Chesterfield chief executive hails importance of work to improve the club's training ground

Extensive work is currently taking place to improve facilities and give the club more options.

Mr Croot said: “It’s a great investment for the club and will help us work with our players, particularly the younger players.

“Phil and Ashley Kirk have really bought into it and helped us to bring it to fruition. I think it makes a massive difference. We want to bring players in who have got ambition and want to better themselves.

“When we’re signing young lads like Bailey Hobson, it’s part of the club’s business plan that we develop young players. If we’re looking for our coaching staff to do that, we’ve got to give them the tools to do it.”

Mr Croot also believes the lack of facilities available coincided with the poor run last season.

He said: “We had a long spell during the winter when we couldn’t use the training ground. To me it was noticeable that it was when we had the spell when we struggled to get results.

“Staveley helped us, but we weren’t on our own training ground and Paul (Cook) is keen to do morning and afternoon sessions, which wouldn’t be possible without the work we’ve done.”

“After being seeded, the grass is expected to take around six to eight weeks to grow.

“We’ve temporarily found another site that we can use for the players to train on during July. By the first week in August, they’ll have a brand new training facility, with two fantastic pitches.”