Experienced manager helped Chesterfield with player recruitment before landing League Two job

The transfer window is open until February 3 and Town are in need of some new additions to help ease their injury crisis, with the number of players in the treatment room into double figures.

Cook has said the window is a ‘big one’ for the club, but also urged caution, explaining that they need to be ‘careful’ not to make short-sighted decisions in an attempt to win promotion. The Blues are currently 10th in League Two, six points off the play-offs and eight behind the top three.

Chesterfield have a little break now, with their next game a week today, at home to Rotherham United in the EFL Trophy last 16. They are hoping to have got some reinforcements through the door and some players back from injury before then.

Cook created a ‘recruitment room’ at the club when he returned for his second spell almost three years ago and great strides have been made in thet department, with a lot of success stories.

To help with their search for possible targets, Cook sought the help of his old pal John Coleman, who was out of work after being sacked by Accrington Stanley last March, before being appointed the Gillingham boss this week. The pair go way back, having worked together at Accrington and they have kept in touch ever since.

Coleman said: “I was doing a little bit on the recruitment side for Chesterfield and I have had a laugh with Paul Cook this morning, he’s saying don’t be pinching any of our players that you had lined-up for us!”

He added: “I'm really thankful to Paul Cook and the owners of Chesterfield for welcoming me into that group but sometimes it can be counterproductive, because you're at those games and you're thinking, ‘I should be there in the dugouts’.”

Coleman replaced Mark Bonner as Gills boss on Sunday, just hours after they were due to play Chesterfield at the SMH Group Stadium, but the match was postponed because of the snow.