How a football cup run helped unite a town

When Macclesfield were drawn against Crystal Palace, few outside the town gave them a chance. Palace were not only an established Premier League side, they were the holders of the FA Cup, arriving with international players, a global fanbase and the financial muscle that separates the top flight from the rest of the pyramid. Macclesfield meanwhile sit in the middle of the seventh tier of the English football pyramid.

What unfolded was one of those rare FA Cup evenings that makes the Cup the most exciting in the world. Macclesfield beat the team sitting 116 places above them, and were rewarded with another home game against another multimillion pound Premier league side in Brentford, who ended their cup run on Monday.

The impact on the town cannot be measured purely in gate receipts or bar takings, though both surged. Local pubs were packed, shop windows filled with blue and children who had drifted towards superclubs suddenly had heroes on their doorstep. For a place that has known economic uncertainty and the collapse of its former club, the run brought new life to the community.

Positive News sent photographer Orlando Gili to meet the locals who serve the community, the volunteers who paint the stands, the staff who juggle day jobs with match day duties, and the players who train at night because they have work in the morning.

“It’s the biggest deal we’ve had here for a long time,” says Nick Carter, a Macclesfield butcher who used to sell pies to the club. The cup run is “great promotion of the town and great for the younger sport enthusiast,” he says.

A group of local supporters congregate outside a fan-favourite pub, the Lord Byron. They’re in an excitable mood as they meet up before heading up to the stadium to watch the 4th round FA Cup tie against Brentford.

A merchandise seller has arrived to sell commemorative scarfs and other items, outside Macclesfield’s stadium before kick off.

“It’s a big thing. It’s part of your life when you work here for as long as I have,” says Groundsman Jim, who has worked as the groundsman for over four decades. “Like most of the people that work here, I work here because I am a fan.”

“When I was 7 years old, I was a paperboy at the shop on top of the hill on Coronation Street. A former owner of the shop was the director of the club and he used let me go to the games for free.”

John Rooney, the manager of Macclesfield FC, sits nervously in the dressing room before the game. His foot tapping, hands slightly shaking. A few moments earlier his young children kids had been posing in the changing room with the FA Cup. The former midfielder, and brother of England international Wayne Rooney, started his footballing at Macclesfield as a youth aged just 12 in 2002, remaining with the club until a move to the US in 2011.

Rob Smethurst, is the owner and Chairman of Macclesfield FC. The businessman had been in the midst of an alcohol addiction when he saw the club’s Moss Rose ground available on the property website Rightmove. He bought the ground and became owner of the club in 2020 and now more than five years on has transformed not only his own life but that of many of the players, volunteers and fans in the local community.

“It’s huge deal for the town, for the local businesses in general – the pie shops, the chippies,” says Ged the kitman. “The fans deserve this because of what they’ll been through. In a town as small as Macclesfield this coming together is imperative, it sums up the state of the town.”

“We started in the 9th tier of the football pyramid – in the North West Counties League Premiere,” says club commentator Richard. “We did the commentary in a cow field with a bar between us and the pitch. We brought our own power, table and light and umbrella. And here we are today,” he says.

Part of the team that defeated Crystal Palace in the previous round, Macclesfield striker Tom Clare watches on during the second half of the game against Brentford. Clare is no stranger to the limelight, he was granted permission by Macclesfield to leave mid-season to appear on the TV show Love Island in 2023.

Macclesfield defender Sam Heathcote, says hello to friends and family at half time, outside the changing rooms beside the London Road Stand.

A tense mood as the match remains 0-0 during the first half at the Moss Rose stadium.

A cluster of young Macclesfield fans gather close together from behind the goal in the WRS Star Lane End.

A Macclesfield fan with a homemade FA Cup made out kitchen foil. He stands at the WRS Star Lane End, in a state of nervous excitement just before the game begins.

Photography: Orlando Gili