Danny Webb spoke to the media ahead of the Spireites’ first away fixture of the season at Cheltenham Town.
Beginning with the news that Mike Goodwin is stepping down as chairman, Webb said: “He’s done a wonderful job. Some of it was before my time, but I do hear lots of supporters tell of their fears for the football club at that period and Mike, along with others, obviously helped save the club.
“He’s remaining on board as vice-chairman, so it’s great that he’s still involved with the club because he was one of the key reasons why the supporters have still got a club.”
With Ashley Kirk taking over as chairman, he added: “Ash is a very good leader. We’ve got a good leader as a manager in Paul Cook and we’ve got another good leader in charge of the football club, so that that bodes well.
“Like all good leaders, you need people underneath that are willing to work hard for the cause and we certainly all do that.”
Ronan Darcy joined the club earlier this week on a season-long loan from Wigan Athletic, and the assistant manager spoke about what he will bring to the side.
“A bit of guile and creativity,” he said. “I’ve seen him train and he looks a really good player.
“Obviously you can’t really judge anyone until they get out on the field, but as I always say about all our lads, I’ve spoken to him a few times, he’s a cracking boy and he wants to get going again.
“He can probably play in any of those positions behind the striker. Whether he plays tomorrow, we’ll wait and see.”
Malik Owolabi-Belewu also signed a pre-contract agreement this week, with the defender set to join from Forge FC on January 1.
Webb said: “We had some good scouting reports of him. He’s an absolute giant of a lad. Bim Pepple spoke quite highly of him as well during his time here. He’s a left-sider and the gaffer likes that balance across the back line, so I’m sure he’ll bring great competition.”
Speaking about Tyrone Williams’ return to the Erwin Training Ground, Webb said: “It’s great for him, just for his mental health. He hasn’t shown any weakness in his mental health because he’s such a strong character, but surely deep down it would affect anyone (what he’s gone through).
“We’ve all supported him, the club’s been brilliant with him. It’s great to see him back running and hopefully he’ll be getting back doing what he loves in the not too distant future.”
Finally, discussing Cheltenham, he added: “Our last visit was a pretty boring, average game. They weren’t great, we weren’t great. We probably felt we deserved it but everyone’s going to say that.
“We missed some good chances and a sucker punch right near the end. The Monday after was probably one of our longest days going back over the game because there was so much that the gaffer wasn’t happy with. We certainly don’t want a repeat of that.”
