'Like winning the lottery' - Chesterfield chairman excited for future with new owners

Town are looking forward to their first season back in the EFL for six years and off the field they have ambitious new owners in brothers Phil and Ashley Kirk, who gained majority control of the club recently.

"To get the help of Ashley and Phil is like winning the lottery,” Goodwin told the DT. “They are two local guys who love the club as much as we do. It is in safe hands and it is a great time to be a Spireite.

"I think we are in as good a position as I can remember us ever being in. We have got good people who are running the club who are supporters and we have got a connection with the community.

"We are going to sell over 5,000 season tickets which is amazing. I remember when we did our first business plan and talking to John Croot about whether we dare put 4,000 as our average crowd because we were below 3,000 and here we are selling over 5,000 season tickets which is incredible."

When the community trust took over the club in August 2020, the aim was to stabilise it, but they knew they could only take it so far, and thankfully that is when the Kirk brothers got involved.

"The first couple of years that we took over were tough,” Goodwin explained. “I had many, many sleepless nights wondering whether we could pay wages on the Friday and that takes its toll. To be in a position now where we can enjoy it is fantastic. It won’t always be as good as this, you know what football is like, but we will enjoy it while we can.”

Goodwin, a fan himself, was ‘emotional’ when the National League title and promotion was confirmed and he is proud to have played a part in getting the club back into the EFL.

Plans for next season are underway and potential targets have been identified. Manager Paul Cook has been celebrating with the players and his staff in Marbella but he is due back this week.

Goodwin added: "I know they have already been looking at different players, there have been one or two names bandied about, they will be wanting to bring some quality in. We want to be competitive next year and we will be – I have got no doubts about that. We have got the nucleus of a really good squad and I think Paul will do what he did last year in signing a few quality players and I think that will serve us really well.”

*Goodwin was speaking to the DT at The Star’s Football Awards in Sheffield on Monday night where the Spireites were honoured with a Special Achievement Award following their title success.