A crooked path brings Spireites near glory
CROOT CAN DREAM OF CHESTERFIELD RETURN
FROM selling programmes to saving his boyhood club, working on a film set and inventing a sporting phenomenon, John Croot’s lifetime in football deserves a crowning glory.
Chesterfield’s promotion back into the Football League after a six-year absence is imminent – and nobody can match Croot’s joyride from flogging matchday magazines to becoming the club’s chief executive.
Like the town’s famous Crooked Spire, there have been bends in the road, but anyone who loves football will welcome the Spireites’ return to EFL orbit if they collect the point needed today against Boreham Wood.
Manager Paul Cook was so gracious in defeat after last May’s play-off final against Notts County, when his heart was breaking for the better side on the day, that running away with the National League title this season is the least he deserves.
For Croot, it will be a special moment when – not if – it happens.
He said: “I went to school about 20 yards from our old ground at Saltergate, across the road from the away end, so I was a captive audience.
“I used to find an excuse to go in the club shop after school until they asked if I wanted to sell programmes.
“I sold loads when we beat Rangers 3-0 in the quarter-finals on our way to winning the old Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1981. As the last club to win the trophy, it’s still in our boardroom.”
Before Chesterfield moved to their new stadium, Saltergate was the location for football scenes in The Damned United, Michael Sheen’s acclaimed portrayal of Brian Clough. You see Croot’s desk in the film.
“Clough’s office in The Damned United was my office, and filming was still going on around us on nonmatchdays,” he said.
Croot has helped save the Spireites twice. He was a ringleader of the supporters’ society that rescued them in 2001 and he orchestrated a takeover by the Chesterfield FC Community Trust in the pandemic.
He said of the takeover: “People thought we were crackers and letting hearts rule our heads, but it gave us a unique opportunity to embed the club in the community. Clubs like ours will always belong to the fans.”
Loans from Chesterfield Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council of £500,000 aided Croot’s rescue plan and now the club is in rude health, with businessmen Phil and Ashley Kirk ready to invest £2million for a majority stake.
The party at the SMH Group stadium could go on all summer.
Croot said: “We host the IWFF Walking FootballWorld Championship in May, which is gratifying for someone credited with inventing it.”
Darts royalty John Lowe, a fan who lives in the town, will also do an exhibition night at the club.