Is it August yet? Bring on the excitement of new signings and let's hope for some unfamiliar faces at Chesterfield

Is it August yet?
Ex Spireite Aaron Chapman has been transfer listed by PeterboroughEx Spireite Aaron Chapman has been transfer listed by Peterborough
Ex Spireite Aaron Chapman has been transfer listed by Peterborough

The National League season, in its entirety, only finished last weekend with Salford’s Wembley win over AFC Fylde in the play-offs.

Chesterfield are just about as far from their next competitive fixture as they’ll ever be and already the summer feels like it’s dragging.

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Given the Spireites’ second half of the season revival under John Sheridan, they were one club for whom the summer break could be seen as a bit of an inconvenience.

Former Gers star Alexei MikhailichenkoFormer Gers star Alexei Mikhailichenko
Former Gers star Alexei Mikhailichenko

For many football lovers, it’s a horrible time of the year, the lull between the end of one campaign and the start of the next.

For weekly newspaper journalists with websites that need updating numerous times per day, it can be a challenge.

There will be weeks when previously unseen bits of old (but hopefully still enlightening) interviews will be stuffed into gaps on Derbyshire Times pages and the moves of each and every former Chesterfield player out there will be documented painstakingly.

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When the current crop aren’t playing games and the new signings haven’t yet put pen to paper, you do what you have to do to get a paper out.

Sometimes there just isn’t any new news to report.

I might even need to roll out Bob Newton and his never-ending supply of anecdotes.

Even pre-season friendlies don’t really do it for me, although they’re better than nothing.

There will, of course, be some excitement, with the eventual and expected unveiling of several new faces.

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The rest of the time will be mostly filled with idle speculation, transfer rumours and debate over which former Town players you’d ‘happily have back’ at the Proact.

It’s only natural to take an interest in the careers of ex Spireites and just as natural to ponder possible returns to the Proact.

Who wouldn’t like to see an Aaron Chapman providing competition for Shwan Jalal, as unlikely as that might be, or a fully fit Dan Gardner pinging one into the top corner at the Kop end?

Everyone likes to sound knowledgeable when discussing players and it’s easy to be an expert when you’ve already seen plenty of a new signing.

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Yet while a familiar face or two among the summer arrivals would be just fine, isn’t it more fun when brand new players join your club?

Thanks to Soccerbase, Transfermarkt, Soccerway and the like, there’s no such as a complete unknown, not for long anyway – fans arm themselves with a new signing’s career stats within minutes of his picture popping up on an official website..

Growing up, there was something so exciting about the likes of Alexei Mikhailichenko and Pieter Huistra joining my beloved Rangers, players I’d never heard of and couldn’t wait to watch.

John Sheridan isn’t likely to plunder Serie A or the Eredivisie for signings and he might well go with who he knows from his time as a Football League manager, but there’s bound to be some brand new Spireites, bringing a little intrigue to the Proact this summer.

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Other than the sunshine, and the UEFA Nations League Finals if you’re so inclined, new signings might be the summer’s only redeeming quality.

And if they arrive at a rate of roughly one per week, just in time for each Derbyshire Times deadline, all the better.