Still time to buy your memory-laden souvenir programme from Chesterfield's last game at Saltergate
There are still a few copies of the last match programme available.
Call in to the Club Shop and purchase yours if you missed out on one on the actual day.
There was so much great content in there that it will almost keep you going until the season starts
However space didn't allow us to fit in absolutely every contribution.............so here's a piece from exiled Spireite David Dove that is just an example of the quality reading provided
Rec Recollections
by David Dove
It seems most football followers can recall the very first game they went to. The one that committed them to a lifetime's 'hard labour' supporting their team. Unfortunately I can't remember which was my first game at Saltergate. I know it was during the 1962/63 season and I know I went with my friend from next door and his dad. I can't honestly claim to have been hooked from that first game but I must have enjoyed it because I continued to go with them and by the end of the season I was a devoted Spireite. We always stood at the kop end which for a nine year old was a very noisy and exciting place to be. The players I particularly remember are Ron Powell, who although he cut a less than athletic figure was a fine keeper; full-backs Albert Holmes and Gerry Sears (who looked like a Sergeant Major); rock solid centre half Dave Blakey; bustling Gerry Clarke and star player (at least in my eyes) Charlie Rackstraw.
The first game that really stands out in my memory is one I didn't go to. It was an FA Cup 2nd Round replay against Netherfield in '63/64. Because Saltergate didn't yet have floodlights the match was a midweek afternoon kick-off. Many of my school-mates 'wagged it' and went to the game and I wished I'd been brave enough to do the same as we won 4-1. The best thing was highlights were shown on Sportsview that night. I couldn't believe it, Chesterfield on the telly - in glorious black and white of course!
In that same season I made my debut on the pitch! It was a testimonial game for Dave Blakey and Ron Powell between a 'Select XI' and Manchester City who I think were in the 2nd Division at the time and whose star player was Derek Kevan. Spireite legend Gordon Banks was the Select XI keeper and late in the 2nd half a very dodgy penalty was awarded against him. In those days children were allowed to sit on the wall surrounding the pitch as long as they had one leg on the terrace side. The many small boys (of whom I was one) sitting on the wall behind the goal at the Cross Street end decided to take the law into their own hands and lined up in the goalmouth to prevent the penalty being taken. Fortunately this was not treated in the same way as a pitch invasion would be nowadays. It was all very light hearted stuff, in keeping with the way the game itself was played.
It wasn't until 1967/68 that I saw anything approaching a genuinely successful Chesterfield side. One especially memorable game from that season was the Boxing Day fixture at Saltergate. We had won every single home game up to that point and the expectation was the run would continue against lowly Workington. I stood on the kop end as usual and the atmosphere generated by the 16,663 crowd was like nothing I'd experienced before at Saltergate. Unfortunately the game ended 0-0 and form slipped for the rest of the season and we eventually finished 7th.
Two years later came what is still my favourite season of all: The 1969/70 Fourth Division Championship winning season. The great Jimmy McGuigan had assembled a wonderful mix of youth, experience, industry and guile. In midfield the craft of captain 'Dan' Archer was complemented by the sublime skills of Tom Fenoughty. Upfront the legendary partnership of Randall and Moss produced a raft of goals. Many of these came from corners with Randall on the near post flicking the ball on to the waiting Ernie at the far post. Many of the players in that side would feature prominently on any list of Chesterfield legends. Surely amongst them would be Alan Stevenson, Albert Holmes, Charlie Bell, Albert Phelan and David Pugh. I vividly remember the last game of the season. It was at home to Peterborough and for some reason it was a night game. With the Championship already secured we played exhibition football to win 3-1. There was the usual last match lap of honour but the big difference this time was the players were able to show off the Championship trophy to the 14,250 delirious fans. The following week we played Italian First Division club Lanerossi Vicenza at Saltergate. I don't always bother with friendlies but I didn't want this season to end and another fine performance by the team in a 3-1 victory made it well worthwhile.
Of course there have been great times at Saltergate since then (the 1996/97 cup run probably the best of all) but strangely I think it will be my early memories of Saltergate that remain the most vivid. The old ground is now looking rather dilapidated and the time to move is long overdue. The great deeds we hope to accomplish at the b2net stadium will eventually generate their own memories but for me none of these can replace the many wonderful ones I already have from my beloved Saltergate.
