Irons in the fire but Spireites will move on if players won't commit

Chesterfield have plenty of '˜irons in the fire' when it comes to new signings but they won't waste time on players who can't commit.
Guy Branston with Gary CaldwellGuy Branston with Gary Caldwell
Guy Branston with Gary Caldwell

Head of recruitment and development Guy Branston has revealed that the Sprireites walked away from a potential deal with a Championship player because the target in question kept asking for more money.

He says Town are sticking to their guns and crucially for the club’s financial well-being, their budget.

New arrivals could be imminent, however.

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“I think the big thing is, we’ve put enough irons in the fire for things to start happening,” he said.

“It’s not a scatter gun approach, it’s about planning.

“A few have said they’re there or there abouts.”

Branston says the club is in no mood to pander to players who take too long weighing up their options, or trying to squeeze some more cash out of the Proact.

“We’re not going to sit and wait for players I think have been offered good contracts,” he said.

“The gaffer has been adamant.

“We turned down a Championship player because he wanted more and more and more.

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“Kept constantly coming at us with different deals and we said no, this is what we’re about and we’ll move on from it.”

The man responsible for finding talent and dealing with their agents believes Chesterfield are in a strong bargaining position when it comes to negotiations because of the sheer number of players looking for a new club.

“We’ve got the power seat here because there’s an abundance of players out there,” he said. “If we want a striker and we have say £100,000 we could pick seven or eight who fit into that ilk. That’s the powerful position we’ve got.

“If the agent starts ruining it by saying he wants this and that, it gets boring because you say I’ve got seven choices, I’ve got 10 choices.

“We have to be strong as a management team and a board.”

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Branston is in constant contact with boss Gary Caldwell, assistant manager Steve Eyre and club director Ashley Carson and he’s happy with where Town find themselves at this stage of the summer, having already signed Scott Wiseman, Joe Anyon and Bradley Barry.

“We’re making really good, steady progress, we’re not rushing because I don’t think we should,” he said.

“We’ll make solid decisions at the right time.

“There’s a recruitment meeting every day on Whatsapp and we know what we’re looking for and we’ll move on if we need to.”