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From extinction to the impossible dream of becoming the greatest FA Cup giantkillers of all, Macclesfield’s story reminds that community will forever be football’s greatest asset. As fans celebrated victory over the holders, Crystal Palace, many took their time to peel away from the stadium. Not too long ago, many feared they may never return to Moss Rose.
Macclesfield Town FC, 1874-2020 was the etching on the gravestone of the club that died, mourned quietly by a town that had slowly lost touch with events at the shambling football ground on its southern tip, pretty much the last stop before the long drive to London begins.
So ruinous were finances the old club, recently relegated from League Two after repeated points sanctions, was lost to the receivers in September 2020. Despair was heightened by the Covid pandemic restricting movement and football economics. The game’s authorities appeared uncaring, offering little but a shrugging response to a business going bad and paying the consequences. It would take sensible, if initially impulsive, business practice to create the phoenix club.
Rob Smethurst is the local entrepreneur who bought Moss Rose’s fixtures and fittings from the Rightmove website. Such a whim – a snap decision Smethurst, who has put in £4m, readily admits was taken while heavily under the influence – soon restored the club to its town. The 4G pitch that so troubled Crystal Palace on Saturday proved the crucial factor, allowing locals to train and play on the surface through the week, driving revenue.
It brought the people back down London Road, as did gym facilities and a high-end bar where many fans gathered to watch Euro 2020 the following summer. On matchdays, with drinks allowed in view of the field at Macclesfield’s level, the club operates as a social club, a place to meet friends and make merry on a pitchside terrace serving quality produce.
Robbie Savage, Smethurst’s close friend, served as a willing frontman and hype man for five years, last season leading the club to the National League North as manager, his media profile bringing about two BBC documentaries that showed off those behind the scenes.
This was, though, no vanity project but a collective mission. Many of those involved had been scarred by what happened to Town. When the former owner Amar Alkadhi was still around, operating as an absentee landlord, the Star Lane scoreboard bearing the legend “Amar Out” on Boxing Day 2019 spelled out what the majority thought.
The old club, though it had two spells in the Football League, had a proud non-league history and those days were soon enough restored by Macclesfield FC with consecutive promotions, including last season’s under Savage.
Macclesfield is not Wrexham, hand-picked by Hollywood execs to show off UK working-class folk and then paired with two American screen stars. Rumour has it the town was passed over for what became Disney’s Wrexham project because, being in Cheshire, and surrounded by villages that house the north-west’s footballer and stockbroker belts, it was too bourgeois. The town retains a tough, working-class edge, particularly in the area where the ground is situated. Open skies that reach up to the surrounding Peak District can make it an eerie place to visit.
Being adjacent to that elite football community had benefits beyond Savage’s involvement. Wayne Rooney, long resident nearby, occasionally took in games from the tiny main stand. His cousin Tommy Rooney even made a couple of appearances. On Saturday, the elder Rooney could not hold back the tears when his younger brother John masterminded the win over Palace, the younger sibling twice a Macc player who replaced Savage as manager.
There was added poignancy, too, in players asked to shine in the face of losing a colleague and friend. It was on 16 December that Ethan McLeod, a 21-year-old striker, died in a car accident on the M1. His parents were in the stands on Saturday as the Silkmen pulled off the victory John Rooney and Smethurst made sure to dedicate to their son.
If football is still the people’s game, then Macc’s rise from the ashes to a day of historic glory in the January sun may be the perfect embodiment of that.
