I’d not have dared to have even looked at the table if we’d conceded a late goal; I haven’t got any fingernails left after the last 10 minutes of that one. I felt sure when they hit the bar they would have scored the rebound and I think we got a bit lucky near the end as I am sure Exeter had a good shout for a penalty denied as Ian Evatt seemed to be shirt pulling.

Getting Nervous

On the plus side Jerome Binnon-Williams looked immense, especially in the first half, frankly having him on the pitch is the equivalent of signing a new player. What he gave the side was someone who will take on the full back and want to get the ball in first time, it’s exactly the sort of player that’s been missing for the last season and a half, so many times this year we’ve seen players having to make up the numbers in the left back position and not have the confidence or ability to stick in a decent cross. Gary Caldwell brought him to the club and his injury was unfortunate for our former manager, as it meant that his favoured 3-5-2 formation didn’t work.

What gladdens the heart of many Spireites is Jack Lester’s interview after the game he says we are building something special here, fine words for a man whose team currently sit bottom of the table, he says the players are giving him everything, but have to work hard to stay in the team. One interesting omen is that at this stage last season Exeter City went bottom of the league but ended up in the playoffs, I’m not sticking any money on that outcome, but I think we’ll avoid the drop.

Still bottom but Jack's upbeat

Chesterfield v Carlisle United

I left the Proact after the Carlisle game in an upbeat frame of mind even though we hadn’t won and there’s still people in the press trying to write a doom and gloom story saying “Jack Lester’s not won a home game yet” well he’s won 2 away so far and the team are looking better, as one caller to local radio pointed out in our last 3 games we’ve won one, drawn one and lost one, if that continues to the end of the season we would finish up on roughly 50 points and hopefully, safety.

JACK LESTER POST MATCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw4s5L6-PU0


The positives that we are seeing are that the formation and style has a similarity to what Paul Cook achieved, admittedly we don’t have the midfield pairing of Ryan and Morsy so it’s not as good as Cook’s team, but there is a good basic pattern to the play. Players who looked out of sorts and presumably did not know what our formation and tactics were, under Gary Caldwell now seem way more confident, Jak McCourt for one put in an outstanding performance. Joe Rowley is now coming into good form and should be the star of the team if he can avoid injury and we have a new winger in Ian Evatt who teed up a lovely cross for the equaliser.



It’s fair to say, that under what players are referring to as “The previous management” we would have probably lost against Carlisle, having gone 2-1 behind. It was great to see a tactical switch and the team going hell for leather to get something out of the game. Jack Bonham in the Carlisle goal pulled off 2 magnificent saves, we hit the bar and Chris O’Grady missed an open net. If one of those had gone in we’d have won.


The downsides were letting in a free header to a corner, again, and the fact that wide players in Bradley Barry and Matt Briggs didn’t seem to have enough confidence to swing in a cross when in the right position. Also when Carlisle went to a 4-4-2 in the second half they had Chesterfield on the ropes and their left sided winger Nicky Adams was causing us lots of problems.


Jack Lester seemed upbeat after the game and thinks the team is a month away from full fitness to play the style of football he wants, which merely brings into question what the previous regime was trying to do. Also Jack hinted there will be personnel changes in January. Next week’s FA Cup game against Bradford City is not as important as Swindon Town away in the league a week later, but here’s hoping for a good performance.

We nearly have a team, still bottom of the league though

Ok we lost to a poor team in Morecambe and the second goal we gave them was a Sunday League nightmare. But I am actually optimistic.

The reason is that in the second half Chesterfield actually played like a team, there seemed to be a formation emerging, we created more chances in 45 minutes than we had in the previous 4 or 5 matches. The reason was that Jack Lester actually had the guts to take off our non-performing players and give the young lads a go. It’s fair to say the writing is on the wall for Chris O’Grady, he’s our highest ever paid player but he just hasn’t got the pace to do what he’s supposed to. He had one chance in the game which he should have buried but shot instead straight at Barry Roche. Robbie Weir sadly, can’t do the things he used to, his injury seems to have taken the edge off his game and he was beaten once again by an opposition midfielder and could not get back in time, he did commit the foul which gave Morecambe their free kick. Jak McCourt seemed to tire and after one really bad pass and was taken off. Stand up Conor Dimaio, pretty much the forgotten man of the side under Gary Caldwell he did the simple things so well and made the team tick, Diego De Girolamo posed an immediate threat and Jordan Flores looked OK when in his favoured position. Morecambe were stretched all over the pitch and we looked a totally different side, it wasn’t exactly total football but if Ian Evatt pops up on the right wing and nutmegs an opponent you know that confidence has started to come back into the players. The downside to our team, which was identified by Joe Rawson and Alan O’Hare on the radio before the game, we don’t have any wide players. So it proved, time after time down the left, Kellet and Reed seemed scared to put a ball in the box and played it back and inside and eventually went nowhere.

From a fan’s point of view it’s gallows humour time, one bloke next to me said “We’ll be alright next week against Crawley, we’ve got some new sponsors, It’s Butlins, their season finishes in October as well” after our umpteenth chance was blazed over the bar another said “John Lennon would be alive today if this lot had shot at him” Possibly one of the most exciting things all afternoon was watching 2 grown women in the crowd have a bitch fight and have to be escorted out of the stadium Jack Lester had the team back in on Sunday for more work, which is a good sign, better than the previous management simply hoping that things would change. In order to preserve our league status we have to hit promotion form for a few weeks, to even be on a level playing field.

Chesterfield sack the manager

It’s over for Gary Caldwell then, he went out with a fair amount of dignity as he came out to face the press after the game, citing the mistakes of the referee and the fourth official.

All true, we should have had a spot kick for handball and Stanley’s Conneeley, who had already been booked, should have had his marching orders for the foul that led to the penalty that we did get. Frankly though, that’s just papering over the cracks, we had no shots on target in the first half in a do or die game, our team effectively passed sideways and back and kept the ball in the middle of the pitch, but it was too easy for Accrington to put 8 men back and watch us revert to a long hopeful ball. The second half was better as we pushed up and our wide players particularly Andy Kellett got some decent crosses in. None of the press pack asked him “So, Gary are you going to get the boot?” sometimes it’s what isn’t said in an interview that speaks louder than what is said. Gary went up to speak to Peak FM in the press box and then into the exec lounge at the back of the stand. It’s at this point that we could see various club officials scurrying from one room to the next in great haste, presumably wondering where the soon to be ex-football manager actually was. Then the tunnel doors were closed in our faces, meaning that the inevitable was bound to happen.

bored in the press box no shots on target in the first half Even the manner of Caldwell’s demise summed up the club. Another sending off after a stupid tackle by Bradley Barry; players at the end arguing with fans behind the goal, our best defender Scott Wiseman and scorer Kristian Dennis exchanging “remarks” with supporters which ended up on You Tube; and the ball being booted into the car park in sheer frustration.

the press waiting for any indications According to “various sources” or press box gossip, after the embarrassing defeat at Crewe, Caldwell was sacked, only for the players to beg the club to let him have one last chance. Ian Evatt apparently said what he thought needed to be said, and paid by being “rested” or dropped and humiliated, call it what you will. Our skipper turned up at the match though, wearing a jacket and tie and sat in the main stand alongside other notables including Jack Lester and Rob Page. Naturally the rumour mill regarding the next boss rumbles along and such thoughts will be in fans minds when handing over their hard earned cash to the nearest bookmaker. But whichever name the random manager selection computer spits out to be our next great leader, let’s hope it’s the dawning of a new era rather than a new error.

No decent teams in League Two

Are there actually any outstanding sides in this division? Coventry City seem to think that they are one of the front runners and they are set up for promotion, we’ve been informed Chesterfield have one of the bigger budgets, many had Luton nailed on to run away with things and the Stags have been telling us that it’s their year, meanwhile Exeter City are at the top. Looking at message boards I can’t see fans of any team confident that their manager has it right, yet. Definitely a point gained against Coventry, and certainly an improved performance from our new look side, adding new players just before the deadline day may have proven to be Gary Caldwell’s “Get Out of Jail” card. Matt Briggs was a worthy Man of the Match for us; he played well alongside Zak Jules and finally our left side of the team looks good enough to compete and the side seems to have some stability. However as always it’s a question of balance when getting a football team right, and putting 4 at the back certainly has the approval of fans as the team looks more solid than in recent weeks, despite the fact that Gary has repeatedly said that a defensive line of 3 is the way to go, maybe he’s finally ditched that idea. Putting Kristian Dennis out wide seems to be baffling many fans, but surely the idea in the set up is that he breaks into the penalty area after O’Grady plays him in along with Jordan Flores? It’s perhaps a case of what you gain in defence you lose in attack. At the end the Blues put in a hard working performance to get the point and nice to see Diego DiGeralamo get a run out, he looks useful As for Coventry, their fans turned up expecting a win, against a “team like Chesterfield” they’ve really got only one effective player in winger Jodi Jones; but if their ex Sheffield United striker Mark McNulty could hit the net he’d probably still be at Bramall Lane. I fully expected Peter Vincenti to score against us as he usually does, he had three chances in the game although the one that went in was flagged offside before he headed it. Coventry fans were cheesed off that they can’t beat 10 men and played 2 defensive midfielders and passed sideways and backwards, now where have we heard that before? A draw was a fair result in the end. Onwards then to Gresty Road in Crewe, they suffered their first defeat against Grimsby with ex-Chesterfield striker Jordan Bowery featuring for them. What will Gary Caldwell’s line up be? We’ll find out at 2.45pm on Saturday.

Bottom of the League and getting worse

Chesterfield FC bottom of the entire league

According to our manager there’s still positives to be taken from a match where the team caved in and handed a 12-minute hat trick to the opposition’s leading striker. Being beaten 4-1 away at Newport and seeing at your team bottom of the entire football league is a disgrace, there’s no two ways of looking at it.

Here's some links to a defensive horror show

0 - 1 - http://www.dailymoti...m/video/x5ybagx
1 - 1 - http://www.dailymoti...m/video/x5ybfzd
2 - 1 - http://www.dailymoti...m/video/x5ybhe8
3 - 1 - http://www.dailymoti...m/video/x5ybiis

4-1 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ybk7a

To surmise Gary’s interview on the radio, we were good in the first half, which is a fair point; and then the players stopped doing what he asked them to in the second. 

Well Gary brought all these players in and looking back at the goals on the TV he’s constructed a midfield who gift the ball to the opposition, then won’t tackle to win it back. 

An equally big concern is whether keeper Tommy Lee picked up a recurrence of his shoulder injury, if so; it could mean the worst for him.

Most fans seem to now agree the manager is tactically setting up to play a style, which the players can’t achieve. In last week’s paper he commented that three at the back is the way that wins titles, it obviously depends on the personnel.

John Sheridan won this division with 4-4-2, Paul Cook with a 4-2-3-1 and John Duncan got us promoted with big hoof football, twice, so there’s more than one way to do it.

Against Port Vale last week I thought we’d turned a corner, when after changing formation, perhaps on the advice of assistant Graham Barrow, we looked like a different side.

The web boards make predictably depressing reading with fans split between those who think Gary Caldwell should be given the elbow this week and others who think 10 games is the maximum he should be allowed to turn things around.

I’ll leave the final comment to one poster from our web board

A poster called MDCCCLXV1 quoted

“Name a manager that's achieved less with more?

Our off-field disgraces are well documented, as is the fact they led to Caldwell, like Wilson before him, being forced to exit talent and replace it from the discount aisles.

However not only has he since had the scope to replace summat like three quarters of the squad, but I'd argue his budget this season is still superior to many of those currently sitting above us…

even the like-able though inept Lee Richardson, who guided us to our lowest finish in the last twenty five years, never plumbed the depths Caldwell's delivering.

Three defeats from four isn't just bad luck. It merely confirms what we witnessed last season. The sooner Carson accepts responsibility the better. 

PS: would the Club really be any worse off if he followed Caldwell out the door too....?”

Going Down..with no shots on target

Well that just about summed up the season didn’t it? No shots on target for 90 minutes and humiliated 4-0 at home by an average, but well organised, Southend team; that was apparently going through an injury crisis.

Once Stuckmann had needlessly fouled their striker, who was never going to score, to give away an obvious penalty, we were down. The ref started to lose the plot Chesterfield lost their heads and Dion Donohue decided to try some martial arts on Southend’s Demetriou, who went down like he’d been assaulted by Chuck Norris; only to calmly get up without requiring attention, after the red card had been shown.

Web boards are currently in meltdown as it’s very difficult to take any positives either on or off the field after that display, although any communication from the leadership of the club seems to be in short supply, hopefully they will be opening the post to see if any more CCJs have landed on the doormat of 1866 Sheffield Road.

On fan commented on the facebook page that he had spoken to a member of the Southend coaching staff on the phone and the fact is that on the pitch we have not changed tactics from Plan A since Gary Caldwell arrived.

We try to pass it across the back but if other teams press up then we can’t do that, the ball goes back to the keeper who has to lump it long and then we lose the ball as we don’t have the physical striker to control it.

All the teams in this division know this making Chesterfield easy to beat. Us humble fans can see this, so can opposition scouts, but the management continue to try to play this way.

Being fair to Gary Caldwell, we did go on a record equalling 2 match unbeaten “run” recently, but the players aren’t good enough and whichever formation he tries, the team is too weak.

fans going home after the third goal

On that note, all of the January loan signings seem to have flopped or gone back to parent clubs apart from Liam Grimshaw who got a run out as a sub. Sadiq El Fitouri, our Libyan international was reported as having “lost contact” with the club, whether that means he’s gone home in a sulk or switched his mobile phone off on Friday is anyone’s guess. I thought El Fitouri was the best of the January signings although he’s been given little chance on the field.

Well done, however, to Jay O’Shea who has won a champions medal and scoring goals with Sheffield United, but loaning your best player to your nearest rivals as a cost cutting measure tells you all you need to know about which way the club is heading.

Shut the door on your way out

The history of the club is that we get promoted from the bottom division, have a tilt at promotion from the third tier to the second, spend too much money, then the club either goes into freefall or has nearly gone bust and we find our selves back in the basement. 

The real questions are, is this our worst team ever? And who has gained financially from being here? Dave Allen won't sell the club for £10m there seems little chance of anyone making such an offer. Ashley Carson is trying to run the club as well as his own business, but will he bail out? 

We had someone in marketing that made up a raffle winner...and was given the elbow

Chris Turner has gone, but was on wages that many of the fan base could only dream of earning. One mate of mine told me stories of a meeting with Mr Turner which illustrated that he thought our previous leader lacked business skills. 

My greatest fear is that we will end up like Leyton Orient

Still eh, this club does not make mistakes does it? But the pantomime goes on.

Staying up....for another week

Finally a home win for Gary Caldwell, the Blues were good value for the three points in the second half, the first half was pretty forgettable, but no one really minds.

Had we lost that one, the trap door would have opened and we’d have been in League Two, as it is watching Port Vale’s lovely fan base getting all uppity and wanting to have a go at their own players rounded off a nice afternoon. Many on the Port Vale massage board are suggesting that result just got them relegated, especially as they have Sheffield United to play next week.

Joe Rowley took the plaudits today, great to see him getting his first goal and maybe with Lawrence McGuire coming through the team may have a future. It’s great credit to Mark Smith and his Academy that we have these lads who should make the base of next season’s team. Although if 17 year old Joe does get a bottle of champagne for Man of the Match he is too young to legally drink it.

A win against Southend next week would be amazing, but in reality we are all but relegated. There are twelve points left to play for and we are 9 away from safety, even if we won every match, Shrewsbury and Gillingham can still send us down by picking up points.

So, lots of supporters and playing “Guess the retained list” for next season. One player we are nearly all hoping stays on at the Proact is Dan Jones, a man who was out for nearly a year and has finally come back he certainly adds to the teams performance. If Gary Caldwell persists with 3 at the back he can play the attacking wing back role very well or as a left back in a 442, but the manager has left Jones and Sam Hird out in recent matches with no apparent explanation of why, this has led to serious consternation in the stands that some sort of rift had developed between our better players and the manager.

Rai Simons still seems to have people wondering whether he’s one for the future, or if this is the best we are going to see of him like Gboly Ariyibi he can look great going forward but seems to lack positional play when he doesn’t have the ball

On the injury front we’d all like to see Tommy Lee get back to fitness but if and when he comes back, who would you pick Lee or Stuckmann? it’s a difficult decision.

Guy Branston has lists of players drawn up and the manager has a few weeks left to decide who stays and who goes.

The Relegation Parade

It’s all aboard the relegation bus, then.

The main topic of gallows humour amongst our fan base is how best to “celebrate” the club’s impending decline into what we used to call division 4.

Some of our most hardy fans took it upon themselves to organise the first open top bus parade of the season around Bristol. In an act symbolic of our season, The Compton Old Boys can be seen here proudly parading a whole lot of  “nothing whatsoever” to the admiring locals.

On that note why don’t teams get something for having an atrocious season? Perhaps one of Coventry and Chesterfield can be given a giant wooden spoon for finishing last? Fans are now taking bets on which game we are actually confirmed as being down, I’m hoping for a Blackadder style “underpants on head” away parade at Bolton.

On the pitch it’s been a feeling of hope, desperation and bewilderment for the Spireites this week. The 3-3 game against Peterborough was actually entertaining, we appeared to have settled on a formation which looked as though it could hold it’s own, however shakily, against a mid-table side. Ebanks-Blake, for me, was back to his best just a pity we’ve seen so little of it this year, for one reason or another. Over 2 seasons our highest ever paid player hasn’t been worth it, but there’s nothing like the end of your contract to motivate players to get one last payday.

Ok the Posh could easily have won it, if they hadn’t hit the bar and post when it looked easier to score but the Spireites looked good value in the second half and it seemed as if we had a formation which could carry us into the tricky away clash at Bristol Rovers.

15 minutes before kick off at The Bristol Rugby stadium, supporters were expressing disbelief at our formation, suggesting perhaps the side were lined up to scrum down in a game of egg ball chasing.

How can you have a settled side if the back line changes every week? With right back McGinn, Anderson and midfielder Dion Donohue in a back 3; then playing centre back Sam Hird in midfield, the line up could best be described as “experimental.” Conor Dimaio was rewarded for a good performance against Peterborough and an Ireland under 21 call up, by being made substitute.

Still, it took Rovers a whole minute to score their first goal, by the ingenious tactic of running straight through the middle of the pitch, with our side working out who was doing what.

We play Rochdale next, whose manager, Keith Hill will demonstrate how to get a team on a small budget playing effective football.

We've had a shot on target...

Things trundle along on the pitch in a general downward trajectory, Walsall away wasn’t much fun really, it was touted as a game where the opposition would not have much to play for and this would see a resurgence in the team’s form. Sadly this wasn’t the case.

The tactics seems similar to the Swindon match, to deny the opposition and try to counter, but winning 1-0 with your only shot on target in the last minute, is one of those once a season results. At the Bescot we managed, by the reckoning of many fans, 2 shots neither of which rally troubled the goalkeeper, once the Saddlers scored that was it. 

The stats from the Shrewsbury game were similar we had one shot on target and scored one goal, which if you are a statistician looks great, however Shrewsbury had 21 shots and 11 of them were on target. Had they not blazed over from close range and had one chance headed straight at Stuckmann we could have been easily beaten. The loss of Ian Evatt injured for the rest of the season will leave a huge gap at centre back, I wonder if we could approach Oxford to give us Charlie Raglan back?

Many fans seem rather baffled as to Gary Caldwell’s tactics in employing a 352 formation when we don’t have any natural wingbacks and many felt sorry for Liam Grimshaw who had to play wide right. Nonetheless the side did put up a bit of a fight in the second half against the Shrews.

Personally I thought it was an excellent piece of marketing by the club to let kids in on the cheap and fans certainly responded with some of the best paper aeroplane throwing I have witnessed in a long time. It’s that sort of origami that marks out the true football fan from the armchair “expert.” Since when did your SKY TV loving plastic fan ever get the chance to achieve that sort of trajectory in model aerodynamic indulgence in their living room?

Off the field Ashley Carson has been to the far east to do business. Lets hope he’s speaking to someone who might like to buy the club

Whilst there Ashley posted a comment online about a Mr Liam Sutcliffe, and money that was owed pertaining to the development centre saga. It seems that there will be more twists and turns whilst the whole mess is sorted out.

If the football club does not know what to do with the building across the road, I’d like to suggest they set up a bar install a DJ and put up a sign bearing the name “The Aquarius” it’ll do a roaring trade.

Watching your team fall apart

Chesterfield are facing relegation and a Chairman turning down bids for the club and nesh players who won't battle

Gary Caldwell says he doesn’t want to hear any negativity from fans after a 4-0 home drubbing, but for many it was difficult to find any positives on Saturday, he said he can’t accept the performance and neither can we fans and that’s fair comment. The criticism for his own team when interviewed was harsh, once we gifted Oxford the first goal the manager said that the team “Self destructed…no resilience and no character, no desire, no willingness to fight and stand up for yourself “ are fairly damning words.

The manager refused to comment on why Dan Jones was subbed in the first half, which could be taken to mean that he defender wasn’t following instructions properly.

For the first 20 minutes it looked as though Chesterfield had turned a corner and were building on the admirable point gained at Millwall, but watching the goals replayed on Saturday night must have been a horror epic for many..

If Gary doesn’t want negative comments he’d better not go on facebook where a selection of comments read “We can’t play with 3 at the back” “Shocking display;”  “I’m done for this year and no renewal of my season ticket;”  and “Is this for real?” were some of the printable ones.

https://twitter.com/brown29_/status/833043960536920067

Even more galling was that after the defeat against Bury, on loan midfielder Reece Brown went on twitter to publish a picture of his bruised head where he’d been kicked with the comment “Reasons why I don’t head the ball.” Which didn’t meet with a favourable reaction from the paying public. When will players realise that anything you publish on line just won’t get deleted, and even if it was meant to be taken with a sense of humour, it wont be?

Reaction from fans were predictable

"I've had bigger scratches on my cock"

"Good luck in your career outside football"

"Grow a pair of bollocks then"

personally I hope we never select him again for the rest of his loan period with the club

Off the field Chesterfield FC is in interesting times, many of us were flabbergasted to read a posting on Monday from a Chesterfield fan based in Stockholm who said that he was linked to a consortium who wanted to buy Chesterfield FC for a reported sum of £10 million. The poster said that the business people would have paid in £3m initially and then paid in other monies in terms of sponsorship over time which would have added up to £10m. Dave Allen was reported to have rejected the bid out of hand. The club then revealed that enquiries had taken place in January.

I'd suspect that Dave Allen would be looking for an outright deal rather than something in installments. His valuation of £15m was not met, but with the team about to go to League 2, it's less and less likely that anyone would buy the club.

This lead many fans to question why it wasn’t made public at the time, although people must temper their enthusiasm over “bids” which may or may not be as attractive as they are reported. We all remember the initial enthusiasm that greeted one Darren Brown; and no one would want a repeat of that situation. 

Radio shows

<iframe width="100%" height="120" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Frolandgent%2Fdamned-so-whos-paranoid-featured-album-plus-ruts-dc-nelson-can-blister-brigade-immure-dwarves%2F&hide_cover=1&light=1" frameborder="0"></iframe>

If you click here you can go to all my radio shows as featured on www.totalrock.com and also www.fabradiointernational.com

Normal Service Resumed

For 80 minutes it looked as though Gary Caldwell could get his fist win as Chesterfield Manager v Bury, then it all went wrong late in the game, again.

According to most fans, that, appears to be game over. Chesterfield 7 points from safety, with a terrible goal difference having just had a disastrous series of results in a 4 match “relegation mini league” One hard won point against Gillingham but losses against Oldham, Northampton, and now Bury, leave the Spireites requiring snookers.

In all those matches there were periods where we were on top and could have got a better result , but we have to face facts and realise that the team isn’t good enough and hasn’t played consistently well for 90 minutes in any match this season. In reality we need 8 wins from 14 games to be safe and since our longest winning streak all season has been 2 league victories on the trot, most of us can’t see that happening.

It was a game of 2 halves against Bury, they didn’t produce much first half and we got the goal. But, what a second half. Dependant on your viewpoint we either sat back and invited pressure or simply weren’t good enough. The return of Ebanks-Blake raised a few eyebrows, but Ched Evans out injured, Gary Caldwell had few other options and to be fair, the out of favour striker played well and set up the goal. Kristian Dennis who scored, says the players haven’t given up hope, but looking on message boards there are few fans who think we will stay up.

We’ve had 2 managers this season and amazingly we were actually top of the league on Tuesday the 16^th August. However no league wins between 17^th September and 22^nd November really saw a dramatic fall from grace, which the club has never recovered from.

It’s amazing as a fan, how you can grasp at straws in the face of reality. Before the game on 5 Live I was listening to a football fan on 5 live, who had been to all 92 grounds and when asked where the best pies were, in his opinion he said they were at the Proact stadium. Clearly this was a good omen? When our new German keeper saved the penalty, I thought it had to be our day, surely we’d be able to kick the ball down Sheffield Road for 10 minutes and then fall over like John Sheridan’s Oldham Athletic to seal the points? As it was it ended in a way Thorsten Stuckmann would rather forget.

Away days are now a drinking session interrupted by a football match for many with more talk of which pubs to visit, rather than the hope of any victories, for many of us the only concern is that we don’t finish rock bottom below Coventry.

Relegation blues

They say the truth hurts and it’s hard to disagree with the post match summary from BBC Radio Northampton, who described Chesterfield as one of the worst teams they have played this season.

Two losses against fellow strugglers on successive Saturdays means that the number of teams we could potentially catch diminishes with every negative result.

The BBC pundits identified our goal scoring record, especially away from home, as the main source of Chesterfield’s trouble. Less than a goal a game means the chances of getting the 7 or 8 wins required to stay up are becoming faint hopes

Mathematically, of course, we could get out of the mire but unless the performances on the pitch or the tactics change, it’s hard to see who else we could beat. Gary Caldwell says we handed the points to Northampton, but it’s really little consolation to those of us who spent our disposable income to watch defenders who can’t attack the ball and defend a cross.

The Blues won some praise from the local press for trying to play the game the right way using attacking wing backs to spread out the play against Northampton, but very few dangerous balls were sent in from the flanks and much of our possession was in our own half.

Once we scored, by the simple tactic of a midfielder running straight at the home defence, Northampton got the jitters, credit to the fans, for singing ironically “We’re gonna win 4-3”

A decent following, for a team in trouble.

Conversely Oldham won again and are now out of the bottom 4 our old manager John Sheridan has got them scrapping and winning ugly.

Off the field many are actually praising the quiet-ish revolution that has taken place under Ashley Carson. The announcement that financially the club is living a hand to mouth existence, but will not go bust, isn’t one that many wanted to hear but it’s a message that had to be said. It appears that since the Development Centre shambles, Ashley Carson has fully taken over the running of the club.

It’s a fairly logical appointment, since he’s a businessman, and perhaps he’s got a little more capability in these matters than others who have had been entrusted with various aspects of the marketing and finances of the operation. 

Ashley seems quite happy to communicate with the fans, which in itself is quite revolutionary. This week the club has a said goodbye to Richard Nichols in the commercial department as the club need to change the way things are working. 

Many fans have looked at the balance sheet and expressed concern at the wages being paid to staff at the club and have pinpointed this as a cost saving area.

On lighter note a fan requested Cheese and Onion pies at the Proact and his request has been granted.

Having suffered at the hands of stadium catering selling some form of meat in pies at grounds in up and down the country perhaps the vegetarian option is the way forward

Well the Game against Oldham didn’t quite finish as well as I’d hoped, losing a relegation six pointer, 0-1, against 10 men doesn’t exactly fill the fans with the joys of spring.

Making my way to the stadium I was reminded of JB Priestley’s comment that “I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere”

It started looking like a new dawn, Ashley Carson on facebook hoping for a day of attacking football, 5 new players in over the transfer window and Gboly Ariyibi departing.

The fee for Ariyibi is reported to be in the region of £300,000, at the start of the season Chesterfield rejected a bid from Brentford that was slightly higher but Gboly’s form had dipped and he’d actually played himself out of a bigger move. The mercurial wide man is always a source of frustration to fans and mangers alike, if you can turn the full back inside out, why is it so difficult to deliver a decent cross?

Sadiq El Fitouri, is one of our new signings, he is the lad who appeared on the Class of 92 documentary about Salford City FC. He looked a threat every time he went forward in the first half and it looked as though we were certain to score, if only Dan Jones, back after a long term injury, hadn’t missed his kick.

Post match Jones commented that Gary Caldwell told the lads, it would be harder against 10 men and so it proved, once again, as in the Wimbledon match we could not really test the keeper, because the final ball wasn’t there against a packed defence. Caldwell says we need to take the handbrake off when attacking and the strikers have to hold the ball up more and be more aggressive.

Aggression is one thing that Oldham don’t lack, Anthony Gerrard got himself sent off for a headbutt in the tunnel going into half time, he was “at it“ with Ian Evatt for the whole of the first half. Ok they time wasted, but that’s to be expected, anyone would do that if you’re a man down for half the match.

Credit to the Oldham fans, they expected to take a beating but got behind their team for the whole second half, more than can be said for our end. One Oldham supporter wasn’t even wearing a shirt, poverty is a terrible thing, perhaps their club could have gone to Poundland and bought him a new wardrobe? Seriously though, I’m getting sick of supporters running on the pitch at the Proact and maybe it’s time to put up a small barrier to stop it happening in future? 

The 2 teams put up a good show of passing football in the first half, neither of them looked like relegation fodder on this display , however if you've spent he first half of the season being awful, you have a mountain to climb. 

Chesterfield have improved since away losses at Rochdale and Port Vale had us described as "relegation certainties" by other fans.

Oldham leapfrogged us in the table, it looks like they might have a another "Shezzurection" on their hands. we must get points from all our next 4 games, as they are against other teams in the bottom half. 

It's going to go to the wire and I don't fancy our last couple of fixtures

in the press box

Which football brand do you support?

I don’t support them…. I support a big team….

How often do you hear that?

I support Chesterfield FC, strangely enough, because that’s where I’m from, I don’t live there anymore but still follow the team.

We’ve been doing badly, the Chairman’s resigned amongst much speculation that he will take all his money with him, or perhaps it’s just a ruse to get rid of some of the directors.

Manager Danny Wilson was sacked after taking us from top to bottom of the division and then recovering a bit.

The great team that we had 2 years ago that got to the playoffs has all been sold and it’s a full on relegation battle this season.

Chesterfield is a proper football town everyone loves the game, but trying to drag people to the match is hard.

When you grow up there, a lot of the local school kids like me would go to the match. Danny Wilson was our hero in the great team we had under Arthur Cox, now Danny’s managed us and it hasn’t worked out.

I am usually asked “What team do you support” when I say “Chesterfield” I’m usually met by a cry of “They’re shit, who are they? I support (insert name of Premiership side) Anyway what division are they in?” It’s tedious but you get used to it.

Other kids “supported” Man United or Liverpool, they never went to football, or maybe once a season, if they were playing one of the Sheffield teams. In the schoolyard you pick a big team to support so you don’t look like a loser. Some kids supported Derby County, but only went if their dad took them.

I go to the pub, bump into couple of friends who are talking about who will win in the Man United v Liverpool match the next day, one of them supports either team. They’ll be watching it on telly. I ask them if they are going to the match today, they shake their heads, they’re not wasting their time, they support  big teams. 

They ask me who Chesterfield are playing I tell them it’s Coventry City, they assume it’s a cup game and ask “How come Coventry are in’t same division as Town?” after all Coventry are a big team aren’t they? Coventry are a financial basket case, that’s how.

Half time in a relegation 6 pointer at the Proact Stadium

Sky Sports is on TV, it owns football, but it now has rivals who also wish to do so, Sky Sports must up their branding to win the hearts and wallets of the consumer.

Manchester United are going to play Liverpool the next day in something called the "Nissan Super Sunday", Manchester City will also play Everton in a blue coloured version of this event. Their part of the event is not as magnificent as the red part of the soar away Nissan Super Sunday, their branding is not as dominant in Outer Mongolia or Timbuktu or Chesterfield.

The Japanese Car Event is the biggest day of large, huge epic-ness that’s ever existed. I am asked who I wish would win the event I tell my friends that I am “not bothered.”   I am met with incredulity, admitting that you are “not bothered” about this fixture is the equivalent of saying you're somehow mentally defective and spend your afternoons trainspotting whilst filling in a stamp collection.

Both friends assume I am “taking the piss” they are scared that I may secretly support their hated TV rivals, I am accused of being a “Plastic Scouser” and a “Secret United fan”.

Sky TV have Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher telling us about their epic clashes. Neville is honest enough to admit that Man United used to try to "influence the referee", especially in this fixture, his rationale is that other teams used to do it, so they also had to.

The more you told the ref he was wrong, by crowding him and screaming abuse, eventually he’d give you a decision.

He’s probably right.

It then became apparent that half of the traditional 22 man pushing event is a game of “keep the other team away from the ref so we can "influence" him ourselves.”

At least Neville is honest, I don’t find him or Jamie Carragher like-able but in a game where winning is all, that really doesn’t matter. They’ve got so much money they could purchase a personality each if they wanted to.

If you want un-likeable see our ex-manager John Sheridan, he guided us to the League two title and a Wembley win in the former Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Recently he was managing Notts County, in a referee's report he abused officials “My kids are not going to get any F******* Christmas Presents because of you” and told the 4^th official “You’re a C***, I’m going to knock you out you C***”, he was sent to the stands and got a 5 match touchline ban.

Sheridan was subsequently sacked by Notts County who now sit second bottom of the entire league, he clearly wasn’t much good at influencing football officials.

I’d like to see John Sheridan as a panellist on SKY TV, purely so he could call Gary Neville a c*** and threaten to knock him out.

We took 54 fans away to Rochdale in the Checkatrade Trophy, it's not the most popular competition.

John Sheridan has a new job at Oldham, for the third time, Oldham are worse than Chesterfield and in even worse financial trouble. Both teams are in League One, in case you need to ask.

Gary Neville could buy either team, he and his mates bought non-league Salford City; they want to redevelop their ground much to the consternation of locals. Anything being built in Salford would be an improvement.

Gary also wants to knock down a street in Manchester and build another hotel, wisely he decided not to build a hotel in Salford.

To the match, I had almost given up in despair the last tine I saw one of Danny Wilson’s team play, we lost away at Port Vale. Port Vale is not a place, but we lost to it. The players looked hesitant and seemed unsure of the tactics, it was a relegation 6 pointer, Port Vale scored with a lucky deflection we only had one shot in the whole game.

Port Vale Away

Ex hero Danny Wilson is gone. Reserve manager and ex player Richie Humphreys is in temporary charge. His first game did not go well we lost 4-0 away at Luton in the cup for the league one and two teams, the one that John Sheridan managed us to victory in a few years back, it’s now called the EFL Checkatrade trophy. Compared to that, Nissan sounds great.

Checkatrade is a directory of trusted traders.

It’s a relegation 6 pointer.

Our team suddenly looks like it knows what it’s doing, we are playing a diamond shape formation and moving well but the final ball usually goes astray. Coventry can break quickly and create 2 good first half chances but luckily fluff their lines.

There’s not much in it and too much at stake. Our best chance is a first half shot by Ched Evans, yes him, he’s probably not a nice person but he’s our best player. Chesterfield were the team that resurrected his career.

In the second half Chesterfield up the tempo, there’s not much in the game, Coventry have a “goal” disallowed for offside, Marcus Tudgay, remember him? is flagged. After the game Cov’s desperate new manager Russell Slade says it was a legit goal. Picture a man clutching at a bag with no straws left in it.

We still can’t fashion a good chance, then Humphreys changes the tactics to 4-2-3-1,. After 75 minutes Midfielder Jay O’ Shea dribbles the ball across the Cov defence which holds a solid line, he lays it off to Dan Gardner who smashes in a 25 yarder. We have 2 more good chances late on, but can’t convert another.

Palpable relief lifts the gloom at the Proact, (yes that’s our sponsor) Stadium for the home faithful, the 1,000 or so Coventry fans drift away. They’ve seen it all before.

Outside the ground I hear 2 Cops on their radios mentioning that Coventry supporters are mounting a protest.

There’s a few away fans in anoraks behind a banner demanding their owners leave the club, I feel sorry for the fans, they have no hope.

Coventry City are owned by SiSu a London based hedge fund. Some suggest ISIS would show more pity to the team they own.

The outside of the Ricoh arena, where Cov play, proudly boasts it is the home of egg ball chasers Wasps who also rent the stadium.

Coventry City’s decline is well documented, there seems no end in sight, the ground does not belong to the club. They spent time ground sharing with Northampton Town. There have been all sorts of protests, fans have suggested a buy out but SISU don’t want to sell.

The result sends Coventry rock bottom, as I walk away form the ground 3 coach loads of Coventry fans with miserable faces go past. Rather them than me. I go back to the pub, there’s much talk of who our new manager will be.

I’m asked who will win on Sunday Man Yoo or Liva’pewl?

Easy answer; “Nissan.”