Former Newcastle United and West Ham star hails greatest achievement after title win

Former Newcastle United star Kieron Dyer has described Chesterfield’s promotion into League Two as his ‘biggest achievement in football’.

The Spireites completed a National League title win with five games remaining at the weekend when they eased to a 3-0 home victory against Boreham Wood in front of almost 10,000 supporters at their SMH Group Stadium. The result brought to an end Chesterfield’s six-year stay in non-league football’s top tier and they will now look forward to competing against the likes of Bradford City, Notts County and Doncaster Rovers in League Two next season.

Dyer, who has formed part of Paul Cook’s coaching staff over the last year, reflected on their title win and admitted he felt it had been earned against a wave of unfair accusations aimed towards the club throughout the season.

He told talkSPORT: ”The players deserve all the love – I think they have been disrespected this season. I heard numerous times before I came here that the National League is the hardest league to get out of. But, all of a sudden, because this season we are romping it, it is now the easiest league because Wrexham aren’t in it. I think it is disrespectful to the players.

"I always hear we have the biggest budget – we haven’t got the biggest budget – we are third or fourth in the league. So that is another slight against us. Then we hear that we’ve got the biggest squad when in fact we have used the fewest players in the league. The players have been a real credit to this football club and us as staff are really proud of them.”

Dyer joined Newcastle in the summer of 1999 after he made a £6m move to Tyneside from boyhood club Ipswich Town. His eight-year spell as a Magpie brought appearances in the Champions League and UEFA Cup, as well as the vast majority of his 33 England caps.

Following his departure to West Ham United in the summer of 2007, Dyer went on to play for the likes of Queens Park Rangers and Middlesbrough before his playing career came to a close in 2013. Recently, Dyer has fought a battle against primary sclerosing cholangitis and received a liver transplant last year that made him even more grateful for his success as a coach with Chesterfield.

He said: ”When the final whistle went I was sat on the bench and was probably crying for five minutes because I was thinking of my donor. The family of the donor have reached out to me. I have spoken to them. They know who I am. The family asked me to kind of continue the legacy of my donor so that was for him today as well.

"I have had a decent career, I have played for my country and I have been to World Cups, but this is probably my biggest achievement in football – winning the National League. Being a coach you have the responsibility of the whole team and you cherish these moments – they are like your family.”