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.