Director: Caldwell's youth and aspirations made him stand out over more experienced candidates

Youth was on Gary Caldwell's side when he met with Chesterfield director Ashley Carson and director of football Chris Turner.
Chesterfield's new boss Gary Caldwell, centre, flanked by company director Ashley Carson, left, and Chris Turner, rightChesterfield's new boss Gary Caldwell, centre, flanked by company director Ashley Carson, left, and Chris Turner, right
Chesterfield's new boss Gary Caldwell, centre, flanked by company director Ashley Carson, left, and Chris Turner, right

The duo were both impressed by his aspirations and ideas, but particularly struck by his age.

“Right from the off we set out to appoint someone young, enthusiastic, ambitious, finished their football career not so long ago and can bring new ideas to the club, said Carson.

“Gary more than fits this bill.”

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Caldwell has been appointed on a one-year rolling contract and Carson explained what made the 34-year-old stand out above other, more experienced candidates.

“I think his youth, we decided we wanted to get away from the merrigoround of the same ones putting their names into the hat every time,” said the company secretary.

“We thought it was about time we changed everything, broke the mould and went for something different.”

The two parties have had frank discussions about the club’s finances and Carson is is buoyed by Caldwell’s positivity in spite of a much smaller budget than the one he had at Wigan.

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“At the moment he knows exactly what the budget is, we’re already working on budgets for next year and we’ve given him outlines of that,” he said.

“He’s quite confident with that. He’s got ideas on players he wants to bring in, style of play, he believes he can improve the players we’ve got.”