Luke was signed by Chesterfield in the summer of 2000 from Chester City for a tribunal-set fee of £150,000 (of which more later...).   Six-foot-tall Luke was born in Sheffield on Nov 25 1976 and played for Sheffield Schoolboys before joining Barnsley as a YTS trainee on leaving school in 1992.  On completion of his YTS Luke became a full-time professional in 1995 but couldn't break into the Tykes first team and left in the summer of 1998 on a free transfer to Chester City.

 1998-99, Luke's first season at the Deva Stadium, was badly hit by injuries.  Firstly he broke a foot in a game against Port Vale and later had a medial ligament problem, but nevertheless he still posted 29 appearances with a very creditable record of 13 goals.

 Luke had much better luck with injuries in 1999-00 and played in every game - a rare achievement for a striker.  He totalled 19 goals and was City's top scorer.  However his personal good season had to be set against a distressing time for all associated with Chester City as the club finished bottom of the Football League and were relegated to the Conference.

 Luke, as the leading scorer, was in demand in the summer of 2000.  Chester offered him a five-year contract but there was plenty of interest from elsewhere.  Mansfield, Shrewsbury, Carlisle, York, Rushden & Diamonds and Chesterfield all showed an interest but it was the Spireites that secured his signature on Jun 20, 2000.  As Luke was out of contract at Chester and the clubs couldn't agree a fee the deal was referred to the transfer tribunal.

 On the field 2000-01 season was an unqualified success for Luke.  After some impressive pre-season form but without regular goals he broke his competitive scoring duck in fine style with goals in both legs against second division Port Vale in the Worthington Cup.  Vale are probably Luke's favourite opponents, because he managed the same scoring feat against the Potteries team while at Chester.  His first league goal clinched three points at Cheltenham Town and after that the goals came regularly throughout the season.  16 league goals to add to his 2 in the Worthington Cup made him the Spireites leading scorer.

 Off the field Luke had to endure almost constant media pressure during the second half of the season, all through no fault of his own.  The transfer tribunal set a fee of £150,000 to be paid to Chester City, which seemed to give then-chairman Darren Brown a problem. Firstly Brown claimed that he would appeal, only to discover that there was no appeals procedure.  Chesterfield had signed Luke on the basis that they would pay whatever fee the tribunal set.  Further prevarication over payment by Brown resulted in Chester reporting Chesterfield to the Football league, and this started off a whole chain of events that gave the club almost constant, but unwelcome, headlines from January onwards. 

  It was alleged that Luke had two contracts.  One showing a low signing-on fee and salary was the one that the transfer tribunal saw, while the other one, with higher figures, was the contract on which Luke was actually being paid.  Chesterfield were found guilty of hoodwinking a transfer tribunal and were deducted 9 points and fined £10,000.  Just about everybody in the game, plus some who should have known better (like then-Sports Minister Kate Hoey) offered their opinions on how appropriate a punishment that was.  Most of them had relied on a sensationalist tabloid newspaper campaign against the Spireites for their "evidence".  The only people who actually saw the evidence (the Football League tribunal which heard the charges) decided that the club (effectively chairman Darren Brown) was guilty, but the tribunal chairman totally exonerated Luke himself of any wrongdoing.  

 All players get abuse from opposing fans, but last season Luke had to ensure far more than most because of the dual-contract saga, and like his teammates his form was affected towards the end of the season.  He still had the honour of scoring the goal against Kidderminster that theoretically clinched promotion for the Spireites, though this was before the 9-point deduction was ratified and promotion had to be clinched again a few weeks later.

  Luke's best goal was probably the one in a 4-1 home victory against Leyton Orient, when he chested down a 50-yard pass from Sean Parrish and nearly burst the net with an unstoppable shot.  Perhaps his most important goal, psychologically, came on Easter Monday at promotion rivals Cardiff.  The Spireites were drawing 2-2 but under the cosh.  With 10 minutes to go Luke went up for a corner and an unstoppable header sailed into the top right-hand corner of the net, silencing the home team's fanatical support.  The game finally ended 3-3 and both sides left the field happy after a game that most judges classed as the best 90 minutes in the division all season.

Written by Ken Foster