9th August 1997
Macclesfield F.C. is a successor to Macclesfield Town. Founded in 1874, Macclesfield Town was liquidated and expelled from the National League in 2020 because of debts of over £500,000. Its assets were put up for sale, including the Moss Rose stadium on the Rightmoveproperty website. In October 2020, the stadium and all available assets were purchased by Robert Smethurst, the owner of Stockport Town, with the aim of returning professional football to Macclesfield by creating the phoenix club as Macclesfield F.C. Smethurst appointed the Welsh former professional footballer Robbt Savage as a member of the board for the new phoenix club with Danny Whitaker as manager. He also invested in upgrading the stadium to improve the commercial viability of the new club.
In May 2021, it was announced that Macclesfield would be placed in the NWCF League for their first season. Savage announced that the club would be joining with his foundation to offer free tickets to foundation participants to encourage youth attendance at the club's matches. Macclesfield entered the FA Vase for the first time in 2021-2.
2021–22 season
n 31 July 2021 Macclesfield played their first competitive match, a 1–0 win at home against Burscough in the NWCFL Premier Division played in front of a restricted capacity sell-out crowd of 2,018; Leon Arnasalam scored the only goal. The club's first away match was on 3 August, a 4–4 draw at Winsford United, also in the NWCFL Premier Division, with Tom Clare scoring all four Macclesfield goals. On 7 August Macclesfield played their first FA Cup match, beating Burscough 4–0 in the Extra Preliminary Round, but were then knocked out of the FA Cup in the Preliminary Round losing 6–4 at Squires Gate.
On 30 August Macclesfield defeated local rivals Congleton Town 1–0 in the NWCFL Premier Division in front of a record crowd of 3,502, James Berry-McNally scoring the only goal. The match was suspended for several minutes late in the second half due to crowd trouble. It was the first time the neighbouring towns had met in a league match since the 1964–65 season.
On 11 September, Macclesfield played in the FA Vase for the first time, losing 3–2 at Northern Counties East League Premier Division side Winterton Rangers in the first qualifying round.
Macclesfield F.C. was featured in a BBC Sport documentary film, Robbie Savage: Making Macclesfield FC, broadcast on 13 November 2021, which described the launch of the new club following the collapse of Macclesfield Town.
Despite a relatively poor run of form at the start of the new year (L2, D1, W2 in January), a run of ten consecutive wins followed, in which 37 goals were scored and only four conceded. On 12 March 2022, Macclesfield secured the North West Counties Premier Division title and promotion to the NPL Division One West after a 4–0 win against Ashton Athletic, becoming the first club in England's top nine tiers in 2022 to guarantee promotion. Macclesfield finished their league campaign on 2 April, 15 points clear of second-placed Skelmersdale United.
2022–23 season
In October 2022, with the club three points clear at the top of the NPL West Division, Danny Whitaker was replaced as Macclesfield manager by David McNabb. McNabb stepped down in December 2022, with midfielder Neil Danns being appointed interim manager. A 3–1 win against Trafford on 1 April 2023 saw the club crowned champions and achieve back-to-back promotions.
Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English football club from Cheshire, that was "wound up" after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. The club made its debut in the Football League, defeating Torquay United 2-1 at the Moss Rose ground.
Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and from 1891 played home games at Moss Rose. It competed in the short-lived Combination league in the 1890–91 season, reforming in the Manchester League at the end of the century. The club won the Manchester League title twice, before becoming inaugural members of the Cheshire County League at the start of the 1919–20 season, ultimately winning the League six times. Renamed Macclesfield Town in 1946, the club were founder members of the Northern Premier Leaguer in 1968, winning the league in its first two years, as well as the FA Trophy in 1970. They were promoted to the Conference after they won their third Northern Premier League title in 1986–87.
Manager Sammy McIlroy led Macclesfield Town to the top of the Conference in 1993–94, but they were not promoted as Moss Rose did not meet Football League requirements. They won the FA Trophy for a second time in 1996. They again won the Conference title in 1996–97 and this time were promoted, winning promotion in their inaugural Football League campaign with a second-place finish in the Third Division in 1997–98. However they were immediately relegated from the Second Division. The club stayed in the fourth tier of the Football League from 1999 to 2012, losing a play-off semi-final in 2005, before being relegated back into the Conference. Despite financial constraints, manager John Askey led the club back into the Football League as champions of the National League in 2017–18. In 2018–19, the club avoided relegation back to the National League, but financial issues continued to affect it. After a points deduction activated on 11 August 2020, the club was relegated to the National League, the 5th tier of English football, for the 2020–21 season.
On 14 September 2020, Macclesfield Town played their final fixture, a friendly against Witton Albion of the Northern Premier League. Following the winding-up order, the club was initially suspended and then expelled from the National League with effect from 12 October 2020.
In October 2020, local businessman Robert Smethurst purchased the assets of Macclesfield Town, and established Macclesfield F.C., entering it into the North West Counties Football League in the 2021–22 season
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THE SILKMEN
Founded in 1873 as part of the 8th Cheshire Rifle Volunteers, they became a football club in 1874, joining with the local Olympic Cricket Club, they provided Football and Rugby matches from 1876. By 1878-9, the club was known as Macclesfield Football Club, not becoming known as Macclesfield Town FC (Ltd) until after the Second World War. In September 1891 the club moved to Moss Rose, their present ground, that holds around a 6,000 crowd.Playing in the Conference they won the FA Trophy in 1970 and 1996. They lost the 2017 FA Trophy Final to York City at Wembley.
The Silkmen (a geographical note needed:- Cheshire seemed to be a perfect location for the silk industry with raw materials arriving at local ports in an environment that had water driven mills and a moist climate to prevent fibres from drying out and snapping- silk buttons were a speciality) won the National League title in 1994-5 and 1996-7, becoming members of the Football League between 1997-2012, reaching their highest Football League place in the old Division Two in 1998-9.
In 2017-18 they won the National League title, beating Eastleigh 2-0 and were promoted to Football League Two. On August 4th 2018 they played their first football league game of the season, losing to Swindon Town and were 15th in the division after one game! In 2018-19, the club avoided relegation back to the National League, but financial issues continued to affect it. After a points deduction activated on 11 August 2020, the club was relegated to the National League, the 5th tier of English football, for the 2020–21 season. It got worse...
On 14 September 2020, Macclesfield Town played their final fixture, a friendly against Witton Albion in the Northern Premier League, Following the winding-up order, the club was initially suspended and then expelled from the National League with effect from 12 October 2020.
In October 2020, local businessman Robert Smethurst purchased the assets of Macclesfield Town, and rebranded the club as Macclesfield FC, entering it into the North West Counties' Football League in the 2021–22 season. The Official Receiver confirmed that the assets of Macclesfield Town had been sold to Macc Football Club Limited. Local businessman (and owner of 10th tier Stockport Town) Robert Smethurst had purchased the assets, intending to rebrand the club as Macclesfield Football Club and enter the North West Counties FL in the 2021–22 campaign. Former Wales international Robbie Savage, now a Stockport Town player, joined the club's board, and former Town manager Danny Whittaker became team manager.
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