John Pemberton comments on possibility of him being named permanent Chesterfield manager

The 55-year-old took over as caretaker manager following the sacking of John Sheridan and led the Spireites to a vital win against Sutton United in his first game.

He will be in charge until Chesterfield FC Community Trust completes its takeover of the club in the next four to six weeks and then a decision will be made whether he stays on a permanent basis or not.

When asked about his future, Pemberton said: "The new owners will come in, if they have decided what they want to do already - that is fine - I am okay with it.

"It would be nice if I have a fighting chance.

"I would like to work for the club because I enjoy the club and I enjoy working here so we shall see.

"If we can get out of the mess we are in it will not do me any harm."

He added: “First and foremost I am not going to get a chance to be the manager here unless we start turning results around.

"I am going to be in charge until the takeover goes through and then when the new owners decide what they want to do.

“Either way I am alright with it because as long as I know from the start what I am dealing with I am happy with that.”

By Tuesday there had been 32 applications for the Chesterfield manager’s job, we understand.

Pemberton, who had a short spell in charge of Town at the end of 2018 when Martin Allen was sacked, got the call to come in after Sheridan was sacked with Chesterfield five points from safety in the National League.

He took charge of training the next day and got off to a winning start against Sutton to cut the gap to safety to two points.

This week he has been working on getting the team organised and assessing what areas he needs to strengthen.

A goalkeeper is his main priority with Luke Coddington out injured for the rest of the season, leaving Shwan Jalal as the only senior number one.