Football Season Guide

Chesterfield enter the new League One season with great optimism, having won League Two last season after playing some decent football, but the pessimists among the Spireites' fans be fearing a repeat of the 2011/12 season, which ended with them being relegated straight back to the fourth tier, despite winning promotion as League Two champions. However, there are not many similarities between the current Chesterfield team and the one that was relegated two years ago, as the playing squad has changed a lot since then, while the Spirites also have a new man in charge in Paul Cook, who is set for his first-ever season of management at League One level. The Spireites resisted the temptation to strengthen over the summer, as their main focus was on keeping the core of their squad together and securing new deals for the players they wanted to keep. They eventually managed to keep their key players, including their last season's player of the year Sam Morsy, who signed a new contract. Despite releasing three more players than they signed, their current senior squad contains 20 players, which is a decent-sized squad by League One standards. The only established League-One player who signed during the summer is versatile defender Daniel Jones, who signs from Port Vale., while Charlie Raglan, formerly of FC United of Manchester, and young midfielder Michael Onovwigun are both stabs in the dark. All in all, Chesterfield managed to keep the squad that won League Two last season together without significantly improving it, and we will have to wait and see whether or not that squad is good enough to do well in the third tier.