Chesterfield: Community Trust completes takeover from Dave Allen

Dave Allen was majority shareholder of Chesterfield for more than a decade

Chesterfield have become a community-owned club after Dave Allen completed his sale of the National League side.

Chesterfield FC Community Trust, an independent charity affiliated to the club, finalised their takeover six months after initially agreeing a deal.

The Trust said local councils have also agreed to financially support the purchase and running of the club.

Community Trust chairman Mike Goodwin said "it is a start of a new era" at the Proact Stadium.

Goodwin, who is set to take up the role as chairman, has urged supporters "to embrace the Community Trust as a safe pair of hands".

"There was a very real possibility that the club could have been sold to someone who did not have the best interests of the club at heart," Goodwin said.

"We are all in this together so it is vital that supporters get behind us."

Goodwin said the Trust's work over the past decade has been "acknowledged" by both Chesterfield Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council who have "each agreed to provide financial support for the acquisition and operation of the club".

"As a Trust, we have used the power of football and Chesterfield to make a positive difference to the lives of the people of North Derbyshire," Goodwin added.

Chesterfield finished 19th in the National League in 2019-20 and will spend a third straight season in the fifth tier of English football next term after suffering back-to-back relegations to drop out of the English Football League in 2018.