Dean Saunders has turned down the chance to manage Crawley Town after being unveiled as the new boss at Chesterfield.

The Spireites confirmed Saunders had signed a two-year deal at the Proact Stadium today having had talks with Crawley earlier this week.

Saunders had managed Reds on an interim basis for the second half of last season after John Gregory had stepped down due to health reasons and was the frontrunner to take the job on a permanent.

But the former Wales striker had concerns over the budget he would have to work with next season at the Checkatrade.com Stadium and jumped at the chance to join Chesterfield after Paul Cook left to take over at Portsmouth.

Saunders said: “It is a great opportunity as this is a club on the rise, run by good people, and I am inheriting a very good team from Paul Cook.

“Taking over now gives me a full pre-season to make a fresh start, put my plans in place and work with the squad, which is a great position to be in.

“The profile of the club has been raised in the last few years and there has been an impressive increase in attendances so it is an exciting prospect and I can’t wait to get started.”

Reds will now begin work drawing up a shortlist from the 30-plus “high calibre” applications they have received from the job with former Albion boss Micky Adams and ex-Seagulls midfielder Danny Wilson understood to be among the candidates.

Chief executive Michael Dunford hopes an appointment will be made within the next week but says that any decision will not be rushed.

Dunford said: “This is a very important period in the history of the club. There are lots of things to consider and the board have some specific criteria that any new manager will have meet.

“However, we are mindful of the fact that we need to make an appointment as soon as possible so the new manager can begin his preparations for next season.

“We hope to make an appointment some time next week but if it takes longer then so be it. We want to be absolutely certain that we have made the right choice.”