Chesterfield 'not on a jet' to reach League One and Championship, says Paul Cook
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Cook had the Spireites on the cusp of the Championship in 2015, losing to Preston in the play-offs, before departing for Portsmouth.
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Hide AdNow in his second spell at the Blues, he has returned them to the EFL, and although they have ambitions to go higher, they will not put the future of the club at risk.
He explained: “We are in a challenging league now, we are looking to climb, looking to grow, we are not looking to grow on a jet, we are not looking to fast- forward, we want to build our club. If we can get back to where we were last time then the reality is consolidating and looking to go further would be great but to do that you have got to have a rock solid football club and that is not just what you see on the pitch.
"Sometimes I feel that clubs are in a hurry and that can affect your progress going forward. As a football club I feel we are not in that hurry. I think with steady and gradual improvements you get exactly where you want to be.
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Hide Ad"With conversations you have with people, we probably want to go back to where we had the club last time, which was knocking on the door of the Championship, that is the plan.”
Clubs such as Stockport County and Wrexham have used the momentum from winning promotion from the National League to go again and get up to League One and, as much as Chesterfield would like to do the same this season, it is not the end of the world if they don’t.
Cook said: "We are all pleased but there is so much hard work to be done, there is a lot of building and blocks to be put in place, we have all got to focus on the same thing and that is a really good plan. The challenges of getting back to League One are big. A lot of people want to do the same stuff.”
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Hide AdOff the field, the Spireites are growing their fan-base, averaging bigger attendances than when they were in League One, with a lot of younger supporters now attending games.
Cook added: "I enjoy coming into work, I enjoy Chesterfield as a community, my family very much support the club, the staff enjoy it here. I must congratulate our fan-base. Our fan-based has been huge. The average attendance has gone up and our travelling support is fantastic.”
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