Hall (24), who played in the Scottish Premier League last season with Gretna, is seen as a replacement for Janos Kovacs, the Hungarian centre-back who is bound for Lincoln City.

Hall hails from Ashton-Under-Lyne and began his professional career with Oldham Athletic in 2002.

He made 63 league appearances for the Boundary Park club, and had a one-game loan spell with Scarborough, until he moved to Shrewsbury two years ago.

The 6ft 2in central defender player 42 league matches for the Shropshire club before he joined the ill-fated Gretna side in January.

The Weddingmakers were consumed by financial turmoil and went into administration before resigning from the Scottish Football League.

Hall was made redundant in the wake of the problems and looks set to resume his footballing career with the Spirieites.

Earlier this summer the club announced it had agreed pre-contract agreements with former international defenders Rob Page and Kevin Austin.

Page, who has played for Wales, and Austin, who has represented Trinidad and Tobago, are expected to play at Grassmoor Golf Club today at the Spireites golf tournament.

The Spireites have also signed former Scunthorpe and Northampton midfielder Paul Harsley, who was Port Vale's player of the year last season.

Meanwhile, Aaron Downes has been hitting the headlines with the Australian U23 side.

The Blues central defender is in the running to gain Australian selection for the Beijing Olympics and is currently Down Under at a squad training camp.

As part of the build-up they played two games against Chile U23s and Downes netted twice in the first match.
The Aussies lost 4-3 and drew 1-1 in the second game, a game in which Downes took no part.

Blues manager Lee Richardson, meanwhile, has been holding talks with two goalkeepers.

The Spireites need to bring in a new first-choice keeper after former No1 Barry Roche moved to League Two rivals Morecambe.

No names have been mentioned, but one of the players is understood to gave a good deal of league experience.

Richardson is waiting to hear from other club managers before negotiations can be taken further.

The manager is also working hard to bring an additional frontman to the club.

The Spireites are awaiting the outcome of a tribunal which will determine the level of compensation the club will receive from Lincoln for Kovacs.

The panel's decision will be binding.