Chesterfield: Non-league club's Community Trust close to completing takeover

Dave Allen has been majority shareholder at Chesterfield for more than a decade

Chesterfield are set to become a community-owned club after majority stakeholder Dave Allen confirmed there is an agreement to transfer his shares.

The Chesterfield FC Trust are completing due diligence on a deal which will see them increase their shareholding to 84%.

The deal will see Allen cease to have any ongoing involvement with the club.

"My preference has always been to hand over the running of the club to local people," he said.

"A number of parties have expressed interest in purchasing the majority shareholding but the Trust has been the only one to progress to this position."

The National League club hoped the deal will be completed by mid-February.

Allen, who became Chesterfield's majority stakeholder in 2009, first put the club up for sale when they were still a League One side in February 2017, having resigned as chairman a few months earlier.

They went on to suffer back-to-back relegations and dropped out of the English Football League in May 2018.

Allen, who previously held shares in Sheffield Wednesday, twice saw the Spireites win the League Two title and lift the Football League Trophy in his time at the helm.

Chesterfield are in the National League relegation zone after 28 matches this season, three points from safety and only three points off the bottom.

Mike Goodwin, chairman of CFC Trust, said they aim to make the club "very much a community organisation".

"We urge fans to support the Trust's efforts to stabilise the club and get behind the team at this crucial period in the season," he added in a statement on the club website.