Chesterfield striker Scott Boden 'holds no grudges' after departing Spireites

The 31-year-old was placed on furlough around Christmas time and loaned out to play-off finalists Torquay United for the rest of the season, where he scored six goals in 18 appearances.

The striker, who was released by the Spireites at the end of June and is currently a free agent, is sad to leave after eight years at the club over two different spells.

In an in-depth interview with the DT, he said although he believes the furlough situation could have been handled better, there is no bitterness or bad blood towards Chesterfield and he wishes them success in the future.

“I have been involved with the club for eight years so it is gutting for me personally,” Boden told the DT.

“I was buzzing to come back two-and-a-half years ago.

“With it being a local club and the ties I have had with it through the ups and the downs, Chesterfield holds a big place in my career.”

Boden, who rejoined Town in January 2019, was one of the players furloughed during winter and he admits it was a ‘horrific’ time for him.

“I wanted to go in and train, I wanted to do my job,” he explained.

“I have got a lot of affection and affiliation with this club so while I was contracted to this club I wanted to be a part of it.

“The manager has got to do what he feels is right and you respect his decisions but I still feel like I had a lot to offer and I think I showed that when I went to Torquay.

“It is water under the bridge now but it was not a nice time at all.

"I think sometimes people forget you are a human at the end of the day, and for me it was not handled right and that is kind of the top and bottom of it.

“I knew my time at the club would end eventually, I did not want it to be anytime soon, but whenever it did end I wanted it to be on good terms and amicable.

“I did not get a chance to say goodbye to people within the building, who I have made good friends with, and I did not get that chance to say bye face to face so it was just little bits and bobs like that.

“But it is what it is at the time, the manager, the club, they did what they felt was right for themselves but personally speaking it was not a nice time.

“I wasn't personally leaving on bad terms because I had not done anything to leave on bad terms.

“I don’t think I did anything to merit the way I was treated, in my opinion. Whether people would agree with that, I don’t know.

“If people read this and think ‘is he talking about me’ then the likelihood is I probably am talking about you because you would not think that otherwise.

“It could have ended amicably, for me, but it just deteriorated.

“But, like I say, it is what it is, and football moves on very quickly.

“I don’t want it to come across as a bitter ex player because it is not that at all.

I” wish the club all the best and we move on.”

Due to the terms of his loan deal, Boden was not allowed to play against Chesterfield when then title contenders Torquay United visited the Technique Stadium on May 3.

Boden was criticised for the way he celebrated Torquay’s second goal in the 2-0 win and, although he admits it probably was not the best thing to do, it was the result of a ‘build-up’ of emotions and from an earlier incident during the game.

According to the striker, who did not want to go into too much detail, something happened in the first 10-15 minutes of the match which ‘sparked’ a reaction from the Torquay bench and it escalated from there. Boden says he was also asked to sit somewhere else in the stadium instead of near the dugouts.

On the May 3 clash, Boden said: “I was tied to Torquay at the time, we were top of the league, I wanted us to win the league, so that was one reason (for the celebration) but not the ultimate reason, I will be honest.

“There was something particular that happened on the day that probably brought that out more than anything, to be fair.

“There are reasons which I don’t want to go into too much but at the time when I was told in no certain terms that I was not going to play for the club again, there was certain stuff said that ruffles your feathers. Out of respect to people at the club I won’t say what was said.

“I will be honest and say that I came to that game thinking if I can ruffle feathers a little bit, get a bit of a reaction, it sparks the game a little bit, but in all honestly I got to the game and thought I don’t need to do that because that would put me in a bad light, I don’t need to be seen to be doing that.

“I just left it but there was something that went off in that first 10 minutes of that game where I think it was that more than anything because that just sparked our bench as well.

“Where I was at the time I got told I could not sit where I was so I had to go and sit elsewhere. As far as I know that was not to do with Covid, I don’t know what the reason behind it was and that basically caused uproar on our bench. So without going into too much detail into that it just sparked our bench. That was a lot going off.

“So where I was sitting in the second-half (East Stand), I was not sat there in the first-half. In the first-half I was behind the dugout where I have seen many players sit when I was there. I was sat with all the rest of the squad and the players who were not involved. And then I got a tap on the shoulder and was told to move.

"It was just a mad 10-15 minutes and a really bizarre situation and one you don’t want to be in because I have got the ties to the club, I have such a good period at that club in my career, you don’t want stuff like that happen when you know it is going to end because that is the only thing people will remember of you.

“Obviously we scored the goal in the second-half and that (my reaction) was probably everything built up. The three months previous to it, the 10 minutes of the first-half, the fact we were trying to win the league, and then it just all boiled over. What I mean is you are only human, you can only take a certain amount and then you are going to implode.

“When that second goal went in, it was probably a wrong thing to do but I think if the fans knew what circumstances you had been through then I am sure there would be some who would get my point of view and get why I did it.

“It was not to rub salt in the wounds or to come across as an idiot, it was just all the emotion rolled up into that.”

Boden, who is mulling over some offers from clubs, said rumours of a ‘bust-up' between him and Rowe after the game were definitely not true because he was on the other side of the ground.

He also said if he was to meet anyone from the club he would shake their hand and that there are phone calls he wants to make to people.

He joked: “It is goodbye for now but whether there will be a trilogy I very much doubt it!

“The club gave me my first year in professional football at 18, Lee Richardson at Saltergate, I am part of the old school of it. I had the good times under John Sheridan when we got promoted, won the JPT, we got relegated, I have had a hell of a journey with the club.

“Like I say, hopefully it is not over with the club, I am a local lad, I grew up a Sheffield United fan but I have probably turned into a Chesterfield fan more because I look out for the results more than I do for Sheffield United.

“I would not ever wish bad on the club.

"I hope the momentum that the manager has built does carry on to next year because the place will be incredible when the fans are back in.

“There are no grudges held and I hope that is reciprocated. That is football at the end of day.”