Manager Paul Cook sat down with the media on Friday morning to preview the Spireites’ home fixture against Barnet on Saturday afternoon.
Firstly, Cook provided his closing thoughts on Tuesday night’s draw with Gillingham. He said: “I really enjoyed Tuesday night’s performance. Great attendance, absolutely fantastic attendance. Brilliant pat on the back to our fans.
“To get 7,500 plus on a Tuesday night at the end of the holiday season, absolutely brilliant. I thought the lads were terrific, I’ve got to be honest. I really enjoyed watching us play.
“Really disappointed to leave Rotherham, sadly, because we never played great, without a shadow of a doubt. Every team at this part of the season, we’re all building blocks towards what will become the important part of the season.”
Looking ahead to the weekend, Cook spoke on Barnet and Dean Brennan. “We’ve got to know Dean and Conor since the conference days,” he said.
“I think he’s, in my opinion, one of the brightest young managers about. I think he’s transformed Barnet into a club that was just an average conference club, with the greatest respect, to title winners in the conference and then going on to probably being one of the favourites this year to go up.
“That’s great credit to Dean, his staff and how they work. He loves his footy. He’s a really good character. I’ve got total respect for Barnet as a club. I think they play football the way I really like it. They’re brave.
“I think we’ll see him tomorrow and we look forward to, please, beating him. That’s what we look forward to the most, beating him because he normally beats us down there. And we normally have a good result here.”
After the transfer window closed on Tuesday night, Cook expressed his delight with the Spireites’ business this summer.
“I’m really pleased with the transfer window,” Cook stated. “To get the players in that we’ve got and the calibre that we’ve got.
“We’ve spent the first four games, let’s have it right, without [Ruel] Sotiriou, [Dylan] Duffy and [Will] Dixon. That’s firepower, and at this level, every team carries firepower.
“We’ve been operating at 50, 60% of ours. We’ve now got really good players at the top end of the pitch. That’s the threat my teams have always carried. I’m delighted. Great support from the club. from Sharon [Kirk] and Ash [Kirk] as ever.
“Now it’s about bedding the players in. It’s about putting our team together that we want everyone to be proud of and be excited with. It’ll be more hard work on the training ground. It’ll be more repetition. We want our fans to get behind us because I feel it could be a really good season.”
Chesterfield made two deadline day signings, in the form on Joel Randall and Kiano Dyer. Cook added: “We thank Bolton for helping us with Joel who will really prove to be a fan’s favourite without a shadow of a doubt. He’s a top, top player.
“He’s a player I was tracking at Ipswich. I tried to buy him off Exeter. He’s a player that we’ve tracked for a long time. And we’re delighted to get him.
“I think Kiano was a little bit easier. With Chelsea, that went a little bit smoother. Kiano is a player we’ve been after for months.
“A really, really talented young man who’s obviously going to sample first-team football for the first time, which is great for him. We’re really excited to have him. And we thank Chelsea for helping us with that.
“Unfortunately for Dilan Markanday, Josh Koroma and Liam Mandeville, there’s been no break for them. Only young Danny Anisjko has been coming on doing great. Young Danny started his career well but the lads have had to carry it. And now we’ve got really good, positive changes.
“I think the Randall one was done with eight seconds to go. Our poor secretary, Chantelle Young, deserves a massive pat on the back. John Croot, all our support staff, Neill Hornby, they all deserve massive pats on the back because these are players that, over the next period of games, are going to play a big part in this club.”
