Mark Allott joined his local side, Oldham Athletic, from school and graduated to the professional ranks in 1995. He was a mobile forward with a range of abilities and scored 31 goals in 105 League starts for the Latics. Like many local lads in their local sides (see Jamie Hewitt, for instance,) Allott was unappreciated by a rump of his side's supporters but he still had value to Oldham when he joined Chesterfield on loan, initially, in December 2002. It was intended that he and Mark Innes would complete a passage this way as David Reeves went to Boundary Park, and Mark finally signed on a free in February, 2003.

He made an immediate impact in a side pepped up by such new signings as Glynn Hurst and Jamie Burt, and brought his colleagues into play with intelligent lay-offs and the willingness to chase down lost causes. Four goals came his way in the last half of 2001-2; the three scored at Saltergate included the opener in a 4-2 win over Oldham (by a strange coincidence Mark scored for Oldham against Chesterfield earlier that season) and were celebrated by waving a different corner flag over his head on each occasion.

Mark stoops to head home one of his two goals in a 3-2 comeback win at Walsall in September 2005.

A lean spell up front in 2002-3 saw Mark moved into midfield, and a new phase of his career developed. Although operating on the right allowed a powerful long throw to be deployed, he did his best work in the centre of midfield, driving forward with accurate passes and tackling effectively. His tackles occasionally bit hard, too, as Yeovil's Tommy Doherty (hardly a soft touch himself) found in 2005-6 when his leg was broken by a fair but fearsomely hard Allott challenge.

2005-6 saw his sweep the board at the "player of the year" awards. The club's management and coaching staff had long rated him as the best footballer at the club, although it took a lot of work on their part to convince him of the idea!It is fair to say that the ex-forward in him should have seen more goals come from midfield but this should not be allowed to detract from the great work that Mark did in Spireite blue.

Mark skippered Chesterfield in his final season but that ended in relegation to League Two. In the summer of 2007 the news of Oldham's interest in signing him reached Mark himself, and from that point his return the club he'd supported as a lad, and which was only a few minutes away from where he still lived, was only a matter of time. He had a year left on a contract but could have left on a "Bosman" after that; the wisest move was probably to come to a deal with Oldham rather than keep a player who, honest as he was, might have had his mind elsewhere. Mark never once complained about the vagaries of team selection, nor did he ever fail to give less than 100%, and should be remembered with appreciation by Spireites everywhere.

For Chesterfield: 205+16 League appearances; 11 goals.