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?