Hello, and welcome to my new football page dedicated to bringing you all the footy action direct from the Proact.
I'm Michael of Michael South Photography. A local bloke who supports and photographs Chesterfield F.C, and I am very happy to be aboard!
2019/20 - The season that never was.
When the season kicked off back in August who would have guessed how it would have played out and how it would all be for nothing! There were, however, a few highlights along the way: club legend Ernie Moss' attendance for his 70th birthday in October, which was marked with a minutes applause on the 70th minute!
The previous season saw the Spireites fail to regain promotion back to the football league. Chesterfield ended up sitting quite comfortably in the lower half of the National League (the Conference in old money).
During the football break Chesterfield fans had hoped that John Sheridan's reprisal at the helm would continue his winning ways by bringing back the bounce to the club.
However, the following seven months would show just how wrong they were.
After the friendlies were out the way (winning just two of the six games) the seeds of doubt were sown, as the opening match of the campaign ended with a home 1-1 draw against Dagenham and Redbridge... and to be honest, the season didn't get much better after that!
The next ten matches didn't go Sheridan's way either, winning none. This got some fans starting to question whether Shezza was the right man for the job. Where had the fight gone after bailing them out following Martin Allen's departure last season? The players it seemed, didn't want to play for him anymore. The rumour mill started, had Sheridan lost the dressing room?
As the results continued to slide from Chesterfield, so were the play-off’s and eventually the league seemed to slip away from the blues once more. After the boxing day fixture, Chesterfield were down to 23rd place and things looked bleak.
By the blow of the final whistle on the first game of 2020, Sheridan's fate was sealed. Chesterfield losing 3-0 away at Solihull was the final straw. For the second time in his CFC career, John Sheridan was sacked having lost 13 games, drawn nine and winning only four of the 2019/20 season.
Ironically though, another ex Spireite manager replaced Sheridan!
John Pemberton was offered the job on a temporary basis and immediately the players seemed to play for him. The Spireites won four and drew two in his first nine games in charge.
The memorable home games for me came with an impressive comeback in February against Wrexham. With Curtis Weston's 94th minute winner bouncing in and out across the goal line, (see pic) reminiscent to the club's 1997 disallowed semi-final goal in the FA Cup. This secured the valuable three points for the Spireites with a 3-2 win.
The following home game saw Chesterfield destroy Ebbsfleet 4-0 at home and create a new club record with a second half, 23 minute hat-trick by Nathan Tyson coming off the bench. The first CFC player EVER to be subbed on and proceed to score three goals!
Currently, at the time of writing the UK is on lockdown, and the Spireites have had their season cancelled after the league clubs voted in April, to void the season. Of the 46 fixtures only 38 matches were ever played.
Chesterfield's last competitive game of the season was played away at Dover, on the 14th of March from which the Spireites returned with a point and continued their climb up the league, finally pulling themselves out of the drop zone where they had spent a lot of the season hovering.
So, the future?
At the time of writing this it’s unclear when the national football league will get back to normal, but one thing is certain. When it does, I will be bringing you my monthly Spireite report with photography to match, So I'll see you then!
Words and images: Michael South
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