'I've got nothing to prove to anyone' - former Sunderland striker Will Grigg on Chesterfield move

The 32-year-old signed from MK Dons earlier this summer, much to the surprise of many, who were shocked to see the Northern Ireland international drop down into non-league just four years after a £4m move to Sunderland.

It was Paul Cook’s Wigan Athletic who he left to join the Black Cats and it’s fair to say Grigg would probably not be playing at this level had it not been for the chance to work with Cook again after scoring nearly 30 goals and winning the League One title under him.

When asked how pivotal Cook was in the move, Grigg told the DT: “Massive. I had one of my most successful seasons under him. When I spoke to him it was exciting. As soon as he told me about the vision of what the club wanted to do in the short-term and the long-term it was an easy decision for me to make. Memories of me scoring 29 goals that season came flooding back. We get each other, we work well and hopefully we will start to see that soon.

“The initial conversation was ‘did I want to drop down?’ and the answer was probably no but the gaffer did not need to convince me at all when I saw the plans and the ideas that everyone has for this club.”

His big-money move to Sunderland did not work out and he has since had spells at Rotherham United and MK Dons that perhaps could have gone better as well. So does he feel he has anything to prove?

“No, not at all,” he said. “I have not necessarily enjoyed my football in the last two or three years and that is something I want to get back to - scoring goals and enjoying it. But in terms of proving anything to anyone, no, definitely not.”

Grigg is the favourite to finish as the National League’s top scorer this season but he is not thinking too far ahead.

He explained: “Hopefully I will get that first one (when the season starts) as soon as possible and the plan is to break any targets that I have got so we’ll just get one and go from there.”