Jorgi Porter

Changes are afoot

So a week after the last game of the season and much has happened at Chesterfield FC. Our beloved Jack Lester made his final appearance in the blue and white and retired from the game, Nathan Smith won the player of the year award on Sunday night (and quite rightly so). Then on Monday the axe started to come down. Seven players released; Neil Trotman, who had a fantastic end to the season, Danny Whitaker became a bit-part player towards the end, Craig Clay and Scott Boden seemed to not do enough to convince Paul Cook that they were first team players, Richard O'Donnell wants first team football and he will no doubt get it elsewhere, then finally the two ex youth team players Jack Waddle and Johnathan Wafula. On top of this Paul Cook has decided to list Sam Hird, who has only been with the club a season, due to 'footballing reasons'.

Along with the players, many staff were also released. Assistant Manager Tommy Wright, coach Mark Crossley, development coach John Dungworth and kitman Kurt McDermott. But on Tuesday came the news which caused the biggest stir among Spireites fans, the club had released Youth coaches Mark Jules and Dave Bentley who had been with the club 14 and 17 years respectively.

Leam Richardson

With all these releases, fans are now left speculating as to what is going on behind the scenes at the Proact, some have suggested it's all a cost cutting measure, which i am sure part of it is, you can't go signing new players with others still on the wage bill, balancing the books is needed. Paul Cook has a plan and the players and staff released do not fit into that plan it seems.

First off Cook needed a right hand man who understands the direction in which the club is to be taken, so he brought in Leam Richardson.

Richardson was Cooks assistant at Accrington and took over that side when Cook left for Chesterfield, guiding them to secure a spot in League 2 for next season. James Beattie mentioned on Twitter that he is an excellent coach:

''Leam Richardson has been awesome during my time at Accrington, showing managerial skills way beyond his years, i predict a bright future for him''

Those words coming from an experienced ex Premier League striker are encouraging for Chesterfield fans. He's young at 33, knows the league and will provide invaluable assistance to Paul Cook as well as learning from whoever else is brought into the backroom staff, things can only go upwards for Richardson from here.

Lets not forget that this is Cooks first pre-season in charge of Chesterfield, he inherited a downbeat team who were lacking confidence, leaking goals and not scoring, turning them into a team that towards the last 10 games of the season had a fantastic defensive record and started to look like promotion contenders once again, just missing out on a playoff spot.

The next two months are going to be very interesting and exciting times for Chesterfield FC, new players, new backroom staff and a new beginning for a team that deserves so much more.

Old JML giant pint

I was just skimming through some old Youtube videos when i came across this bad boy from a couple of years ago. Corny as hell, but if you want to see me fall in a giant pint here we go:

Super Jack Lester

The picture above is a familiar sight for Chesterfield supporters. Jack Lester wheeling away after a sublime finish, however, today it was announced that 'Super Jack' will not be renewing his contract at the end of the season.

Whether he decides to continue in a playing role at a different club or takes up a coaching role, one thing is for certain and that is his legendary status among the clubs fans after what will be six seasons of excellence from the now 37 year old.

Joining after being released from Nottingham Forest in 2007, Lester made an immediate impact and bagged 27 goals in all competitions during his first season and continued this fine form on a constant basis for the next few seasons.

Many Chesterfield fans most memorable Lester moment will be his Hat-trick in the League 2 championship winning season in a 5-0 win against rivals Rotherham Utd, His first goal showing everything that Lester was about, skillful, wiley and a top class finisher, all this you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wj1Aa_5KYc

Hearing the news that he was leaving at the end of this season i was obviously saddened, but proud that our club and fans have had the pleasure of having such a player in the side, Now lets make the most of seeing and cheering on one of the best to have pulled on a blue shirt.

When that last home game comes, even the more hardened supporters will be emotional and i'm sure i speak for pretty much all of the fans when i say 'No Jack, Thank YOU'.

Katy Perry..Bouncing

Thought i would throw in a gif of Katy Perry having a little bounce... Wish she went to Town matches...

Forza Juve!

Following the World Cup 94, i was now hooked on football and was determined to find out as much as possible about it as i could, especially Italian. This was way before the Internet started appearing in our homes so the only way to find out more about it was through magazines or one of the four channels we had back then, so skimming through the 'Radio Times' for TV listings i found a magazine show - 10am every Saturday morning - 'Gazzetta Football Italia'.

Watching highlights of some of the greatest players in the world at that time, Gabriel Batistuta, Abel Balbo,  Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Zvonimir Boban just to name a few, but there was one player i came to see, of course Roberto Baggio.

This is when i first came across the black and white stripes of Juventus, i had no idea how good they were or who any of the players were at that time, but Baggio played for them so they were MY team from now on.

One of the first live Juventus matches i ever saw (Football Italia showed live matches on a Sunday afternoon) was a classic. Juve were at home and losing 2-0 thanks to two first half goals until a surge in the last 20 minutes saw them come out 3-2 winners, 'The Bald Bomber' Gianluca Vialli scored a Bullet header then latched onto a botched clearance to poke home an equalizer, then in the 89th minute i saw what i still believe is the best goal i have seen live and a possible new footballing hero emerge. Alessandro Del Piero.

Juventus went on to win their 23rd league title that season which was dedicated to Andrea Fortunato, an extremely promising left back who unfortunately died of Pneumonia after battling Leukemia for a year.

Roberto Baggio left Juventus that summer and moved to Milan, but it didn't matter now, i had found the team i liked and still support them to this day. They went on to win the Champions League the season after with a penalty shootout against Ajax and i had my first taste of my team winning things. It sure wouldn't be the last....

Footballing Introductions

When i was young, i never had any friends who supported any kind of football team, it was just my good friend Andy, Brother Rich and myself sat around playing computer games on the Commodore 64, SNES or watching Wrestling all day at weekends and all evening until bed after school. My parents weren't into football either (although my mum did have a brief fling with Leeds Utd in the 70's). So in the early 90's my football knowledge consisted of only recognizing the Sheffield Wednesday and Man Utd shirts due to pupils at school wearing them on none uniform day.

My influences were limited.

One day, i believe in mid 1994, Andy used his holiday spending money to buy a game for the SNES called 'International Superstar Soccer' and this is where i first met this man to the left. Galfano.

One of the best players on the game, he played for Italy and had a distinct feature, he seemed to have a ponytail. A different hairstyle on this game was pretty rare because barring Galfano and a player for Colombia called Murillo (AKA Carlos Valderamma as i found out) pretty much all the players had generic hairstyles. I was ALWAYS Italy because of this guy, paving the way for the future.

Andy told me that he had read in a gaming magazine that the players on ISS were based on actual footballers and that summer i saw an advertisement for World Cup 94 and decided to sit and watch both my first football match and my first big tournament in anticipation to see the player who i had been controlling the months before. I wasn't Disappointed.

I had found the real life Galfano at the 94 World Cup. I had spotted that ponytail dangling over the back of that beautiful dark blue shirt. My first real memory of him was his 2 goals against Bulgaria in the Semi finals, his first came from a throw in on the left wing, picking the ball up and jinking it round the first player, running up towards the right wing across the box, knocking it past a second player and drilling a right footed shot past the keeper. His second, latching onto a looped through ball, let the ball bounce and placed it smack into the right hand corner and in off the post.

As i'm sure most of you know, the final against Brazil ended in a pretty drab 0-0 draw and went to penalties where the great Franco Baresi had already missed one penalty and it all relied on Baggio to keep them in the shootout.

Unfortunately it was a ballooned effort over the bar and that view of Baggio kneeling on the grass as Brazilians celebrated around him still sticks with me today, but at the time it did not stop me from wanting to further my knowledge of football and especially the Italian game.



Roberto Baggio turned 46 years of age this past Monday, a gentleman on and off the pitch, one of the greatest Italian number 10's ever and if it wasn't for International Superstar Soccer and the man himself, it could have all turned out very differently for me. Happy Birthday Roberto, may your jinky skills and ponytail live on forever.