It's great to see last year's Player of the Year runner up back in the Spireites line up. Alex Bailey was the find of last season, from no first team experience whatsoever during his time at Arsenal to a 45 game league season and a stunning campaign that saw him take second spot in the end of season Awards. The young Londoner really appreciates being back too. "It's great to be back playing, it's taken me a while and to be honest I was getting fairly negative and depressed but I tried to stay as upbeat as possible and with a lot of words from the Gaffer and encouragement from the coaching staff kept me positive and I'm happy to be back. I'm nowhere near match fitness, the fans know what I can do though after last season."

So what was the problem? We all know it was a knee injury, but he played in pre-season and in the opener at Blackpool before disappearing, having plaster casts fitted, so what caused the problem? "It started off as a minor problem which then developed into a much worse one. I played a match at Staveley, I blame the Gaffer because I came on only for about five minutes, got a bad whack, trained on it for about a week and then one morning I woke up, and I blame myself, because I hadn't dealt with the swelling, I'd neglected it a bit, and it turned into something called Bursitis, that's when the knee is trying to protect itself and produces a lot of fluid, water on the knee is a common term, as well as Housemaid's knee! That restricted movement and stressed the ligament making me only about 40% mobile, so I had to take a lot of time off, rest was the only cure and I had a cast on to immobilise it and speed things up. It's the worst injury I've ever had and with it not really having an answer, I was always wondering if things would be the same as before, doubts creep in regardless of how strong your mind is but now I'm slowly but surely getting some match fitness back and I'm doing extra fitness work after training's finished."

Everyone was delighted to see Alex's return, initially as sub at MK Dons, but he then started at Macclesfield in the LDV and has retained his place since, though there was immense sympathy for Gareth Davies who'd done a brilliant job in a role that's less familiar for him, so does the returning full back feel any pangs of guilt about displacing Gaz? "Whilst I was resting up, I didn't see too many of the games but I've heard that Gareth and Picks both did well. You hear the word 'squad' a lot, an injury for one person means a break for someone else, but as for sympathy, a little bit but it's not that sort of game is it."

Bailey's form last season earned a contract extension quite early on and his performances have made him seem, from the sidelines at least, that he's already part of the Saltergate furniture. Is that a view he shares? "Definitely, I feel like the Sofa! I haven't got a bad word to say about any of the lads. I try to mingle as much as I can and there are a lot of different characters in the dressing room, characters I've never encountered before. I've never met anyone like Wayne Allison before and Derek Niven, a Scottish Man! I'd met Scotsmen before, but not real ones, someone from up near the mountains. I love Derek and I love Chief, there's lots of camaraderie, I'm sure you can see from the stands that we're all together."

So, as a London lad who'd never been anywhere in the North, how's he find life in North Derbyshire? "I find it very refreshing. Even when I'm back in London I'm not really a party-goer, I've lived that life for long enough and, even at 22 I've slowed down. Everyone in Chesterfield has welcomed me with open arms. Because I don't speak that much, some people may think I'm a bit grumpy but I love everyone and I hope everyone has a good word to say about me. I've got used to the life very quickly."

Alex may claim to be quiet off the pitch (I'm not sure I believe that) but on it, he leads the Boot Fashion stakes, he sported a new pair of red ones at Orient. "They call my new ones my Dorothy's. I've not been very superstitious in the past but I'm getting that way now. The gold ones I wore against Huddersfield and Macclesfield and, you'll laugh at this, in the Huddersfield game I began to feel they were jinxed, every time I wore them I seemed to take a knock so I stopped wearing them. The white ones weren't actually mine, I think they were Pick's or Bolla's, so it's the red ones for now. The copper ones have gone, I've passed them on as well, you never know, you may even see a black pair in the future!"

Has he been surprised with the start the team's made this season? "I try to keep as positive as possible and I think we can go higher than we are now if we have the rub of the green. We were dealt a lot of blows early in the season, things like the Manager not been there when he was ill was a big thing, even though some of his advice is rubbish! Injuries to myself and to Aaron in particular, I'd seen him grow into a lot more intelligent footballer. The top five is well within us, we just need to keep a level of consistency, that's the one problem, and we need to ask more of ourselves."

Finally, after second spot in the fans' vote last season, is he targeting victory in the Player of the Year Poll this campaign? "That's a definite target. When I came here, being Player of the Year or trying to show I was the best player were never objectives. I just wanted to go out there and establish myself and see how I could handle myself in the big, wide World of football. At the end of last season, my hat went off to Shane Nicholson, he was the one person I thought would get the award. I hadn't seen him play before and he was a real example both on and off the pitch. Mr Consistency, dead-ball specialist, he can tell the keeper where he'll put his penalty and they'll still not save it. If I can be as fit as him when I'm that age, he's in tremendous shape, I hope I'll still have the eight-pack like I have now at his age. Having said that, there'll be a lot more competition this year to be honest, Larks has been really impressive, his runs and holding the ball up, Hally's done well, Allott, well he has his critics but I just laugh those off, I've played with the guy, Derek and Reuben too. There's a long way to go so let's hope I can play like Cafu for the rest of the season then I may pick up the award in May!"

Cafu? We'll stick with Alex Bailey and his Boots of Many Colours.

PHIL TOOLEY