Supporters who saved the National League side during the pandemic believe their club is ‘back on the map’
“We took the club over during a pandemic and people said we were crackers,” says Chesterfield’s chief executive, John Croot, as he considers the thought of 6,000 long-suffering fans converging on Stamford Bridge. “But someone had to do something.”
On Saturday evening the National League side will face Chelsea and, whether or not they contrive a shock for the ages, their presence advertises an eye-catching change in fortunes. The Spireites had been a staple of the Football League’s lower divisions for almost a century when they plummeted through the trapdoor in 2018 and things almost got much worse. But last year they were saved by a takeover from the Chesterfield FC Community Trust, an independent charity affiliated to the club since 2009, and the turnaround in the subsequent 17 months has been extraordinary.
