On The Road
CHESTERFIELD DOOM AND GLOOM AS WYCOMBE CRASH THE WAKE
WHeN Division three ( North) was created in 1921, Chesterfield were among 20 teams invited to join it and they have remained part of the football league ever since — albeit to little acclaim.
Achievements have been modest but the spireites are one of the country’s oldest existing clubs, with roots in the 1860s.
they discovered Gordon Banks and have collected some lower- tier titles, an Angloscottish Cup, a football league trophy and, 21 years ago, they very nearly reached the fA Cup final.
in the alehouses of this North Derbyshire town they often lament the ‘goal’ scored by Jonathan Howard and curse referee David elleray who failed to see it had crossed the line. middlesbrough escaped and won the semi-final in a replay.
these days, the wonders of goal-line technology would have helped, but now Chesterfield have other problems.
On saturday they were not even able to wallow in the gloom of a return to non-league football for the first time in nearly a century without Wycombe turning up to crash the wake.
Gareth Ainsworth, his players, staff and more than a thousand travelling fans cavorted on the pitch in celebration having fought back to win 2-1 with Dominic Gape’s first goal of the season as results elsewhere went their way.
Wycombe are going up on an annual budget of £1million, Ainsworth has worked a miracle and the fan- owned Buckinghamshire club fear a swoop for his services.
Chesterfield, meanwhile, have gone down on a budget of £2.2m and little faith in those running the club.
three years ago, under the guidance of Paul Cook, they were in the league One playoffs, revelling in the benefits of a new stadium, but they were beaten by Preston.
Cook departed — he has since led Portsmouth and Wigan to promotion — and the best players were sold, including sam Clucas to Hull for £1.3m, tendayi Darikwa to Burnley for £600,000 and sam morsy to Wigan for £400,000. What happened next has echoes of leyton Orient’s plunge into the National league, with an absentee owner, regular managerial change, a blur of signings and a rudderless shambles behind the scenes. there was a raffle prize to join the Chesterfield team at a pre-season camp in Hungary, won by surrey-based fan James Higgins.
He did not exist and had been invented by the club when only four tickets were sold.
An fA investigation is ongoing into wages paid to two former players via a private football academy co- owned by the club’s ex- chief executive Chris turner.
Chesterfield were reported to the Central league for playing New Zealand international liam Graham under false names in the reserves.
there was also an fA charge for the falsification of emails regarding the release of Paul mcGinn and subsequent move to Partick thistle on deadline day in August.
last week, an online vote for Player of the year was abandoned when the club realised it had been sabotaged by supporters.
‘ it’s been a disaster of a season,’ said caretaker manager ian evatt, following his first game in charge. ‘ this club should be in league One or the Championship, minimum.
‘ i’m devastated. We’re all devastated.’
evatt stepped in when Jack lester resigned. lester, a Chesterfield goal legend as a player, had been in his first managerial role and was promised time.
He found his position untenable when his staff were fired after a defeat at forest Green.
Ronnie moore and John sheridan are among those being mentioned as candidates for the job as the club prepares for life in the National league.
Debts have swollen to an estimated £10m as this comedy of errors unfolds. Owner Dave Allen poured in money to keep Chesterfield afloat but has barely been seen at the club since he resigned as chairman in 2016, leaving day-to- day control to company secretary Ashley Carson.
Potential takeovers have rumbled around, thus far amounting to nothing. Carson has been a target for abuse by angry supporters and some have stayed away from the Proact, but the fight has drained from a fan- base resigned to its fate.
Police and dog- handlers primed for protests on saturday found there were none and seemed ludicrously out of touch as they trooped out after the final whistle with truncheons drawn to deal with Wycombe’s jubilant pitch invaders.
soon they were satisfied all was good- humoured as Ainsworth was hoisted into the air on the shoulders of his back- up goalkeeper yves ma-kalambay.
‘He’s about 6ft 8in, it was scary up there,’ smiled the Wycombe boss, but it is far scarier where Chesterfield are heading, towards an uncertain future and a hugely competitive National league.