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CHESTERFIELD are only a small club, but yet they always seem to provide tough opposition for the Hatters and in 1997 the Spireites reached the FA Cup semi-final, only losing to Middlesborough in a replay...

The Club and The Ground

CHESTERFIELD are the 4^th oldest club in the League.  The Recreation Ground at Saltergate is the longest continually-played-in ground in the League.

Like Luton, Chesterfield have one piece of silverware – the 1981 Anglo-Scottish Cup, beating Glasgow Rangers in the Quarter-Final. 

Their famous former players include Luton legend Danny Wilson, World Cup-winning stopper Gordon Banks, and Bolton Wanderers forward Kevin Davies, who made his debut aged 16.

Chesterfield’s President is His Grace The Duke of Devonshire, whose home is nearby Chatsworth. The Club Physio is 1997 FA Cup semi-final hero, Jamie Hewitt.

Saltergate is a small and compact, old-fashioned ground.  At one end is the Spion Kop, a covered terrace for home supporters. Opposite is the small, open Cross Street End terrace. The covered Main Stand is medium sized, and unusual in having its seating area raised above the pitch, thus there are a number of stair wells at the front of the stand leading up to the seats. There are a number of supporting pillars in this stand, which could restrict your view. The other side, the Compton Street Side, had a lot of work carried out on it during 2002 and this former terrace has now been made all seated. This stand is partly covered (to the rear) and has a row of supporting pillars. It has an unusual television gantry perched on its roof.

Hatters fans are housed in one side of the Main Stand where around 450 seats are normally made available. This can be increased to 800 if demand is sufficient. For teams with a large travelling support, the Cross Street Terrace at one end of the ground can also be made available. This end, which is open to the elements, has a capacity of 1,400.

Please note that the 'seats' allocated to away fans in the Main Stand are in fact wooden benches and the facilities in this stand are pretty poor and like the ground are showing their age. On the plus side Chesterfield is a pleasant town with plenty of eating and drinking places within easy walking distance of the ground. Although normally a relaxed and friendly day out, the local constabulary often have a high presence and regularly film supporters before, during and after games, which I found to be intrusive.

'The Club have announced that they are to ballot Club Members on whether the Club should move to a new 12,000 capacity stadium (at the site of the old greyhound track at Brimington, two miles away from Saltergate) or re-develop Saltergate itself. Initial reaction seems to support the view to move.

Ground Guide courtesy of the excellent Internet Football Ground Guide.

History - Chesterfield Football Club

SO, Chesterfield are the 4^th oldest team in the League. Any budding statto’s out there could tell you who the top 3 are, I know Notts County is one of them, but the Spireites weigh in at number 4, having been founded in 1866. 

They do have the oldest, or longest played-in ground in the league – their Recreation Ground at Saltergate having been in continual use since the 1871-72 season, over 132 years ago. 

As with most clubs, they spent their early years kicking around with local teams, playing friendlies and local derbies, and forming rivalries, particularly with local teams Garrick & Spital, and also with the Sheffield teams with whom it ended up playing in the Sheffield League from 1891 onwards. A spell in the Midlands League followed, before joining the 2^nd division of the Football League in 1899. 

One of the most interesting early games was against a team called the Original Zulus – a Sheffield club that raised money for families of soldiers killed in the Zulu wars. Their kit comprised of black jerseys & ‘drawers’, with burnt cork on their hands and faces, completing the outfit with strings of beads and white hair. Before the game the Zulus toured the town in a wagon, and attracted a large crowd to Saltergate to see an entertaining draw.  

After a few decade yoyo-ing between the Football League and the Midlands League, which they won several times, the Spireites were finally promoted to Division 2 in the 1931-32 season. This saw the likes of Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur, Stoke City and Manchester United visit Saltergate. They stayed up in their first season, but were then relegated, then promoted again, and in the 3 years before the Second World War nearly even gained promotion. 

After a brief strong period post-war, Chesterfield’s standing dropped over the next 15 years, they changed from a respectable 3^rd division side to a small struggling 4^th division side by the end of the 60’s. 

It was all change at the ned of the decade though – possibly due to the signing of forward Ian Buxton, from Luton Town (!), the 1969/70 season was one of the most successful in the club’s history. Buxton was one of 3 signings made before the season, and they transformed the side, the club winning the Championship with a convincing 3-1 win over Peterborough on the last day of the season. They followed it up by a creditable 5^th place in Division 3 in both the next 2 years. 

In 1976 Arthur Cox arrived as manager – signed from the backroom staff at Sunderland, but formerly manager of European Giants, Istanbul Galatasaray. 

Under his stewardship the Spireites fluctuated wildly from promotion hopefuls to relagation battlers, but the period included notable performances – not least against old rivals Sheffield Wednesday, beating them 2-1 at home, and nicking a last minute equaliser to draw 3-3 away, both in the 1979-80 season. 

The 1980-81 season was one of the most eventful in the club’s history. It started with Chesterfield taking Sunderland’s place in the Anglo-Scottish Cup. Arthur Cox successfully guided them through the group stage, but when Newcastle United sacked their manager Bill McGarry they promptly appointed Arthur Cox as his replacement. One pub in Chesterfield held a minute’s silence upon hearing the news.

New manager Frank Barlow inspired his team to a 6-2 win in his first game, proceeded to take them top of the league, and then faced the trip up to Ibrox to face Glasgow Rangers. 12,000 watched a 1-1 draw, many of them having made the trip up from Derbyshire. And 2 weeks later, 14,000 fans packed out Saltergate to see Chesterfield rout the Scots 3-0 for perhaps the club’s most historic victory. They went on to win the trophy, beating Notts County in the final.  

Alas, the flush of success didn’t continue, and more to-ing and fro-ing between divisions 3 and 4 ensued, relegated in 83, preomoted again 85, but then back down in 1989. They narrowly missed out on going back up in 1990, when Dion Dublin scored for Cambridge United in their 1-0 play-off final victory.

What followed was a dismal 4 years, with poor form, supporters unrest, and unpopular behaviour from the Chairman. In the midst of all this was a stunning 4-4 draw with Liverpool in the League Cup. The 5,000 fans simply couldn’t believe their eyes as Chesterfield led 3-1 at half time, at Anfield.

 Ultimately it was 1994-95 season in which things started to look up again for Chesterfield.

They beat Derby to win their first ever Derbyshire Centenary Cup, and a team invigorated by John Duncan’s signings (including Jamie Hewitt, Nicky Law, David Moss & Lawrie Madden) impressed throughout. They looked dead cert for an automatic promotion spot, but were edged out and ended up in the playoffs. This draw handed them one of the club’s finest moments, a semi-final fixture against fierce rivals Mansfield Town. They drew 1-1 away, and in a spectacular game at Saltergate came from behind twice to win 5-2. In the final at Wembley they put the 1990 defeat behind them to beat Bury 2-0, and returned to Derbyshire heroes.

A solid 7^th in their first season followed, and then 10^th in 1996-97. But no-one in Chesterfield was talking about league tables that year – all eyes were on the Spireites incredible FA cup run, that saw them take the scalps of Bolton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest on their way to a semi-final at Old Trafford with Middlesborough.

Most Chesterfield fans will tell you that they came 1 refereeing error away from being the first ever FA Cup finalist from outside the top 2 divisions. Needless to say, David Elleray is still not welcome anywhere near the Crooked Spire. After drawing a thrilling 3-3 draw with Jamie Hewitt’s dramatic late goal, they lost the replay 3-0 and the dream was over. 

After then finishing 10^th and 9^th Chesterfield were relegated once again in the 1999-00 season.  

They managed to get straight back up with the arrival of some highly-rated players, including Rotherham United stopper Mike Pollitt, Chester City's Luke Beckett, Sean Parrish from Northampton Town and former Crystal Palace man, Steve Tutill from Darlington. An automatic third spot was achieved in spite of a 9-points-docked punishment from the FA for the financial irregularities of Darren Brown. 

Brown left in 2001, leaving the club crippled by debt, and fans formed the Chesterfield Football Supporters Society (much like Trust in Luton or FLAG), which helped to save the club from extinction. 

They were relegated and promoted in the following 2 seasons. 

History Conducted By: Josh Tidy.

Luton Town v Chesterfield...

A full rundown of all of the past meetings

Home Matches   Dec 26 1899 D2 L 0 3 2000   Nov 20 1937 D2 D 1 1 17088   Dec 10 1938 D2 W 5 0 12744   Feb 15 1947 D2 D 1 1 15175   Nov 8 1947 D2 W 2 1 18352   Nov 20 1948 D2 W 1 0 17808   Apr 29 1950 D2 D 1 1 7420   Mar 31 1951 D2 W 3 0 13055   Sep 18 1965 D4 L 1 2 4905   Dec 10 1966 D4 W 3 2 5096   Oct 14 1967 D4 W 1 0 10441   Sep 14 1996 ND2 L 0 1 5292   Apr 14 1998 ND2 W 3 0 5884   Apr 27 1999 ND2 W 1 0 4287   Dec 26 1999 ND2 D 1 1 5870   Aug 31 2002 ND2 W 3 0 6060 Report Statto's Corner

Away Matches   Mar 26 1900 D2 L 0 2     Apr 2 1938 D2 L 2 5 9212   Apr 15 1939 D2 W 2 1 14925   Oct 12 1946 D2 L 1 2 13190   Mar 27 1948 D2 L 0 2 10682   Apr 16 1949 D2 L 0 1 10938   Dec 10 1949 D2 W 1 0 7937   Nov 11 1950 D2 D 1 1 10996   Mar 12 1966 D4 W 3 1 4264   May 6 1967 D4 D 0 0 3055   Mar 2 1968 D4 D 0 0 14075   Mar 4 1997 ND2 D 1 1 3731   Dec 13 1997 ND2 D 0 0 4358   Mar 20 1999 ND2 L 1 3 3921   Mar 25 2000 ND2 W 3 1 2597   Jan 1 2003 ND2 L 1 2 4638 Report Statto's Corner

• Stats taken from Lutonfc.com's 'Statto's Corner'