The Chesterfield Courier
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Chesterfield
Sil Swinkels and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Freddie Ladapo signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Freddie Ladapo commits to Chesterfield for another 2 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
Talks stall between Chesterfield and Tom Pearce
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Chesterfield try to borrow Joshua Duffus
AS Saint-Etienne have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Lewis Orford is in the works
Chesterfield have made the call to West Ham United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad3 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Chesterfield are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Tom Pearce asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sil Swinkels still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Chesterfield would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market3 Aug 2026
Nobody at Chesterfield has picked up the phone to Lewis Gordon
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
In brief
- Market Janoi Donacien leaves for nothing
- Market Liam Mandeville leaves for nothing