Chesterfield brothers want to help Spireites 'rise like a phoenix' as they become majority owners

Phil and Ashley Kirk will invest a further £2m into the club and their share will increase to around 80%. The community trust will own about 15% and the fans around 5%. There will be no changes to the current board structure.

The £2m will be spent on promotion bonuses for this season, stadium improvements, helping the community trust and some funds for the 2024/2025 campaign.

The resolution was passed at the club’s AGM on Wednesday night where the latest financial accounts, ending June 30, 2023, detailing a loss of £2.1m, were presented.

The brothers said the trust had achieved what it set out to do and as much as they would have liked the trust to remain the majority owner that was not possible.

On putting more money in, Phil said: "Why would we do it? Because it’s Chesterfield. There is no other club, obviously, that we would have done this for. I promised by dad to never do this because I know it can be a bit of a rabbit hole but it is the right time, right place and right opportunity for the club, for me, for me and my brother to have a bit of fun and help the town. We are so incredibly proud to be from Chesterfield and what a special time.

"Hopefully we can help the trust, who rescued the club, help it rise like a phoenix hopefully back to the Football League. We want the community to be really proud of the club. When people come up to you in town say thank you, any doubt you had about whether it was the right thing, is dispelled.”

There were some questions about the £2.1m loss, what their future plans are and what their ‘exit strategy’ is but Phil eased any fears about them walking away and leaving the club in a mess.

He told the shareholders at the AGM: “The club is now in a really good place. We are living the dream. I can’t remember anything like this. It feels really special. I hope you are all cherishing this. It is funded. We are not going bust. We will have a hell of a time.”

The Spireites could secure promotion back to the Football League this Saturday and it is expected to be worth between £1m and £1.4m alone. They are hoping to break-even next year.

When asked how much promotion will help with the finances, Phil told the DT: “It just makes it far easier to break-even. The distribution money from the league, the TV money, gives clubs like Chesterfield the opportunity to be able to build, where you know you are not on a downward spiral. Provided we are playing attractive football and the town is in love with the club and we are delivering then we will be fine.”

Ashley said he could understand some fans’ worries given its history with previous owners.

Ashley said: "The most important thing for any fan is to have a team to watch on a Saturday. What you don’t want is your team to disappear so I can understand the ultimate fear that Chesterfield fans would have because they have seen some tough times. We are not disappearing in the short-term. The first thing is to get the club in a sustainable and manageable state and push on from there. And then realise how far the club can go, that will be an interesting journey to go on because you can get too close to the sun and come crashing down, and until that is over I can’t see an exit strategy being contemplated.

“Nothing has really changed, it is still the fans’ club, and they should feel happy that future security is guaranteed. There are no question marks. Hopefully they can enjoy the next few weeks. This sort of season only happens once in a lifetime. It was a bleak day when we got relegated and it has been a long six years but the town has got a spring in its step. You can just sense it. We are going to improve the club bit by bit, always getting better, that is the plan. We are not going to be here forever but we want to leave behind great facilities and a club that is in a fantastic position in developing players.”

The community trust, with the help of Derbyshire County Council and Chesterfield Borough Council, bought the club from Dave Allen in summer 2020. The Kirk brothers first got involved in March 2022, investing £1m, before injecting another £1.6m into it a year later.