Quality over quantity and patience will be key: how John Pemberton's Chesterfield squad may look next season

That’s what John Pemberton is aiming for this summer when it comes to rebuilding Chesterfield’s squad.

I say rebuilding, it is more likely to be a rejig.

On the back of the matchday programme from the Blues’ last home fixture against Harrogate Town before the pandemic, it showed the visitors with just 20 players compared to Chesterfield’s 28. That will not be the case in the next campaign.

Pemberton wants a squad of 20 outfield players including a small number of youngsters.

At the moment Chesterfield have 10 players under contract: Luke Coddington, Will Evans, Laurence Maguire, Josef Yarney, David Buchanan, Curtis Weston, Joe Rowley, Scott Boden, Liam Mandeville and Jack McKay.

While Jonathan Smith, Haydn Hollis, Tom Denton, Jamie Sharman, Regan Hutchinson and Luke Rawson have all agreed new contracts “in principle” but the club can’t commit to signing them officially just yet.

Goalkeeper Shwan Jalal is in talks about a new deal and I’d expect him to re-sign if the right terms can be agreed.

I would also expect Nathan Tyson to be at the Spireites next season and I have heard a whisper that a deal is already in place.

I was never any good at maths at school but with the 10 under contract players, the six “agreed in principle” deals plus Jalal and Tyson that’s 18 already without bringing in any new faces who weren’t there last season.

My understanding is that Pemberton would have liked a few more players to be out of contract because the 10 who still have another year left to run take up a large chunk of what is going to be a much reduced budget. And if the community trust completes a takeover of the club, it is going to be even less.

Taking into account all of the above, I can’t see there being a load of new players arriving because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of room for manoeuvre.

The thought of having the majority of the same squad that has finished 15th and 20th in the National League will alarm some people but Pemberton has shown what he can do in such a space of time.

In just a couple of weeks Pemberton got them fitter, sharper, playing with confidence and at times some decent football. Imagine what he can do with a full pre-season with them.

In my view it only takes one or two good additions and suddenly the quality of the whole group increases. Better players bring out the best in others.

In terms of signings, unless they can move on some of the players under contract then I think we should only expect to see a couple of free transfers come in.

A centre-half, a central midfielder and a winger or two would be my main priorities.

The loan market will be key and Pemberton will no doubt be on the phone to his old pals Sean Dyche at Burnley and Chris Wilder at Sheffield United to see if anything can be done. Dyche let Pemberton have Jordan Cropper on loan last season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him return again.

Pemberton has good connections at Liverpool and used that to his advantage when he was the manager at Kidderminster Harriers to sign centre-half Rhys Williams on loan. A couple of arrivals from Anfield would be nice, is Trent Alexander-Arnold available?

I don’t think anybody should expect any new arrivals soon given the current uncertainty. Stevenage and Eastleigh have both made a couple of additions but other than that it is very quiet.

I’ve always been of the opinion that it is best to get your transfer business done early but this year I think patience is important. The uncertainty with finances and wages will force some EFL players to drop to the National League so you never know who you might be able to get.

Come Chesterfield’s first game of the new season (whenever that is), I’d expect the back of the matchday programme to have fewer, but familiar, names with an extra sprinkling of pace, athleticism and quality.