Chesterfield in 'best position in its history', says manager Paul Cook

The future looks bright for the Spireites, who celebrated their promotion to the Football League with an open top bus parade and civic reception at the town hall on Sunday.

Off the field, the club is in a stable financial position thanks to the Kirk brothers and fans are attending games in their droves.

Speaking on the balcony in front of thousands of fans at the town hall, Cook said: "Chesterfield Football Club is probably in the best position it’s ever been in in its history and that is great credit to everyone involved. Supporters, players, management, people above us – they are a credit to the town. There are so many good people behind the football scene at the minute. The players and staff have been absolutely backed up by 8,000 average gates which has made us unstoppable this year.

"The football club means so much to the community. Now and again we need each other and we should always be there for each other when times aren’t so good. There will be dark days ahead, when those dark times come, make sure we stay together strong.”

Cook has now won four promotions as a manager, two of them being title wins with Chesterfield, something no one else has ever done.

When asked where this one ranks, he replied: “The best without a doubt. I think the National League is so much tougher than people will know. Every game is really hard especially when you are the biggest club in the division. Everybody wants to beat you.”

Cook also praised the players, who broke a number of club records along the way to winning the title.

He added: "They have been brilliant. Apart from the last five games where we haven’t turned up for any of them! They have been absolutely fantastic. But a league season is 46 games and at the end of the season the best teams are at the top and unfortunately for the ones at the bottom that is football. We were clearly the best team in the league by a mile.”