Defeat at Orient

I’m always wary when your manager says that we are going to win the next game, it’s usually a case of coming down to Earth with a bump and so it proved at Leyton Orient. The thing was, in the press box most of the Orient commentary team thought that Chesterfield were the best opponents they had seen at Brisbane Road, however since we were defeated it’s probably worth sticking your money on the O’s to go up.

Getting vertigo on the camera gantry at Brisbane Road

In effect Chesterfield ‘s demise mirrors that of Leyton Orient only we appear to be a season or so behind them, when they dropped out of the league due to having an eccentric Italian owner who kept on sacking the manager, they found it a real struggle in their first season in the National League. Slowly under Justin Edinburgh they have turned things around and now sit pretty on top of the table by playing some half decent football, unlike the majority of the sides in this division, although agreement in the press box was unanimously that there isn’t a single team that you’d call a consistently good side in the National League.

At Orient the new stand certainly is impressive

On the pitch, I personally though Chesterfield made things too easy for Orient at the start of the game not putting in enough tackles and making it alarmingly simple for the home side to go through our midfield and score before ten minutes were on the clock. Once Martin Allen made a tactical switch and put Alex Kiwomya on the right, Chesterfield suddenly looked the better side and scored an excellent goal.  The key moment for me was once Kiwomya went off with a hamstring problem Chesterfield stopped moving the ball as well as they had done and Orient took the initiative. The home side’s second goal came from a corner that was never cleared properly, even though the opportunity to put the ball out of play was missed by the Blues a good Orient cross still could have been defended, but slackness cost us and the game was effectively sealed at 2-1 to the home side. Despite some controversy, for my money the third goal was a correct penalty decision, although needlessly conceded by Joe Rowley.

So, onto the Christmas fixtures where Chesterfield must gain wins to take us away from the dreaded drop, in a throwback to times past, we play the same side Solihull Moors twice in 6 days home and away sandwiching in a fixture against Hartlepool. Solihull are 6^th in the National League and put up a very good televised display against Blackpool in the FA Cup, it pains me to say it, but they won’t be easy fixtures especially with our ever-growing injury list.

Chesterfield faithful queue up to get in the old stand

From bad to worse, to oblivion for Chesterfield F.C.?

Chesterfield’s inexorable slide continued with yet another one all draw this time away at Eastleigh, a good result on the day, but one where our lack of firepower now sees us in the bottom 4 of the National League. Another one-all draw at home to London suburb Bromley didn't improve things much either. Now we hear that Tomlinsons, the club's sponsors, are pulling out, things are dire, on and off the pitch.

Compare and contrast our fortunes with those of Wigan Athletic if you will, a team from a similar sized town to Chesterfield, yet one which has to compete for support with Rugby League. Wigan did not even get into the league until the 1980s and after that, rattled around in the lower tier until local businessman Dave Whelan came along in 1995 and bought the club, built a new stadium, and won 3 promotions in 10 years to take them into the Premier League and an FA Cup final victory. 

Whelan has just sold the Latics to a Hong Kong based firm International Entertainment Corporation for £22 million. Wigan currently sit 17^th in the Championship, just above Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday. 

The Press gantry  at Eastleigh

Their manager is a bloke called Paul Cook and their main midfielder, is one Sam Morsy.

In an almost mirror image of Wigan is Chesterfield, also owned by a local businessman called Dave who sends packing potential suitors, from China, Sweden and closer to home, by declaring that they are tyre-kickers and time wasters.

Roberto Martinez who managed Wigan to their greatest ever triumph at Wembley was recently quoted as saying “Dave Whelan is, the reason that Wigan achieved what they achieved. He had an incredible vision, he was a winner and everything he did was done properly and that was contagious.” Our Great Leader avowed that his vision was to “Get the club into the championship and flog it.” Perhaps he could take a tip from Dave Whelan on how this can now be achieved; although to be fair we do have a contagious culture at the club, but one which involves a rather more downward trajectory than we’d hoped for.

At the time of writing, time must be running out for Martin Allen, upbeat in press conferences and very proud of our unbeaten run, which is also a non-winning league run of 18 games. Allen was actually previously sacked at Saturday’s opponents Eastleigh after not winning for 7 matches and guiding them to 15^th place in the National League a spot which would now be regarded as success by most Spireites. 

Eastleigh was an awful wet afternoon, somewhere in Hampshire the supporters bus arrived 5 minutes before kick off. I was filming for the club website and had to climb up a scaffold in the rain set up the camera and get the best pictures I could manage. With rain on the lens and on my glasses I am surprised I got anything on camera at all.

I recently had the misfortune to drive past The Darlington Arena which used to be home to the local football team, who now don’t play there anymore but first ground shared with Bishop Aukland and are now at a much smaller ground in the vicinity, their fans recently clubbed together to make new improvements to the ground. 

Darlo now sit 16^th in the National League north, 2 places below Alfreton, frankly we have more chance of ending up like them than Wigan. Here we go, we could end up a fan owned club desperately looking for someone to buy Chesterfield FC, same thing as happened when Darren Brown took over and ruined the club. Or maybe the club will just be run into the ground and never sold? Ashley Carson wants to know who threw a bottle onto the pitch at the last home game, probably someone who wasn't very pleased with the rubbish they paid to watch.

Getting better or not as awful?

Well apparently, the team are getting better, but are they? The midweek draw against Sutton was slated by Martin Allen as being awful, but at least we got a point through virtually our only clear-cut chance of the match thanks to Jonathan Smith scoring. On Saturday we got a one all draw thanks to Jonathan Smith scoring with virtually our only clear-cut chance of the match. Mind you we had lots of chances against Wrexham in the one apiece result; good job Jonathan Smith grabbed our late equaliser in that one.

Having said that the team is improving is OK but more than one point a game is needed otherwise relegation and the end of the club as we know it looms large. I think in the last 3 league matches we have seen players give it all they have got it’s not as if they aren’t trying, I think we have to be honest and say that one or two of the side haven’t really got it. We’ve played “top” teams in this division and they are hard-working and well organised and that’s about it, there’s no outstanding teams, but on Saturday we should have won.  

Plastic Pitch at Harrogate

We who wait

For me the turning point of the game against mighty Harrogate, was Martin Allen making substitutions straight after we’d scored and Chesterfield went from an attempt to play a passing game to a long ball hit and hope. Doing that handed the initiative to the opposition, I hate to say it but putting Binnon-Williams in front of Muggleton made our left side an easy option for Harrogate, 

meaning our opponents were firing in crosses every time they got the ball into that area of the pitch.

Sorry but Sam Muggleton getting a game must be the most glaring example of "Jobs for the Boys" that we have ever seen on the pitch at the club, sorry but he's got a long throw and that's it, if his dad wasn't on the sidelines he would never have been signed.

he could not stop Harrogate from getting  crosses in, and that's what he is there to do, Binnon-Williams wasn't good enough defensively either and neither of them could get to the ball to stop the ball coming over.. 

Lee Shaw who we signed from Grantham Town has not scored yet and doesn't look like doing so either, he's got some pace but that's about it.

Stadium Approach

The referee found 7 minutes of injury time which wasn’t unfair as 30 seconds are added on for every sub, there were injuries and our keeper decided to have a sit down and a rest to slow things up, however since Harrogate scored in the 98^th minute and then the ref immediately blew for time, one would have to question his timekeeping.

For many fans of the Blues the long throw from Muggleton routine has passed it’s sell by date, every team in the league knows what is coming and the ball virtually never goes to a Chesterfield shirt. So it’s really a dilemma that the manager has placed himself into, with player selections and purchases, which type of game does he go for?  It’s also not great to hear an opposition manager such as Paul Doswell on Tuesday at Sutton saying that frankly our tactics are poor and they were by far the better side.  Oh well onto the magic of the FA Cup, who knows if we can fashion a couple of chances against Billericay?

http://www.thecfss.co.uk/forums/index.php?showforum=3

Amazing tackle at Halifax

It was one of the greatest runs I’ve ever seen on a football pitch from one end to the other with no opponent able to get near him, with an amazing body swerve, he was certainly my Man of the Match; no not Zavon Hines, the streaker at Halifax!

For those foolish souls who pay to watch their football on the TV, rather than actually go to the match they missed the highlight of the season so far, as I believe the powers that be decided to avoid showing the amazing tackle on display at Halifax and cut to other scenes, such as football. Now we’ve all seen exhibitionists encroach on the field of play at sporting events, which schoolboy of my generation could ever forget the magnificent Erica Roe, who flaunted her assets at a Rugby Union game?

But this guy, the Halifax Streaker, has taken the art to a new level with the game at 0-0, he sprinted out of the home end wearing nothing but a broad grin and put up a fair pace, slowed down a little near the half way line, did an aeroplane gesture, and with no stewards looking like they wanted to intervene, clambered on to the top of the turnstiles, saluted the crowd and made his exit over the wall, completely starkers onto the streets of Halifax accompanied by a round of applause from the Grandstand.

I only hope he had an accomplice armed with a spare set of clothes and a getaway car, woe betide the impromptu streaker who forgets to leave any spare togs near the scene of his indecency. But who was that unmasked man? Surely someone in West Yorkshire must know him? Perhaps he could liven up subsequent fixtures in this division

It’s been a long time since I went to Halifax Town as they used to be, these days ground sharing with rugby league the place has been spruced up, street signs advertise the fact that you are going to Shay Stadium, I thought that was in New York? Didn’t the Beatles play Shay Stadium once? Anyway, bad puns aside, I paid twenty quid to nearly see a football match, yes the delights of the tv crews turning up meant that we were on one half of the old main stand, with a camera gantry right in front of us and the main one on the halfway line blocking out one corner of the pitch. 

You could nearly see both goals if you strained your neck a bit, surely a bit of stadium management could have solved this, why didn’t we just get the big terrace behind the goal? 

Anyone got any hedge clippers?

It was a good header by Tom Denton though, 1-1 fair result, I thought.

Zavon Hines was clearly our best player, he's obviously coming back from injury, Joe Rowley is playing well back in his midfield role, and the rest well they worked hard. We nearly scored with a header against the bar in the first half and an early kick off the line by Halifax, both from our long throw routine, but apart from that, the first period was forgettable. With fresh legs in midfield Chesterfield could turn draws into wins, but its going to be a long, long season.

Did you see yourself on TV?

https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/sport/football/local/streaker-livened-up-my-barely-adequate-view-of-chesterfield-draw-1-9397007 

http://www.thecfss.co.uk/forums/index.php?showforum=3

Crazy Ref

You know you’re in a rubbish league and your team is hopeless when….

your player gets sent off and then the decision is rescinded by a linesman. The most exciting thing from the game against Fylde was the “dismissal” of Weston. It had many in the stands either scratching their heads or laughing at the referee’s antics.

The decision of the referee Joe Hull to overturn his own red card was bizarre and not something I’d seen before, for me it was handball by Weston and a foul, although it was outside the box

The infringement actually happened, before the linesman had even put his flag up for offside, so if the linesman hasn’t put his flag up how does the referee even know that there was an offside? So the referee overturned his own decision based on something that he did not even know about, with that sort of foresight or hindsight he should be on Blackpool sea front telling fortunes rather then trying to be a referee. I can’t see the assessor giving Mr Hull a glowing report

You also know you’re in a rubbish league when…your long ball team looks like it’s never going to score and its only tactic is to try and find the head of your giant striker. The opposition knows this and simply fouls Tom Denton by shirt pulling at every opportunity, the referee simply ignores the fact that the blatant shirt pulling and wrestling is going on. This leaves Tom Denton with only 2 options;

A Learn to dive, yes England got penalties at the World Cup, but Harry Kane still had to go down in the box when being wrestled from a corner

B Get the club to cut the seams of his shirt and stick it back together with Velcro, so as soon as an opposition defender grabs his kit it will come off and it will be fairly obvious that shirt pulling was going on. Mind you even if that happened, referee Joe Hull might have called it offside, who knows?

Yes Martin Allen was right to go nuts because we really should have had a penalty or maybe two, but with only 3 chances created in 90 minutes of football, we aren’t going to win many games. The midfield looked more stable playing in a different formation, Joe Rowley put in a good shift and we didn’t suffer an embarrassment like in the last 2 home games, but the crowd is starting to dwindle and even season ticket holders aren’t attending anymore. The official attendance was just over 4,000, but many fans are expressing doubts that this was the true figure inside the ground, oh for a win….

Are Chesterfield's Players Mentally Damaged?

Apparently our players are mentally damaged, according to the manager, mind you he's called Mad Dog anyway, so he should know.  Perhaps we can sign some sane players to save us from a third relegation on the trot.

Gozie Ugwu who was going to be our goal scorer this season got 2 in the net for Borehamwood on Saturday, he was loaned out having lost his confidence at the Proact. I’d assume he’s feeling quite cheerful at the moment, presumably they have someone to pass him the ball in the penalty area.

Fans conducting a poll online have come up with some interesting results, most feel that the club should have a proper scouting network set up, there’s a feeling that Martin Allen is ringing up his mates in football to find players and frankly it has led to some frankly odd signings. It’s no coincidence that we signed some of the best players ever seen at the Proact with Paul Mitchell looking for talent, I was greatly concerned when Danny Wilson said that he was surplus to requirements. 

Also the fitness of the team seems to be a real concern or maybe we have just got slow players? It was no surprise that with a full time fitness coach the team used to be much better.

Fans also seem to be of the opinion that the club might as well give Martin Allen a chance because if we got someone else in then the same situation would happen all over again. Also a lot of people polled suggest that the manager should be given funds to sign 4 or 5 new players, frankly the ones he has signed aren’t performing or aren’t good enough. The blame and fault lies at Allen’s door and at least he’s big enough to admit it, however a third successive relegation would lead to oblivion for the club. Look at Stockport County a team we used to play regularly, they had the plugs pulled financially and look where they ended up. How many of our fans would buy a season ticket to watch National League north football?

Continuing our tour of places we hoped we’d never have to go to Marc Antoine Fortune’s second half goal may have saved Martin Allen’s job, but then again last time we went away and drew, many thought we had turned the corner only to endure two absolute horror show in the week shipping six goals in 2 games to Gateshead and Maidenhead

Maidstone United away

A few statistics are horribly being touted round fans web boards this week, we’re actually not on Chesterfield FCs longest ever non-winning run in history. This 11 games sequence is puny compared to our 21 game winless sequence in 1999 – 2000 which did see the blues relegated, mind you that was in the third tier of English football, so you can argue that this is our worst ever effort.

We are so bad we can't beat Dover

We're so bad it's unbelievable. 

Martin Allen says that the rot has stopped after a 0-0 draw with Dover who have the division’s worst defence. Ok The Blues had chances and hit the bar and post in the dying seconds but the opinion amongst the fans is the performance and style of play and general inability to string passes together is cause for real concern. Chesterfield managed to play well for the first 15 minutes of the second half and then again for the last 5 minutes, which is not enough to win matches.

This week’s depressing statistic is it’s now 481 minutes since Chesterfield managed to score a goal in the non-league, we actually managed not to let a goal in, although our defence did grant the now obligatory free header to the opposition, Dover were actually so bad with only one man up front, they could barely mount an attack for the majority of the game.

This is terrible....

It’s rather depressing when the biggest cheers of the game were for when Dover put on their Ghanian substitute Nortei Nortey, a man whose name must have commentators salivating for a yellow or red card awarded against him. Purely for comic effect I only wish he could play on the same team as French defender Rod Fanni or former Sunderland and West Brom player Bernt Haas.

So where now? The club has a bid in for a player we can only hope it’s either a midfielder who can pass the ball or a striker who can make a goal for himself out of nothing. Fans are currently debating exactly what our best line up is or even if we have players who can fit into each position or even if there is any line up which can possibly work. 

You have to have some sympathy for Gozie Ugwu, It seems that Martin Allen placed faith in our striker who has never yet hit the net for Chesterfield, it’s just not working for him. When Ugwu actually tried a shot from 30 yards there were fans in the west stand sarcastically cheering the fact that he’d had an attempt on goal, it’s 10 games and no goals so far for Ugwu in our colours. The only alternative is to replace him with Marc Antoine Fortune who has never been prolific as a striker either.

Let’s not forget that Martin put together a side that he claimed at the start of the season were good enough to get promoted, well that’s gone and now it looks like he’s onto plan B. The only player that’s shown consistency is Charlie Carter and we haven’t won since he was injured, hopefully his return will instigate a revival.

Chesterfield FC, The end of an Error? Or the start of a bright new slump?

So that's it, it's all over Chesterfield FC is no longer a Football League club, it's been a 3 year long balls up. Jack Lester, Nicky Eaden and Tommy Wright have all gone, whether they walked or if they were pushed is academic.

Looking at both ends of the league table makes a sorry sight and a sobering thought on how to run a football club, nobody said it was ever an easy thing to do, but when it goes well you take the credit when it goes pear shaped you should be big enough to take the flak.

Accrington Stanley are up and should be worthy champions and may proudly display the trophy at the Wham stadium and no doubt dine out on an McDonalds takeaway and £1 pint from their pub. Meanwhile at The Proact maybe the players could run out to the Death March or maybe “It’s Over” by Roy Orbison might be more appropriate.

Thrashed at the Wham "Stadium"

How did Accy do it with their limited budget, reported in the national press, of £15k per week to run the club and a massive crowd of over 3,000 to see them make it to League One? Well their manager John Coleman certainly knows how to pick a player and fit them into a simple system that works. They play 442, with an excellent right winger, 2 decent forwards and a team that works hard. Their main striker Billy Kee, who scored against us in both games, suffers from depression and was considering quitting football at one point, let’s hope he can crack a smile at their end of season do.

Our financially lop-sided team was initially recruited by Guy Branston and Gary Caldwell and despite recent additions still can’t fit into any formation, so we are at the bottom of the table.

Meanwhile our esteemed leader Ashley “Promotion is the only option” Carson recently said that Jack Lester is to stay at the Proact even if we get relegated-however Lester is now not at the club due to getting relegated.

I’ve lost count of how many “mistakes” have been made in the last 4 years, from not faxing the FA regards our on-loan centre back playing in the FA Cup, to Sally Swain’s recent departure, perhaps there’s someone out there who could compile a full list? Or just the Top 20 chart rundown of off-field cock-ups would do.

This is Phil Tooley's take on things http://d3d4football....by-phil-tooley/

Here goes, eyes down for a full house

1 Set up a club with too many employees

2 Have it reliant on cash flow involving selling young players on a regular basis, what if you have no-one to sell? What if you sell your best player with 2 days of the transfer window left and no time to replace him?

3 Employing Chris Turner and making sure the people who previously ran the club are ushered out of the door.

4 Promising the fans a 5 year plan, which would get the club to Championship

5 Employing a great manager in Paul Cook, but financially pulling the plug, so that we could not sign enough quality players to get to the Championship

6 Being involved in a scandal whereby someone at either Wolves or Chesterfield forgot to fax the FA about us playing a loan player. Chesterfield had to replay a cup tie, Wolves were not punished, draw your own conclusions.

7 Allowing Chris Turner on the radio sounding worse for wear. Allowing Chris Turner to say "This club does not make mistakes"

8 Alienating your fans, asking for regular attendances of 7,000, getting more than that and inferring it's the fans' fault the club does not have enough money

9 Having a fire sale of all your best players as soon as Paul Cook leaves

10 Employing Dean "3 relegations on my CV" Saunders after he impressed the Chairman at an after dinner speech and not interviewing other candidates properly, we may as well have employed Bernie Clifton.

11 Allowing Saunders to spend most of the budget on crocked players, such as Ebanks-Blake on their way down the career ladder

12 Under Danny Wilson allowing Paul Mitchell , the head of player recruitment, to leave and not replacing him

13 Signing Ched Evans, a man who would face a public court case, 3 months into his contract. The club slid down the table as soon as he was on trial.

14 Not allowing Wilson funds to sign a decent central midfielder to go alongside Jon Nolan

15 Giving Wilson the elbow and having to pay him off, only to put Gary Caldwell in charge, a man who had previously won League One, but was given the boot from Championship side Wigan who were about to be relegated.

16 Gary Caldwell having to sign a group of under performing rejects from other clubs in the January transfer window, as he had little budget, what with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake still raking in the cash whilst not being played-we get relegated to League 2

17 Liam Graham fielded as an ineligible player in the reserves, under a false name, he is easily identified

18 Starting up a youth academy which then goes bust in dubious circumstances, despite fans warning the club not to employ the people who they put in charge-An FA investigation is ongoing. Allowing Chris Turner at a public meeting to make a fool of himself, basically saying he did little to check the backgrounds of the people involved.

19 Relations between those running the club and fans going from bad to worse. One fan sends offensive messages to club employees, he claims to be warned off when someone knocks on his door, true or not? it is never denied by the club

20 Gary Caldwell then employs Steve Eyre as assistant, he doesn't last long and Caldwell replaces him with Graham Barrow.

21 Caldwell allowed a fresh start, in League 2 he gets Guy Branston in to recruit players. Despite Branston having made a mess of Notts County the previous season. County fans warn us of impending doom.

22 The club announce that Chris O'Grady has been signed and is our highest paid ever player on a reported £4,000 a week. No pressure then on O'Grady, a respected player, but one who has a career record of only 10 goals a season.

23. The team go immediately to the bottom of the entire league as Caldwell insists on playing 3-5-2 despite getting regularly beaten and it being obvious he and Branston have recruited a lop-sided squad with too many journey men midfielders, no decent full backs and little pace, many from the same agent.

24 Caldwell sacked, meaning Chesterfield is now paying off the last 3 managers and all their backroom staff.

25 Ex Player Jack Lester employed as manager he starts off brightly, but soon injuries take their toll and he has to compile half a new team in the dreaded January window, picking up a couple of decent players, but also cast-offs and crocks. He can't get the team to perform on a regular basis, there seems to be no winning formula to a team formation. We get relegated out of the league.

Fun times at Grimsby

Of course many fans would like the club to be sold. The ominous thing for us is that it may be a consortium of convenience with Ashley Carson. Mr Carson has said that there’s an interested consortium who want to buy Chesterfield. They’ve shaken hands but no deal is finalised, they speak regularly and have already appointed a Director of Football, if nothing is finalised by the final whistle of the season then the club will walk away from the deal. Based on what Mr Carson has previously said publicly and then contradicted, who knows what lies ahead?

The only ray of sunshine this season

But there's always new hope, next season we can get thrashed by more village teams, as the new season budget is £1m for players, which is average for the national league. Can someone ring up John Coleman at Accrington and see how he does it?

Not Fit To Wear The Shirt

"You're not fit to wear the shirt!"

That's what our own fans were chanting at Chesterfield's players after one of the most embarrassing and humiliating displays in the club's history.  That’s it then, we’re relegated out of the football league, it’s been a 3 year slide to oblivion as predicted by many and the last straw is, that we have played 2 relegation rivals both of whom were on long winless runs and we’ve lost to them both. We were pretty toothless against Port Vale and then exactly the same thing happens against Grimsby. We have a team who can play nice football for 45 minutes, but not for the whole game, if that’s the case, you usually lose. We literally handed the game to a godawful Grimsby team after Sid Nelson under no pressure, presented our opponents with a penalty, after handling a long throw.

In reality neither side deserved to win the game we had 4 or 5 good chances in the first half but only one shot from Kristian Dennis really troubled their keeper, they made Ramsdale save once in the first half and we hacked a hopeful Grimsby header off the line in the second half. That was it, you couldn’t complain if the league awarded no points to either team. Grimsby are dire they have no attacking threat apart from lumping it to 2 big men with no pace

In reality the main attraction for many was watching Grimsby idiots fighting each other and being led away by stewards and Police one twerp even tried the solo pitch invasion, only to be dragged away trussed up like a turkey, it might have been funny if the Police had let him jump in with our ugly crew

Idiots of Grimsby, they like to fight each other

Teams tend to get out of trouble by being hard to beat, especially away from home, however we’re trying to play 4231 in a similar style as under Paul Cook but we just haven’t got the players to do it, in the last 2 away matches as soon as we lose the ball our wide attackers Brown and Hines just aren’t in the game and we might as well have 9 men on the pitch. We’ve tried playing 2 up front but O’Grady and Dennis don’t seem to work together, and if we play a straight 442 formation the team appears weak in central midfield, we don’t have a balanced side and haven’t had one all season

Many Spireites have been suggesting that we will get out of it with games in hand on relegation rivals and a series of six pointer matches on the way, based on what I’ve been watching all season I can only see home wins for Forest Green Rovers and Barnet, against Chesterfield and us finishing last, roughly 6 or 7 points away from safety. Next season the side will be worse, the budget will be lower and we'll be non league and losing to village sides, this is just shameful.

Comments on social media haven’t been kind one person commented that he feels like someone close to him has been suffering a terminal illness and has now been put out of their misery. Others are now questioning whether Jack Lester should have got the job in the first place and perhaps an old stager like Ronnie Moore could have guided us to safety. Anyway there’s a deafening silence coming from Dave Allen and Ashley Carson, what will their next move be in their grand plan, if they ever had one at all?

Jekyll and Hyde team

I hate Port Vale FC, I hate everything about their horrible scummy suburb of Burslum, they have some troglodyte trouble causing vermionous fans and we always go there and fricking lose.... why? Look at it they never even completed the ground the "exec box" appears to be 9 seats bolted onto an empty stand

I don’t know if I can stand this much longer it’s going to go right down to the wire and Chesterfield need to put together a run of results and it seems like they just can’t manage it. An away draw a home win and then a result against Port Vale would have seen us start to put pressure on others, instead it’s Barnet under Martin Allen who have also started winning. If Grimsby hadn’t been on such as poor run we could have been dead and buried now.

I’m sorry but being at 1-1 against a 10 man Port Vale should have yielded at least a point, our team didn’t seem to have the belief to stick the ball in the box or even have a shot in the second half, stats don’t lie and the fact is that at Vale Park both teams had an equal number of chances over 90 minutes. This league is bad, really bad and we lost due to the fact that Tom Pope was back for them and they always had the out ball of simply booting it up to him to relieve the pressure, as it proved their winning goal was simply a big kick from the goalkeeper flicked on by the big forward to Whitfield who finished well.

The difference between the Notts County game and the Vale debacle was simple, against Notts Chesterfield pressed the opposition and forced their back line into mistakes and their long ball game unravelled. On Good Friday our forward line stood off their back line, whist the opposition stopped our side getting the passing game going by simply pressuring us. It’s a division where attackers mark defenders and teams grind out results by playing hard working football that isn’t pretty to watch. Our side need to put in 100% effort in every game and can’t just stand around waiting for a pass, many fans thought we went off the boil after scoring and it’s hard to disagree with them. 

On that note I think most people will say well done to John Coleman and his Accrington side who look like they are going to win the title. They simply have a compact hard working side with one excellent winger in Clarke and a couple of decent strikers in Billy Kee and Kayden Jackson, they keep it simple and it’s paying dividends.

Chesterfield have the worst away record in the division and it’s those crucial fixtures where the future is going to be decided, in my book two away wins are needed and it’s hard to see where they are going to come from, we simply cannot afford to lose at Grimsby now. I wonder when our players will realise they have to run their nuts off for 90 minutes or it's the end of their careers?

Air Ambulance Saves Supporter

The Chesterfield v Lincoln game was held up for for 30 minutes and an entire football crown saw a man have his life saved I think we can all now really appreciate the work of the St John’s Ambulance, the match day stewards and of course the Air Ambulance serve for their effort in the game against Lincoln City

One of the Lincoln supporters has taken the initiative to set up a Just Giving page to donate to the air ambulance service. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbSyu3raMtE
Air Ambulance Lifts Off

Over 6000 people today witnessed events at the game I thought that someone must have died in the stand right in front of us, but it seems the person in question is still in hospital in Derby, if everyone gave a little to the Air Ambulance  it would go a long way. Also the club has announced a match day collection, which I am sure will have most of us chipping in.

Off the field rumours abound as usual about who current consortium might be who are going to take over the club and if they even exist at all? Last week Ashley Carson informed us that things would be moving forward in 14 days, well that leaves til Friday of next week for the mystery benefactors to come forward. However when Mr Carson said that things were as good as signed and sealed with the Chinese bid and then Dave Allen said they weren’t and made some rather unflattering comments about their offer, it makes fans wonder if they can actually believe a single word that comes out of the club.

One thing is for sure, the Chinese people did actually exist, because they were seen at games.

When Dave Allen says that fans need to be “Careful what they wish for” it sounds ominous, personally I’d wish for reasonable business people who could run a third tier football club on lower costs than the current regime has squandered, a bit like Barrie Hubbard used to do.

Currently most Spireites are hoping that, contrary to rumour, Reg Brearley, the former Sheffield United owner has nothing to do with the future of our club, having done a little research on the gentleman it seems he has a “colourful” financial past which has never seemed to have ended well.

The EFL Appendix 3 has an owners and directors test, which is intended to protect the image and integrity of the League and the well being of the clubs; you can read the details here https://www.efl.com/-more/governance/efl-rules--regulations/appendix-3---owners-and-directors-test/ although whether the EFL actually apply any of these tests is another matter. Let’s cast our minds back and look at some of the characters who were allowed to take over at Portsmouth, for example, when they went bust.

6 wins now needed from 11 games to stay up, it’s not looking likely that we can do it.

Air Ambulance footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te_lqSQYpeA&t=13s

3 points v Swindon

This is going to be nerve wracking right to the very end whether we manage to stay up or ultimately go down, if Swindon had equalised in the last 10 minutes we’d have been looking at a very bleak picture indeed, still a win is a win and Chesterfield played some good stuff and also indulged in a little gamesmanship and 3 points are ours.

The relegation dogfight threw up 2 totally unexpected results with Morecambe going away to Wycombe who are in the automatic spots and scoring 4, with 2 of them coming from 39 year old Kevin Ellison. Meanwhile Crewe went away to Lincoln and tore up the form book bagging 4 goals one from our ex player Jordan Bowery.

It’s great to see Drew Talbot back in the side and he makes a huge difference to the team, we look so much better both in attack and defence on the left side plus he was unlucky not to score with a flick header form a corner just before half time. Jack Lester called it right changing the attacking midfield 3 who had played so poorly at Carlisle last week in came Hines, Dodds and Kellett, and we actually had width and pace in the side, it’s great to see that Hines and Kellet can also swap flanks and cause problems for the opposition. It was a top drawer goal by Andy Kellett, but if there’s one slight criticism it’s that we only had 3 efforts on target in the whole game, still we needed the points.
What is it with this season and injuries? Chesterfield must have had one of the worst injury lists ever, great to see Robbie Weir having a good game until he took a bad knock, maybe Giles Coke will be back in time for Exeter? Let’s hope so.

Off the pitch the planned demo before the game turned out be a bunch of people in the car park milling around and having a bit of a shout, although I did notice a sense of nervousness around CFC towers with stewards keeping a close eye on proceedings and the main doors being locked for a short time. Still this does not quell the general sense of scepticism surrounding the intentions of the great and dear leaders of Chesterfield FC who chose not to grace Proact on Saturday afternoon. To many, the question does remain if a Chinese consortium does come in and are looking to buy and the club are looking to sell, why were negotiations allowed to falter? Perhaps there is some other offer about to emerge from people who have nothing but Chesterfield FC at heart? I’m not holding my breath.
Rumour abounds that ex Sheffield United director Reg Brearley is involved, with Ashley Carson, who wants to do something or other of a financial nature. Many would prefer it if this were not the case.

A Brief Encounter...with no love lost

Carson legs it from Warfey

It was something of a brief encounter on platform 4 of Carlisle train station, not exactly Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, dejected fans who walked back from Brunton Park found none other than Chesterfield FC’s Director Ashley Carson actually in the bar on Carlisle rail station, all on his own, after the game. There were plenty of people who saw him, when confronted by fans he did say words to the effect of " You cant get rid of me I'm here for the long term" he blamed Jack Lester for the defeat, we were rubbish, v Carlisle, it’s fair to say that.

Then when asked "Where has all the money gone?" Carson said Lester had a budget of £1.6 m which was the third highest in the division, before quickly leaving the bar. In an odd twist on "Strangers on a Train" we did see him on the Preston to Manchester service, where he was mouthing off about the club's finances to fans of Wolverhampton Wanderers, stating that owner of the club would have to write off large debts, if we go out of the league. I’d suggest that Ashley conducts himself in a more prudent way on match days, this is really not good PR for the club. Why was he on the train on his own anyway why not with the team on the bus? Why did he get back to the station before the fans? did he leave early?

Carlisle away was awful, truly terrible. 2 bad teams slugged out a dull match playing uninspiring tactics. Neither of Carlisle’s goals were from good moves or any kind of great play, just them being quicker to a loose ball and getting a shot off. We had one shot on target, it went in, and was scrubbed for offside.

If we’d been playing “Premiership rules” the goal would have stood, as no one seemed to be interfering with play but the Linesman decided we were playing old fashioned “any body standing offside then the goal doesn’t count,” rules and so we didn’t score.

For 80 minutes we were simply terrible, what has happened to the free flowing football the Jack Lester got the side playing in November and December? We look a totally different side to the one that beat Luton, our current form is so bad that it looks likely that we will finish bottom of the pile.

Frankly our tactics were so bad we look non-league already, booting the ball to Chris O’Grady in the air doesn’t work, for the most part he can’t win a header and even if he does we hardly ever got the second ball so it was a complete waste of time.
Once the lively Brown came on with Weir moving to midfield and Binnon-Williams having a go down the left, it looked as though we might create something. Therein lies the rub, the club is in debt and chooses to pay out ludicrous salaries to has-beens like O’Grady who has scored a mighty 2 goals all season, some say he’s on 4 grand a week or even higher, whatever it’s a bad decision to have him here at all, but it looks like we are stuck with him.

For the most part the fans are becoming resigned to relegation, it’s simply a question of whether we are going to “Do A Leyton Orient” or “Do A Stockport County” in other words, due to interesting management behind the scenes, we sink into the National League, or if we sink even further into National League North. Fans of other clubs ex league teams say that it’s a novelty for a while going to places like FC United but that soon wears off and you are faced with a grim non-league reality. Fans are now getting somewhat upset at the current regime and there may be a protest at home before the Swindon game, but as to what effect this may have is anyone’s guess. Blackpool supporters, for example, have been protesting for years against their current ownership, but if someone else is in charge of the finances there’s little that a demonstration can realistically achieve.

Thanks to Holly for the picture

Eric didn't bring any sunshine to Morecambe

Postponed games used to be a regular part of the season, before under soil heating and clubs having adequate covers and all that sort of thing, so were you one of the ones who waited for the ref’s pitch inspection at Morecambe? Had you already set off and got halfway there or perhaps you’d booked a weekend at the seaside?
Anyway Lynne North has taken the picture of the season, it’s the Eric Morecambe statute dressed up in a Chesterfield hat and scarf, pity he didn’t bring us much sunshine.

If you’ve ever been to Morecambe there’s a beautiful view across the bay on a summer’s day, but if it’s raining it’s grim and there are virtually no attractions or things to see. I’ve been to every ground in the north-west bar Morecambe’s Globe Arena, I fancied watching Manchester City or Everton but both were sold out, so a football free weekend beckoned.
I remember when I was young games would always be called off, so you'd have coach loads of fans visiting the next nearest game just to get a fix of football, plus football was cheap and you could get in to most matches

Now the Morecambe fixture away will be midweek and will definitely be a relegation 6 pointer.
It’s a simple case now that Chesterfield have got to win 7 games for league survival and the future of the club as we know it. It’s fair to say that the players on the pitch now are Jack Lester’s team and he’s got to do it. Morecambe face Forest Green Rovers next week so they can’t both win. The current side we have are capable of beating or losing to anyone in the division, my only fear is the side might not have time to gel together and are capable of letting in comedy goals witnesed against Crawley and Stevenage

Morecambe’s manager Jim Bentley has been quoted in the press as saying that he tried to sign players in the transfer window but he doesn’t have the budget to match teams at the top end of the non league who are out bidding him for players’ wages. If the Shrimpers can’t get any new faces in and we can, then surely we must ultimately be the better side on paper, but we all know football doesn’t go like that.
Accrington Stanley can’t have the biggest budget in this division but they look favourites to go straight up alongside Luton. Meanwhile Notts County have slipped away from the automatic spots, managing to get beaten at Barnet.
Budget wise it’s been revealed that getting relegated last season cost the club £500k, conversely Forest Green Rovers have published losses of £2m in 2016 and a similar figure 2017, however their chairman who owns an energy firm seems happy to take such losses on board, well no-one said that football wasn’t an economic madhouse...now what about the next mystery takeover bid for the club?

Mark E Smith is dead

A compilation of the Fall, my little radio show

Chesterfield back in trouble

It’s fair to say that didn’t qualify as one of the best Christmas series of fixtures ever on the pitch and off the field, who knows what is going on with the proposed club buyout?

We’re back in the bottom two it was simply an awful day at Accrington and judging by the post match interviews with Robbie Weir and Jack Lester they know we are in deep trouble. Before the massive spate of injuries it looked like Jack Lester had sorted the team out and with a little more of an addition to the forward line we’d have a good side and easily avoid the drop.
Now the defence is completely decimated and he has to start all over again and decide who are the best players and what formation to play.

Defensively, at Accrington our makeshift back line switched off for the first goal from a short corner. For Stanley’s second, all the fans at the back of the goal behind me were shouting for our back line to get out, don’t let their men turn or shoot, which was exactly what they did, although I have to say it was a brilliant finish by McConville. I think it’s best to draw a veil over the second half goals we conceded and remember that anyone can have a bad day at the office.

Up front we have only scored one in the last 6 games and that’s now a major concern in the last 2 games Kristian Dennis has barely received a single pass or cross despite the fact that we have played some good stuff in midfield but all our possession has added up to nothing. A lot of fans seem to think that Dennis is not showing any interest, but he’s being marked out of games with good positions being created but seemingly few players being prepared to shoot when the ball to our main striker isn’t on for a pass.

The next 3 home matches are now key, Luton is the biggest test of them all in this division and Stevenage and Crawley and real “must win” games.

Off the pitch it would be nice if there was some kind of statement from the club. Since we heard from Mr Carson that there was an interested buying party and the club was waiting on a non-refundable deposit, there has been no word. Is no news good news or is the whole thing off? Just a statement saying “Negotiations are on-going.” would calm a lot of nerves.
Whilst I was at the game at Accrington, a bird decided to leave a non-refundable deposit on my car windscreen, wiping it off wasn’t the most pleasant experience

So did the mentioned takeover ever really exist? I've seen Chinese people at the match are they still negotiating? Or was it all a load of baloney?