Acerbis Team of the Year
ADAM VIRGO believes Chesterfield have said goodbye to Non-League football for a long time after romping to the National League title.
The Spireites were named Acerbis Team of the Year at The Non-League Paper’s National Game Awards in association with Isuzu after sealing their return to the Football League with a stunning haul.
Ninety-eight points. Thirty one wins. One hundred and six goals. Rarely has a team won the National League as dominantly as Chesterfield.
The pre-season favourites more than lived up to their billing, going top with a 1-0 win over Ebbsfleet in the middle of September and staying there for the next eight months.
Manager Paul Cook made sure pre-season was every bit as intense and professional as it was in his time at Wigan and Portsmouth, and the hard work paid off.
Whether it was the goals of Will Grigg, the midfield quality of Tom Naylor or the sheer consistency of a flawless supporting cast, Chesterfield looked EFL-ready from practically the first kick of the season.
Return
Highlights included a run of 23 wins from their first 28 league games, a 5-0 demolition of Gateshead in January, plus a run to the FA Cup third round.
The Spireites knocked out Leyton Orient and League One champions Portsmouth before coming within 14 minutes of beating Watford at Vicarage Road.
A 3-0 win over Boreham Wood at the end of March officially sealed a return to the EFL after six years away, but promotion was never in doubt TNT Sports pundit Virgo believes they have the credentials to challenge next season despite making the step up.
“They’re a big side, they’re a huge club,” he said. “When they got relegated, they signed so many players and it goes from bad to worse. There’s no real identity, there’s no real direction.
Successful
“When Paul came in, he wanted to stop that. He is a good manager, has been there before and been promoted. He is another reason they have been so successful.
“Teams go into League Two now that I feel we won’t see them for a while and Chesterfield are one of those teams. The squad is there, the infrastructure is there, the manager is there to go and be successful.
“The one thing that managers probably don’t get is time and Cooky has taken 18 months to get that squad together. I think about the team that he took on that lost to Solihull in the play-offs, they were miles off.
“Last year, I remember walking away from Wembley after the promotion final defeat to Notts County and felt that next season would be their year.
“I’ve noticed a few times with National League sides if you can keep the majority of your squad and add to it, that tends to bring success. What you often see is players leave, it breaks up teams and you have to rebuild which is never easy.
“There was a good group of players thereJamie Grimes is an outstanding defender, Liam Mandeville is playing better than I have ever seen, we know (Armando) Dobra’s quality – and then sprinkling in winning mentality. That costs money but it also brings results.
“They’ve won stuff, they’ve been there and done it and that makes a massive difference. They’ve come in and done a magnificent job.”
