Chesterfield to explore Europe for new signings as they aim to 'box clever'
Chesterfield are set to explore Europe for possible new signings as they aim to ‘box clever’ in the transfer market.
The Spireites’ current recruitment team consists of Neil Hornby, Kieran Cook and Danny Ventre. Hornby is head of recruitment, while Paul Cook’s son Kieran is a scout in the south of the country and Ventre covers the north east in a part-time role. The three of them, alongside manager Cook and his coaching staff Danny Webb, Gary Roberts, Kieron Dyer, Paddy Byrne and Dave O’Hare all work together as a tight unit to identify possible targets.
With the help of stats, video clips and going to watch games themselves, players are monitored and discussed in Chesterfield’s dedicated recruitment room, which was one of the things Cook pushed for when he returned to the club for his second spell in charge three years ago. Last summer, the Kirk brothers heavily invested in a data platform called StatsBomb which provides in-depth stats and analysis on opposition teams and players. Such is the cost, it is believed that only a handful of League Two clubs use it
As well as all of that, Chesterfield are now set to explore the European market for possible new signings by looking at games and players in Holland, Denmark and Belgium, as well as keeping their eye on talent over here and in Scotland. Hornby is going over to Holland for three days to watch four games to get a ‘feel’ for the league and Kieran Cook will be doing the same in either Denmark or Belgium.
"We’ve had discussions, we’ve reached out to people and spoken to them, and they are the leagues we are going to look at to get a real gauge of the level and whether it is suitable or not for us,” Hornby said on the club’s in-house Weekend Warm-up podcast. “Ash and Phil are backing us 100% to get out there and have a look."
With the same scouts at the same games week in week out, everybody is looking at the same players and Chesterfield feel it would be shrewd to look abroad to see what is out there.
Hornby continued: “We are trying to think out of the box, think a bit clever, think smart and the gaffer is saying we have got to think out of the box a little bit. It is exciting for us as a recruitment department and it is exciting for the club because we have not done it before.”