Why Paul Cook could not 'turn his back' on Chesterfield when they came calling

Cook, 54, returned to the Spireites earlier this month seven years after leaving when they were in the League One.

Many people were surprised he was willing to drop down to the National League but his affection for the Blues was too strong to turn down.

“My reason for coming here was because of my love for Chesterfield Football Club,” he said ahead of Tuesday night’s game against Wrexham.

“There was an opportunity for me when Chesterfield needed someone and I could not just turn my back on them at that time.

"It is a club that I dearly hold close to my heart from my time previously here.

"I was sat at home doing absolutely nothing and Chesterfield needed a manager."

The club is in a very different position from when he left but he says it has a ‘fantastic’ and ‘warm’ feel to it under the ownership of the community trust.

“It is just a really, really fantastic football club,” he said.

"I feel that this club’s home is in League One but obviously at the minute we are a long, long way from that.”

Despite his love for the club, the decision to return was not straight-forward, Cook admitted.

When asked by the DT if it was an easy decision to come back, he replied: "No, it was not an easy decision, I have to say that.

"The reality was I could not sit at home and be out of work while Chesterfield were in the position they were in.

"Obviously, from my previous time here I know John Croot well, I know a lot of the people that are still here, and I could just not turn my back on that to sit at home and watch the tele or go do some Sky Sports work, I could just not do that, it is not in me.

"It is a decision I hope works out, I pray it works out.”

The length of contract Cook has signed has not been made public but the club has said it is not short-term.

So does Cook see this as a long-term project?

"At the minute it is all about the here and now,” he told the DT.

"The reason I haven’t been speaking to the media is because I don’t really want this to be about me.

“I have not come back to Chesterfield for the Paul Cook show. I have come back to Chesterfield to try and help the club that I love.”

Cook says he is still getting to know the squad and that he has ‘hardly’ made any changes at all so far because the squad is ‘stretched’ due to injuries and suspensions.

"I am learning every day but at the minute it is difficult to get a real angle on it because of lack of training days and the squad being quite depleted at the minute,” he explained.

"We are very much managing the situation day-to-day. We will learn a lot more about them over the next few weeks.”

Cook’s first couple of weeks have been far from smooth but he believes his experience will prove vital.

He explained: "Coming in, it has probably been a lot tougher than I imagined it was ever going to be but my experience in and around the club is probably a good thing now because I think the club probably needs that experience.

"We are a bit bumpy at the minute but we are in a very strong league position at the minute so we are concentrating on that.

"There have been a lot of events in the last couple of weeks – injuries, suspensions, sendings off – that have probably just knocked us off the path we thought we might be on. The reality is we need to get back on that pathway as quickly as we can.”