Adam Virgo believes Chesterfield have said goodbye to Non-League football for a long time after romping to the National League title.

The Spireites were named Acerbis Team of the Year at the Non-League Paper’s National Game Awards in association with Isuzu after sealing their return to the Football League with a stunning 98 points.

It ended six seasons away from the top four divisions, with manager Paul Cook once again enjoying promotion at the SMH Group Stadium, and TNT Sports pundit Virgo believes they have the credentials to challenge next season despite making the step up.

“They’re a big side, they’re a huge club,” he said. :When they got relegated, they signed so many players and it goes from bad to worse. There’s no real identity, there’s no real direction. 

“When Paul came in, he wanted to stop that. He is a good manager, has been there before and been promoted. He is another reason they have been so successful.

“Teams go into League Two now that I feel we won’t see them for a while and Chesterfield are one of those teams. The squad is there, the infrastructure is there, the manager is there to go and be successful.

“The one thing that managers probably don’t get is time and Cooky has taken 18 months to get that squad together. I think about the team that he took on that lost to Solihull in the play-offs, they were miles off. 

“Last year, I remember walking away from Wembley after the promotion final defeat to Notts County and felt that next season would be their year.

“I’ve noticed a few times with National League sides if you can keep the majority of your squad and add to it, that tends to bring success. What you often see is players leave, it breaks up teams and you have to rebuild which is never easy. 

“There was a good group of players there - Jamie Grimes is an outstanding defender, Liam Mandeville is playing better than I have ever seen, we know [Armando] Dobra’s quality - and then sprinkling in winning mentality. That costs money but it also brings results. 

“They’ve won stuff, they’ve been there and done it and that makes a massive difference. They’ve come in and done a magnificent job.”

That extra quality came in the form of Northern Ireland international striker Will Grigg and defender Tom Naylor, with the latter named the 1000GBP Player of the Year at the National Game Awards in association with Isuzu.

Virgo revealed he was not surprised to see Naylor scoop the top award, and believes it is testament to the National League that it can attract players of such high quality.

“Bringing in Tom Naylor, bringing in Will Grigg, adding to the squad of players they’ve already got, they were just relentless,” he added. “You bring in that experience for that reason and they were two brilliant additions.

“There are these players that don’t get the recognition of players who grab the headlines. The way Tom reads the game and Chesterfield are a bit of a gung-ho side that needed that quality, that quarterback to start playing from the back. 

“I have always been a big admirer of him as player and a professional. He has shown what a quality player he is, he’s too good for the National League and has proved that. 

“It is good to see that the National League can attract League One players because the standard is so good. He is an all-round great player that I really enjoyed watching this season.”

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