Chesterfield FC: Paul Cook must heed Anthony Gerrard warning with January in mind | OneFootball

Anthony Gerrard's Chesterfield spell started with scrutiny and ended in disaster. It's a transfer the club will want to avoid a repeat of in January.

In 2024, albeit with a few current injury problems, Paul Cook can be applauded for his squad building at Chesterfield, making sure to add quality personnel to his squad while also ensuring he doesn't add too many ‘big personalities’ which might upset the rest of the squad or even the supporters.

Go back to the summer of 2019, when the Spireites had just finished their first of six seasons in the National League, and manager John Sheridan wanted to build on a 14th-place finish by adding the likes of experienced fullback David Buchanan, a 22-year-old Liam Mandeville, and the controversial Anthony Gerrard to his team.

Having worked with Sheridan at Oldham and Carlisle, Gerrard was instantly appointed captain, but he would go on to make just 11 appearances for the club, and in that time, managed to get himself stripped of the captaincy, turn all the fans against him and even cause a social media war which gained national attention.

After a turbulent spell, Cook has been able to create stability in the Chesterfield squad and, with some fans wanting to see a few fresh faces through the door, the manager will want to avoid repeating Gerrard’s disastrous move in January or heed the warnings of it.

Fans were already skeptical of Gerrard’s arrival after a spat with a Spireites legend.

Upon his arrival, Chesterfield fans were no stranger to Gerrard and his antics, following an incident between the defender and Town’s then-captain Ian Evatt, when Oldham and the Spireites locked horns in League One 2017.

The former Walsall man was frustrated that a tussle with Evatt inside the Spireites’ box didn’t result in a penalty for the visitors, and Gerrard carried on his frustration into the tunnel at half-time, getting into a heated altercation which resulted in the defender being shown a red card.

Gerrard told the Under the Cosh Podcast in 2020: “So he (Evatt) comes over and starts giving me loads and leans in and nuts me. But the referee hasn’t seen him come to me. So I’m like ‘******* get in here now, I am going to ******* flatten you’.

“We went into the tunnel. The referee doesn’t know what is happening. He just sees a bit of a melee. I’m trying to get at him (Evatt) and all the lads are all in the middle and the referee sends me off.

“I went outside and there were all the young lads outside, and I said to them ‘tell him I’m going to f****** flatten him after the game’.”

A video emerged a few days later of Evatt calling out Gerrard while sitting in a pub, allegedly filmed by Gerrard’s teammate at the time, Ollie Banks.

Gerrard signed for Chesterfield in the summer of 2019 and was appointed captain by Sheridan, with fans rejoicing that Gerrard, who had spent much of his career in the Championship and League One, had dropped to the National League.

But judging by the Evatt spat would prove to be far from his only Chesterfield controversy and his time on the field was disastrous, as he was called overweight by the 60-year-old manager, and came under scrutiny from sections of the fanbase.

Gerrard’s departure from Chesterfield ended in more controversy.

The former Republic of Ireland U18 international made just 11 appearances in Derbyshire, and he was stripped of the captaincy in September after making an X-rated comment towards a fan on social media.

Gerrard was struggling with injuries throughout his Chesterfield spell and was involved in an X-rated exchange with a supporter that made national headlines.

“I was chuckling writing it,” Gerrard said on the Under the Cosh podcast.

“He was giving me absolute dog's abuse.

“I was in the house just on the couch and thought ‘you are getting it.’”

A few days later, Gerrard offered to speak with the fan in the club car park, who obliged and posted a picture waiting for the player outside the SMH Group, who had to be kept in a disciplinary meeting until the fan had left.

Following Sheridan’s sacking in early January, Gerrard would follow his former manager out of the door less than a month later, leaving the club by mutual consent.

New boss John Pemberton told the Derbyshire Times that Gerrard had “fallen down the pecking order” following the emergence of youngsters Jamie Sharman and Joseph Yarney, claiming Gerrard’s position at the club “wasn’t going to work”.

The tough-tackling defender would subsequently retire from professional football and told Under the Cosh that he was not in the right place mentally at Chesterfield.

“I am not going to belittle a club, but I just wasn’t there.

“I was embarrassing myself playing. Just mentally I wasn’t there.

“Physically (I was) miles off it and no disrespect to the Conference, but I think I am better than it to be honest,” said Gerrard.

Five years later, the Spireites have a tight-knit group, seemingly void of any controversy, with all the current squad and staff maintaining a great relationship with supporters, and that is a testament to Cook’s squad-building.

There are seemingly no huge egos, no one who thinks they’re ‘too good’ for the level, Cook has built a quality squad, full of hard workers, and with the momentum from their National League title win last season, who knows where the group can end up?

With the January transfer window on the horizon, the former Wigan boss will be sure to heed the warnings of the Gerrard fiasco by making sure he doesn't risk hurting the dressing room atmosphere but with Cook’s sublime transfer dealings at Chesterfield, fans will always back him to make all the right calls with the club's best interests at heart.