Chesterfield FC and Paul Cook deserve some credit for Ipswich Town's promotion fairytale: View. | OneFootball

Paul Cook may not look back at his time at Ipswich too fondly, but the signing of one of his ex-Spireites has been integral to their recent success.

10 years ago, Egyptian midfielder Sam Morsy was pulling the strings alongside Jimmy Ryan in the Chesterfield midfield on route to the League Two title, and a decade on, Morsy is still running the show, now scoring screamers for Ipswich Town in the Premier League.

If you were to tell that to Chesterfield fans, it would hardly come as a surprise.

The 33-year-old has started all five of Ipswich’s Premier League matches this season in their return to the top flight, and scored a last-gasp equaliser against Southampton from the edge of the box, to earn his side a third draw in a row.

Having made over 100 appearances in each of the Championship, League One and League Two, Morsy’s Premier League adventure started with a bang, but he won’t be quick to forget his success with a certain EFL manager.

Morsy and Paul Cook were a match made in heaven at Chesterfield.

The holding midfielder was a star in three separate Cook sides across his career, the first being in North Derbyshire.

Morsy joined the Spireites in July 2013, signing from Port Vale for an undisclosed fee, following their promotion to League One, and he made 34 appearances and was named the Spireites’ player of the season as Town went on to lift the League Two title.

The Port Vale academy graduate created a formidable partnership in midfield with tough-tackling midfielder Jimmy Ryan in Cook’s 4-2-3-1, with the pair’s solid base allowing flair players like Gary Roberts and Jay O’Shea to wreak havoc across the front line.

Morsy carried his impressive form into the 2014/15 season as the Spireites mounted an unlikely play-off push in League One, where he was once again one of Chesterfield’s stand-out performers.

With former Blackpool captain Ian Evatt at the heart of the defence, Morsy in midfield and prolific goalscorer Eoin Doyle up-front, Chesterfield had a solid spine which left them mixing with some of the league’s best. A 3-2 win over local rivals Sheffield United is still fresh in the memory of Town fans.

The Egyptian international played 90 minutes in 36 of Chesterfield’s 46 matches in their sixth-place finish, as the holding-midfielder established himself as a fan’s favourite and as one of the best players in the league.

Morsy could do it all in the middle of the park and is regarded as one of the best players in Chesterfield’s post-Saltergate era after 2010, armed with incredible technical ability and an unexpected feisty side. He would’ve been an outlet to most Championship and League One teams, and with Chesterfield struggling financially, it wasn’t long before they came calling.

The Egyptian international's remarkable rise from League Two to Premier League captain.

Morsy left the Spireites as part of a fire sale in January 2016, signing for Wigan Athletic, and he would pick up his second league title, with the Latics going onto lift the League One title that season, playing 16 times in the back-half of the campaign.

After a loan spell at Championship side Barnsley in 2016/17, Morsy and Cook were reunited at Wigan in the summer of 2017, when Morsy was named captain under the former Accrington boss, with current Newcastle defender Dan Burn named club captain.

The duo would have a historic season, with Cook helping Wigan to the title with 98 points, as well as leading the side to a historic FA Cup win over Manchester City, a game littered with past and present Spireites.

Will Grigg was famously the scorer in the 1-0 win. Current Chesterfield coach Gary Roberts started the clash, as did defender Chey Dunkley, with Ryan Colclough and Michael Jacobs making substitute appearances.

Pep Guardiola’s side only lost one domestic cup tie across two seasons from 2017-2019, and their one loss in 19 cup ties was to Cook’s Wigan, who became the first English manager to defeat Guardiola in the process.

Despite missing the Cityzens clash, Morsy would still play a key role in the team’s success, starting 41 League One games, all as captain in midfield. He scored twice and assisted a further four goals and was named in the League One team of the season.

After a spell at Middlesborough during the pandemic, Cook and Morsy would cross paths for the third time at Ipswich in 2021, with the signing of the Egyptian international one of the bright sparks in Cook’s short-lived spell in charge of the Tractor Boys.

Morsy admitted Cook was the sole reason he signed for Ipswich and was disappointed with his self-proclaimed below-par performances, but with a new manager through the door, things would be on the up for the then 30-year-old once again.

Ipswich finished a disappointing 11th in 2021, but Morsy played a key role in successive promotions to the Premier League with Kieran McKenna’s men.

The midfielder starred for the Tractor Boys alongside the likes of Leif Davis and Wes Burns as McKenna’s men only lost four games all season, earned 98 points and scored 101 goals, as they finished second behind Plymouth Argyle.

Morsy added a cutting edge to his game under McKenna, scoring four goals and assisting six in their League One promotion, while assisting seven in their promotion to the Premier League last campaign.

Now in his fourth season in Suffolk, the Ipswich captain was named PFA Player of the Year for the Championship last season, so while Cook struggled in charge of Ipswich, the signing of Morsy may go down as one of the most important deals of the club’s history – and it was a pairing that first blossomed in Chesterfield.