Vital Statistics
Founded: 1866
Chairman: Dave Allen
Last Season: League Two - 8th
Nickname: The Spireites
Rivals: Mansfield Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United
Major Honours
None
Scheduled Matches
Portsmouth vs Chesterfield: Saturday, August 31st (3pm)
Chesterfield vs Portsmouth: Saturday, March 1st (3pm)
Chesterfield: A brief history
There is some dispute as to when Chesterfield were actually founded as a newspaper article claimed that the club played a match against Norton in 1864, four years before the "official" date of 1866. That club folded in 1915 and the new Chesterfield Municipal FC was founded in 1919 and the name was shortened to Chesterfield FC a year later.
An unremarkable existence in the bottom two divisions for the majority of their history ended in the 1990's when the Spireites were promoted to the second tier and then were extremely close to reaching the FA Cup Final when they drew their semi-final with Middlesbrough 3-3 but had a legitimate goal disallowed. They lost the replay 3-0.
Chesterfield left Saltergate at the end of the 2009/2010 season to move into their new modern Proact Stadium and have won League Two and the Johnstone's Paint Trophy since.
The Manager: Paul Cook
A journeyman midfielder (a five year spell with Wolves aside), Cook hung up his boots at the age of 39 having made over 600 appearances for nine different clubs.
The 46-year-old began his managerial career with Southport but was sacked after six months. He had a more successful time at Sligo Rovers, guiding them to three high league finishes before winning the Irish League and FA Cups.
Following this success, Cook returned to Accrington Stanley, his last club as a player, in 2012 and led the team to a respectable 14th place finish. Chesterfield came calling after they sacked John Sheridan early last season and Cook will now be expected to take the Spireites back to League One.
The Spireites in-depth: An interview with fan Chris Snell
What are your hopes and expectations for this season?
Given our budget and the players signed top seven should be a minimum. In fact Cook will be under pressure if we're not at least pushing for top three.
What do you think of your manager?
Likeable bloke, certainly talks a good game and was only a win short of a play-off place last season. And that's despite working with another manager's squad, staff, and little financial room for manoeuvre. As previously said results will be everything, though, especially as he's overhauled the squad and backroom staff from top to bottom.
Who are your key players?
Obviously a great deal is expected of Mark Richards, a proven (and expensive) striker at this level. The signing of Gary Roberts has also raised expectations whilst virtually all our first team squad has a pedigree at this level or higher.
What is your club most famous for?
I guess only fans of other clubs can answer that, however most folk seem to mention our getting screwed out of an FA Cup Final appearance back in '97.
Describe the Proact Stadium.
Pompey fans will be pleased to know our's is one of the most modern, spacious, and well facilitated grounds in this division. What's more the surrounding area is well served by pubs and fast food outlets. The away end seats upwards of two thousand and there's the option of an extra thousand or so in the adjoining stand.
Describe your rivalries with other clubs.
Sheffield Wednesday (Bowels): Easily the most disliked outfit in the Sheffield region largely due the arrogance of their fans, who believe they're some massive outfit because of the occasional large crowd. Worse still the local media seem to pander to their self-importance.
Sheffield United (Blunts): Nowhere near as bad as their Deedah brothers (Deedah - local slang for Sheffielders thanks to their bizarre accent) but some of their number have pretentions whilst there's often been open warfare when they've visited.
Rotherham: The local outfit we've played most over recent times and very similar to ourselves in many ways. Unfortunately building a new ground saw far too many of their fans develop Wednesday-esque delusions, perhaps because they're outnumbered in their own town by fans of that club, leading to them receiving 'Wankers of the Season' status.
Brighton: Despite pleading and begging for help from everyone when they had Chairman issues their fans launched some hypocritical crusade against CFC when our's turned out to be bent. Even to the extent of abusing and attacking visiting Board members when we played 'em. Many Spireites will never forget or forgive.
Mansfield: There's been genuine hatred surrounding this rivalry in the past fuelled to a significant extent by the Miners Strike of '84/85. Basically most Notts miners scabbed whilst most Derbyshire miners struck.
However, after humiliating them in the play-offs of '94/95 we've enjoyed almost two decades of dominance, including a never-to-be-reciprocated occupation of three sides of their ground by our fans, not to mention seeing our little yellow neighbours consigned to non league football for several years. As a result our >ahem< 'relationship' has come to mean far more to the Staglets than our fans.
What is the most interesting fact about your club that is little-known to fans of other clubs.
Back when everyone sported a long curly 'tache and top hat we turned out in a Union Flag kit. This led to the 'Powers That Be' banning such shirts, but as we'd already worn it we were somehow exempt. Dunno how apocryphal this tale is, yet if true it means we're the only side allowed to take to the field adorned by the national colours.
Predict your team's finishing position
A could-come-back-to-bite-me-squarely-on-the-arse third place.
And finally, what do you think of Portsmouth and how will we fare this season?
Big club at this level, five figure crowds should mean a more than competitive budget, attracting better than average players shouldn't be a problem, so I see Pompey challenging for promotion. Bloody nice to have a novelty fixture to look forward to, too.
The Stadium: The Proact Stadium (Capacity: 10,400 - Away: 2,100)
Having viewed photos of this ground it looks very much like your "new generic box stadium" similar to Colchester and Shrewsbury. Full review to come but for now take a look at the Football Ground Guide's Chesterfield page.