'Ridiculous' - the staggering turnover in players at Chesterfield in last couple of years

The Spireites boss recently outlined his desire to put the ‘jigsaw pieces’ together correctly so that they can achieve success – even if that means a bit of short-term pain.

Last week Cook explained that Chesterfield could no longer continue to stockpile players and that for new ones to arrive it is ‘important’ that some leave.

By our calculations, Town have signed more than 50 players in the last two-and-a-bit years – with a similar number departing – a trend that just can’t continue.

Cook’s point is on the money – the turnover in players is ridiculous and they need to get some stability in the squad, hence the new contract for Liam Mandeville.

To delve into deeper Cook’s comments, we have taken a look at just how many incomings and outgoings there have been since the summer of 2020.

JOHN PEMBERTON

In Pemberton’s brief tenure as manager he signed seven players – Kyle Letheren, Corey Addai (loan), Jordan Cropper (loan), Tyler Denton, Milan Butterfield, Nathan Tyson and Alex Kiwomya.

Youngsters Jamie Sharman, Regan Hutchinson and Luke Rawson were also brought into the first-team but they were already at the club having come through the academy.

Pemberton departed after just eight games of the 2020/2021 season.

None of the above players are still at the club.

JAMES ROWE

During Rowe’s 14 months in charge, a staggering 30 players were signed. As many as 24 players also departed. At one stage it felt like a new signing was being announced each matchday and it became a running joke among the fanbase.

In fairness, the big turnover in players needed to happen and it did result in a huge improvement in results.

However, 30 players in 14 months is far too many – and only 10 of those – Jeff King, Tyrone Williams, Jamie Grimes, Manny Oyeleke, Tom Whelan (went and came back), Jack Clarke, Kabongo Tshimanga, Joe Quigley, Akwasi Asante and Danny Rowe – are still here.

Rowe was not the most patient of managers and he shipped out some of those he had brought in quite quickly – Joel Taylor, Whelan, Martin Smith and Kairo Mitchell were all signed for money but they did not last long. Others like loan signings Adam Pryzbek, Marcus Dinanga and Adi Yussuf hardly played.

Again, in the interests of fairness, Saidou Khan was sold for a fee after joining for free, while Kabongo Tshimanga is obviously a valuable asset.

PAUL COOK

Since returning to the club in February Cook himself has signed 15 new players, 14 permanents and one loan, while 19 have departed, including one on loan, so he is starting to restore balance to the squad.

He would like to bring in one or two new faces, but for that to happen he wants one or two to leave.

He said: “One of the things since my previous time at the club is the amount of signings we continuously make in pursuit of success. It is a ridiculous amount of numbers. There are no sort of avenues for consistency or continuity.

"Everyone wants instant success and as a club we have needed to be promoted for the last five years, but we have got to build a solid football team, we have got to stop the ridiculous amount of signings. We have got to build off a really solid base and that is what we are trying to do at the minute.

"I am very much a manager who believes in putting jigsaw pieces together properly and when you put the jigsaw piece together you will have a really strong team.

"We are a very, very strong football club and what we don’t need is continuous, large amounts of changes in players, that is not how you build success.”