Milan Butterfield has gone out on a one-month loan to Guiseley, of the Vanarama National League North, and hit the ground running in a 4-2 victory over Southport today.

The 6ft 4in central midfielder had not played at Chesterfield since November 17 in a 3-2 defeat by Altrincham, with manager John Pemberton getting the sack 24 hours later.

James Rowe has come in and turned around Chesterfield’s season, emphatically so as could be seen in a 6-0 win over Barnet today. But that has meant players have had to be drafted in to strengthen the squad, and others let go or sent out on loan.

Butterfield, who joined Chesterfield on a free from Kidderminster Harriers in August, was not in the squad for any of the four matches after Pemberton’s departure.

Prospects of featuring in Rowe’s plans looked ominous for the 22-year-old Bermuda star last week when one of five new signings was George Carline, a midfielder whom the new manager was familiar with from a previous working relationship.

In prefacing the loan activity last week, Rowe told the Derbyshire Times: “I am always looking to improve the team. Saying that, I have got loyalties to the players in the changing room. The players that have played have done well.

“There will be younger ones looking to get out on loan to balance the books a little bit but also so it gives me a chance to see them at a good level. Unfortunately we have not got a reserve team or under-23s here, so the only way I can do that, consistently, is for those ones to go on loan, but they have got to go on loan to clubs that I am comfortable with and the team they go on loan to mirrors the way I want to play.”

Guiseley is only 75 minutes up the M1 motorway from Chesterfield in the English Midlands, and Rowe plans to have Butterfield watched regularly with a view to him returning to fight for his place.

“Both Guiseley and Alfreton play a way that will both help them come back and if they are selected in our squad or starting 11 then they can make a real impact,” said Rowe of Butterfield and Luke Rawson, 19, who has gone to Alfreton in the same division.

“It is a fair chance for them when they come into the team that they are fit enough because you can train as much as you want, but nothing equates to match fitness, so it is good for them.

“They are both young players as well and they need game time. They are both fairly local teams so I can get out and watch them.”