FANS groups successfully taking over the running of their beloved football club? It can be done and has been done.

With the Stockport County Supporters Trust board currently in delicate negotiations with Brian Kennedy's Cheshire Sport about the possibility of taking over the reins at the football club, the Express this week takes a look at what has developed since the takeover at last night's opponents, Chesterfield.

It was season 2000/2001 (just after the government had launched the publicly funded Supporters Direct initiative). The Spireites were going well in the old Division Three, but off the field Chesterfield Football Club was in a bit of a state. Phil Tooley, who is now the acting Managing Director of Supporters' Direct but back then was a desperately worried Chesterfield fan, takes up the story.

'The club had been run into the ground during that season,' says Phil, 'Debts were known to be high and the club had been penalised for financial and contractual irregularities. Consequently a supporters' group came into being at a crisis meeting. At that launch meeting in April 2001 around 1,000 fans turned up and on the night the princely sum of '6,240 was raised.

'The Chesterfield Football Supporters' Society (CFSS) was formed and, despite a group of us being warned to steer clear, negotiations began with the then owner, Andy Cooke, in respect to the CFSS taking over.'

Nobody really knew the amount of debt Chesterfield FC was in, but it turned out that the figure was close to '2m. The player wage bill was unsustainable, three of the Saltergate stands had been condemned, and, three top players, the club's most saleable assets, had given in their notice because they hadn't been paid.

Prospects looked grim, but the CFSS was about to go through a few days of real roller coaster emotions.

'Just five days after the CFSS launch meeting,' adds Phil, 'Andy Cooke said 'give me that '6,240 and you can take the club' - he later gave the money back as a donation - so we did, and the day after that we secured promotion to Division Two.

'A bucket collection at the next home game raised '7,000, with which we paid the three players who had threatened to leave, but the situation was still serious and in May, 2001, the club went into administration. No buyers came forward, but after much hard work the CFSS bought the club out of administration in January, 2002.'

After that, which also followed hot on the heels of the ITV Digital collapse, Chesterfield Football Club began to recover slowly.

The ownership of the club was shared between the CFSS (with two representatives on the board) and its business partners (now with six figures on the board, all of whom have 'got clout' according to Phil), and things are definitely looking up again.

Phil said: 'We inherited the players' contracts and all that goes with that, and in the first year we predicted a loss of '200,000.

'That's just what happened, but in the second year we predicted a loss of '200k again but lost just '180k. This year we're scheduled to break even.

'In the three previous seasons the lads on the pitch have just avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth, but this year the outlook is much brighter. We've managed to make it into a comfortable mid-table position under Roy McFarland, and the average crowd this season is set to be the highest for some 24 years.

'The fans now realise just what they've got down at Saltergate, while we're also working with the Council and awaiting planning permission for a new stadium at the old Dema Glassworks.

'The debts are manageable - many of them are owed to people who are friends of the club - and the Council have helped with a loan of '600,000. Even the Club President - the Duke of Devonshire - has helped us out with '100,000.

'All in all right now we're in a reasonably decent position. We're looking forward and not looking back, and we've got a good, strong link with all of Chesterfield's supporters.'

A heart-warming story then, one which has been repeated at other clubs such as Lincoln City and Exeter City, but whether the situation at Edgeley Park goes down a similar route remains to be seen.

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