Reasons why John Sheridan has succeeded as Chesterfield manager compared to those who failed

Chesterfield FC v Dagenham and Redbridge, Scott Bioden scores

Chesterfield were unable to get the basics right for 45 minutes and then stormed into a lead straight after the break and, with a little better finishing from the Blues, Dagenham could have collapsed.

Scott Boden now has a scoring streak of hitting the net, with seven goals in our last six matches and eight in total since he came back to the Proact stadium. It’s no wonder that John Sheridan identified him as the man he needed, especially as Boden had already scored 11 times for Gateshead this season before he joined us.

Fans are currently debating just what has John Sheridan got that makes home such a good manager for Chesterfield? How is he managing to succeed where the previous five failed?

It seems like he’s quick to identify what a player is doing wrong and tells them very simply how to put it right. Also, he’s a good judge of a player and he doesn’t seem to sign any footballers who can’t do the job asked of them. His half-time team talk on Saturday must have either been inspirational or highly threatening to have such an instant effect

It has to be said that Martin Allen’s downfall was that he didn’t know the non-league scene up here and in panic bought a squad of players who didn’t fit together. Then he started chopping and changing, using formations based seemingly on guesswork. The way Robbie Weir and Michael Nelson had been treated by the previous manager looked pretty insulting to them from a professional standpoint.

For the next game away at Dover John Sheridan has said that he’s going to give some of the fringe players a go. This is one of those situations where if it goes wrong at least the manager knows what his best team isn’t, and if it goes right, he looks a genius.

For me, Bradley Barry has looked comfortable in the National League, but Lee Shaw needs to work on beating the goalie. Mark Antoine Fortune can’t have long left at his age and I’ve not seen Kyel Reid play well for 90 minutes this season.

We are looking forward to next season now and there is certainly cause for optimism, however I’d advise fans not to get too carried away.