| Full name | Chesterfield Football Club | |||
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| Nickname(s) | The Spireites | |||
| Founded | 19 October 1867 [1] | |||
| Ground | B2net Stadium Chesterfield (Capacity: 10,300) |
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| Chairman | Barrie Hubbard | |||
| Manager | John Sheridan | |||
| League | League One | |||
| 2010–11 | League Two, 1st (champions) |
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| Website | Club home page | |||
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| Current season | ||||
Chesterfield Football Club ( /ˈtʃɛstərfiːld/) is an English football club based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The club plays in Football League One, the third tier of English football. Despite being the fourth oldest Football League club in England, they have spent most of their existence in the lower divisions of the English league and have never played in the top flight. They first joined the Football League in the 1899-1900 season, but failed re-election in 1908-09. They were later founder members of Football League Third Division North in 1921-22 and have remained in the Football League since.
Chesterfield's most notable successes came in the 1990s, when they won the Division Three playoff final at Wembley in 1995 and reached the FA Cup semi-finals two years later. They were the first club from outside the top two divisions to reach this stage of the competition since 1984 (Plymouth Argyle). On 7 May 2011 Chesterfield beat Gillingham to secure the League 2 title.
Chesterfield play their home games at the 10,300 capacity B2net Stadium, having moved from their old home Saltergate, for the 2010-11 season.
John Sheridan is the current manager having been given a three year contract in June 2009, along with his assistant Tommy Wright.
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The first Chesterfield Football Club was formed in the late 1860s, as an offshoot of Chesterfield Cricket Club. The exact date of its foundation is disputed: many sources list the year as 1866, but the current club's official site states that there is no evidence for its existence prior to October 1867, although other club memorabilia and literature carries 1866 as the year of formation. The cricket and football clubs moved to the Recreation Ground at Saltergate in 1871, the same year that they became separate entities. However, a souring of the relationship between the two led to the closure of the football club a decade later, in 1881, when it found itself homeless.[1][2]
Three years later a new Chesterfield Football Club was formed, again making its home at Saltergate.[1] After changing its name to Chesterfield Town, the club turned professional in 1891 and won several local trophies in the following two seasons, entering the FA Cup for the first time in 1892. Chesterfield joined the Midland League in 1896, and successfully applied for a place in the Second Division of the Football League at the start of the 1899-1900 season, finishing seventh. After finishing bottom of the League three years in a row, the club failed to gain re-election to the League in 1909, returning to the Midland League.[3]
In 1915 Chesterfield Town was put into voluntary liquidation and a new club with the same name formed. It lasted only two years before its management and players were suspended by the FA for illegal payments, and the club shut down. Chesterfield Borough Council formed a new club in April 1919, Chesterfield Municipal F.C., to fill the gap. It was run by the council itself, but the FA forced the club to become independent in December 1920. The club's name was changed to Chesterfield F.C. as a result of the ownership change.[1]
In 1921-22, Chesterfield became a founder member of the new Football League Third Division North. Following the arrival of new manager Ted Davison in 1926 and chairman Harold Shentall in 1928, the club won the Third Division North title in the 1930-31 season with an 8-1 victory over Gateshead on the final day, and were promoted to the Second Division. Relegation followed in 1933, but the Third Division North title was again won in 1936.[3]
After the war the club achieved their best League position, finishing fourth in the Second Division in 1946-47. However, the sale of several players at the end of the season reduced their overall quality, and Chesterfield were relegated at the end of the 1950-51 season. They were placed in the Third Division on its formation at the start of the 1958-59 season; future England international goalkeeper Gordon Banks made his professional debut in a Third Division game in November 1958, but was sold to Leicester City for a then-club record £7,000 fee at the end of the season. In 1961 Chesterfield were relegated to the Fourth Division for the first time.[3]
Chesterfield spent eight seasons in the Fourth Division, earning promotion as champions in 1969-70 under manager Jimmy McGuigan. The Anglo-Scottish Cup was won in 1981. The club was relegated in 1983-84, and won the Fourth Division title the following season. Financial difficulties forced Chesterfield Borough Council to bail out the club in 1985 and the club's training ground to be sold. Relegation followed in 1988-89; Chesterfield reached the play-off competition a year later, but were beaten by Cambridge United in the play-off final. The arrival of John Duncan as manager in 1993 was followed in the 1994-95 season by play-off victories over Mansfield Town and Bury to earn promotion to the redesignated Second Division.[3]
The 1996-97 season saw Chesterfield beat six clubs including Premier League side Nottingham Forest to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup for the first time. The semi-final match against Middlesbrough was drawn 3-3 after extra time; Chesterfield lost the replay 3-0.[4]
The club were relegated to the Third Division in 2000 following a run of 21 games without a win, and chairman Norton Lea was replaced by Darren Brown. The following year, Chesterfield were deducted nine points for financial irregularities after Brown attempted to avoid paying Chester City the fee agreed by the FA for Luke Beckett. Amid mounting evidence of fraud, he relinquished control of the club in March 2001 and ownership passed to a hastily organised fans' group, the Chesterfield Football Supporters Society. Massive debts run up by Brown forced the club into administration, but the team still secured the division's final automatic promotion place. (Brown was later sentenced to four years in prison following a Serious Fraud Office investigation that led to charges including false accounting, furnishing false information and theft).[5]
The Second Division was renamed to Football League One for the 2004-05 season. Two years later Chesterfield were relegated to Football League Two, although they did reach the regional semi-final of the Football League Trophy and the fourth round of the Football League Cup in the same year. The following three seasons saw no change in their League status.[6]
On 22 April 2011 Chesterfield were promoted to League One after a 0-0 draw between Wycombe Wanderers and Torquay United confirmed that the former could not catch Chesterfield, who had been top of League Two since the 16th October 2010.[7] On the 7th May 2011 Chesterfield FC were crowned League 2 champions following a 3-1 victory against Gillingham.[8]
Chesterfield now play their home games at the new £13 million B2net Stadium. The first match at the B2net Stadium was against Derby County in a pre season friendly in which Derby won 5-4. The first goalscorer at the B2net Stadium was Craig Davies. The last game to take place at Saltergate was against AFC Bournemouth on Saturday 8 May 2010. Chesterfield were 1-0 down at half time, but second half goals from Lester 10 minutes from time and Niven in the sixth minute of injury time, saw supporters invade the pitch for the 1st time, meant Saltergate was sent off with an impressive 2-1 win over already promoted AFC Bournemouth. Emotions spilled over at the final whistle as the capacity crowd invaded the pitch for a 2nd time in celebration, and to say goodbye. The club moved to the B2net Stadium in July 2010. Chesterfield suffered their first home league defeat at the B2net Stadium after a 2-1 loss at Burton Albion on 13 November 2010. The highest attendance at the B2net Stadium was 10,089 at home to Rotherham United which they won 5-0 with Jack Lester getting a hat-trick.[9]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For a list of notable Chesterfield players in sortable-list format see List of Chesterfield F.C. players.
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