"There is a massive job to be done at Chesterfield FC," says John Pemberton

Chesterfield have gone from reaching the League One play-off semi-finals in 2015 to fighting relegation in the National League for the second consecutive season.

The Blues’ form has improved significantly since Pemberton was appointed caretaker manager on January 2 after John Sheridan was sacked. Town were third bottom of the division and five points from safety but are now 19th and two points clear of the drop zone.

Pemberton has previously spoken about his “vision” for the club being centred around developing younger players and although the club’s academy is shutting at the end of this season because EFL funding will be withdrawn after two years in the National League, the 55-year-old insists that is the way he wants to take the club if he is given the opportunity next season.

He told the DT: “We are hoping to have an under-18s team.

“If I am here next year I don’t not want to have a youth team or young players around.

“We have got to be creative with what we do.

“I don’t want a first-team squad and that’s it because that is not right for the club and it is certainly not right for the town.

“I want young players when they are growing up and it gets to Christmas to want a Chesterfield shirt. I want them to have some kind of dream that they can come and play for this football club.”

If, as expected, Chesterfield FC Community Trust do complete a takeover of the club then Pemberton will hold talks with the new owners and hear their vision for it.

The trust has already said the club must “live within its means” but “must strive to assemble a squad capable of returning to the Football League.”

While Pemberton previously said that “honesty” will be the most important thing for him and that if the budget is going to be cut then aims must be “realistic.”

He said: “There is a massive job to be done at this football club, a massive job with how it all links together and what kind of player we want to attract, what kind of player we are looking for and what kind of style we want to play.

“I know what I want to see on a football field and it is how it all fits together.

“We have been guilty probably of having a group of players and then players become available and then you pile another player on top of another player and a squad can become really unbalanced so there is a lot of work to be done to bring all that together.”