Why Chesterfield have "one less worry" during National League suspension period

The season has been put on hold until at least April 3 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

It is not yet known how the rest of the campaign will unfold or if the season could be cancelled altogether.

Due to the uncertainty it is vital the Spireites have managed to edge out of the relegation zone otherwise they could have found themselves potentially automatically relegated if the season abruptly ended now with the Blues in the bottom four.

“The good thing about us is we are in a period now where we have got the break and we are out of the bottom four so that was important because again we do not know what is going to happen with the league,” Pemberton said. “Are we going to finish it? Are we not going to finish it? so the important thing for us was to be out of the bottom four as soon as we could and we have managed to do that so at least we have one less worry.”

The suspension of the campaign has thrown up a number of questions such as contracts and deals for loan players.

Chesterfield FC company secretary Ashley Carson confirmed to the DT that loan deals end in April and May while players’ contracts expire at the end of June.

When asked about contracts Pemberton told the DT: “That is something we are speaking about.

“We just need some clarity of what is going to happen.

“We can speculate and come up with every scenario about what we can do and what we can cater for and organise ourselves but until we have got an idea of what is going to happen we are just like everybody else at the moment with what the next step is.”

On the coronavirus outbreak Pemberton added that they are following the suggested guidelines.

“We are keeping updated to all the situations in the other countries because I think we are two or three weeks behind Italy in where we are,” he said.