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21 hours ago
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In the corner of a small dressing room Macclesfield’s manager, John Rooney, and his assistant Francis Jeffers are locked in serious conversation. The pair scribble on tiny pieces of paper, planning one final training session before Saturday’s FA Cup third-round tie with the holders, Crystal Palace. The kit man, Ged Coyne, clutching his traditional plastic bag full of supermarket goodies, arrives and immediately the mood lightens, shoulders drop and smiles arrive.
Next door music blasts out as the squad prepare for their morning’s work. The surrounds are unfamiliar, snow necessitating a late venue switch to Manchester Metropolitan University’s Platt Lane complex.
In an alternative universe, Rooney would be in there with the squad. He was about to return for pre-season as a player last July but Robbie Savage’s managerial departure shifted much sand. Rooney fielded a call from the owner, Rob Smethurst, while in the gym and took training 48 hours later.
He immediately retired, not wanting to risk players resenting him if he self-selected, and so his career finished where it had started, at Moss Rose. The front end was spent with Macclesfield Town, who, with debts of more than £500,000, collapsed in 2020, the back end with the phoenix club. With Smethurst’s financial backing, three promotions in four seasons have Macclesfield in National League North, the sixth tier. They are the lowest-ranked side in the competition.
“I’m very, very proud to stand on the touchline for a team that gave me a chance as a player,” Rooney says. “It is special to me.” One cherished memory is a 90th-minute substitute appearance at this stage of the competition in a 1-0 defeat by his boyhood club, Everton, in 2009. “I remember it like yesterday,” he says. “We got a chance late on. The ball was bouncing on the edge of the box, and I was coming on to it. Simon Yeo took it right off me toes!” He says he would have scored.
Thursday’s training is short and sharp. Cup runs, magnificent as they are, squeeze a tight schedule further. Shortly before the session a university staff member approaches Jeffers. “Just to let you know, we’ve got another booking at 12 so you need to be off before that.” One doubts Oliver Glasner received a similar message at Palace.
Jeffers, an £8m signing for Arsenal in 2001, and Rooney are close. During their joint journeys to training and matches, Rooney often picks his pal’s brain. Much bickering? “He’ll say I wind him up quite a bit,” Rooney responds. “We have a good time but are serious with what we’re doing. The best thing I’ve done is bring Fran in with his experience. He’ll challenge me, not just agree with what I say. It was the first phone call I made.”
At 10am Rooney, softly spoken with an unmistakable scouse accent, gathers the group for a pep talk. He is quiet but authoritative, commanding respect without needing to shout. After opening with expletive-laden praise of their latest win, his message is to “train properly” and “take it easy” on an unfamiliar surface. “No silly injuries.”
Ordinarily, both weekly sessions take place at home, but weather worries meant the club spent £6,000 to rent covers for their artificial surface on Wednesday. With Palace waiving their right to 45% of gate receipts, Smethurst estimates £400,000 of income, excluding prize money (£121,500 for the winners, £26,500 for the losers). No risks.
On Monday scores of volunteers, players and senior staff worked late into the night to ensure a 2-1 win over Radcliffe could take place on Tuesday. That spirit, the relentless rejection of adversity, is, for the forward Danny Elliot, what makes Macclesfield. “People have worked tirelessly, given everything to the club since the reformation to build it up to where it is now,” Elliot says. “The people make it really, really special. It’s a football club that puts its arms around the players and the community.”
While the director of football, Ant Curran, and Jeffers run drills, Rooney patrols the perimeter, encouraging, gesticulating. During rests, the players chatter excitedly, dutifully signing shirts and balls for sponsors.
Last-minute ticket arrangements are discussed, one staff member agreeing to give a player their allocated pair. The strict condition? His parents use them and, when the promise that follows is doubted, he offers to call mum and dad. Elliot, hat-trick hero in the 6-3 first-round win over AFC Totton, smiles tellingly when asked whether shirt swaps have been discussed.
The fashion brand, and key sponsor, Duck and Cover has sent two staff for a fitting session post-training. Everyone gets an outfit to arrive in on Saturday, the exposure from being live on BBC One – Rooney’s brother Wayne is a pundit – and TNT Sports too good to miss. “This is me, isn’t it? I’m definitely a small,” says one defender seeking comfort from a teammate having spent an age staring into a mirror. “I’d go out in this, me.”
In another room the lead physio, Merrisa Heraldson, is helping the goalkeeper Max Dearnley stretch on a makeshift treatment bench. Such is the fear of missing the big day, Dearnley double-checks he can’t overdo his recovery.
For most of Macclesfield’s part-time squad, which includes a property developer, academy coaches, a podcaster, a Love Island winner, a gym owner and a lawyer, this will be a career highlight.
Take Lewis Fensome, who joined in Macclesfield’s first season. He had never been beyond the qualifying rounds and facing Palace is a reward. The exception is the former Manchester United full-back Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, who signed this week. He won the competition a decade back, starting United’s first three ties.
The reward is for everyone, the club and the community. Few could have imagined the opportunity when there was no team in 2020, or even when playing in the extra preliminary round during their first two years.
Naturally, there was a ticket scramble. After the approximately 1,600 season-ticket holders, 1,300 Palace fans, sponsors, staff and players had been sorted, only about 800 of the 5,300 tickets remained. These had to be claimed in person, and an estimated 2,500 folk queued for up to five hours in freezing conditions. Some disappointed fans abused club staff.
“We wanted to make sure that our loyal fanbase would get the first opportunity, and we did that,” Smethurst says. “We probably could have handled it a bit better, had a cut-off point. Some stood freezing for another two hours thinking they’d get a ticket. We’ll learn from it.”
Macclesfield’s tournament began in September with a second qualifying round victory over Atherton Laburnum Rovers. Nantwich Town, Stamford, Totton and Slough Town have since been beaten, prize money totalling £145,625.
One goalscorer from the 3-0 victory over Atherton will, tragically, be absent. The 21-year-old forward Ethan McLeod died in a car accident travelling back from a mid-December match at Bedford Town. Macclesfield paid tribute to McLeod on Boxing Day and his image remains draped from the main stand.
“It’s something that will be with us as a group for a long, long time,” Elliot says. “He will remain in our hearts, in our memories and as part of this football club. He was a very special person. He was only here six months, but he had a profound effect on everybody.”
