Remembering Macclesfield Town (Part 2)

Following the demise of Macclesfield Town here’s the 2nd part of my football travels when the Macc Lads just happened to be at the game too.

Alfreton Town's Impact Arena.

We left off where Macclesfield Town had knocked Alfreton Town out the 2004/05 FA Cup. My next game involving Macclesfield was pre-season 2008/09 when they made the return journey to the Impact Arena in preparation for the new season. A crowd of 217 saw the Reds triumph 2-1 against their Coca Cola League 2 opponents.

Alfreton manager Nicky Law had recruited well over the Summer bringing in 8 new players, the major signing being Leo Fortune-West. The best was yet to come though as Alfreton signed Liam Hearn in September and he formed a memorable and legendary partnership with Paul Clayton.

Alfreton finished 3^rd in 2008/09 and qualified for the promotion play offs for the first time, eventually losing 5-4 on aggregate to Telford United. The Reds had climbed up from the Northern Counties East League to Blue Square North, step 2 in the non-league pyramid. The side that Law had built, particularly the front 2 of Clayton & Hearn made them serious contenders for promotion to the top level of non-league football and moved the club further forward after previously being a lower mid-table side since becoming one of the founder members of the North Division.

The Impact Arena had the pitch perimeter removed in front of the Tom McRoy Stand for 2008/09

For Macclesfield it was a similar season to 2007/08, this time finishing one place lower in 20^th. This was the season that Luton Town were given a minus 30 point penalty something that wouldn’t happen to a Premier League club but it’s fine for the lower division plebs. Not surprisingly Luton were relegated to the Division that Alfreton aspired to, The Blue Square Premier. Macc finished 1 place above Bournemouth who themselves had a 17 point penalty deduction.

A new turnstyle block was built for the 2008/09 season at Alfreton.

Later that season I saw Macc again when they visited Chesterfield in League 2 in December. A 4-2 win for Macclesfield ensured that the Spireites supporters made their feelings known to manager Lee Richardson after the defeat. Martin Gritton scored 2 for Macc that day and Richardson obviously saw the player that would transform the clubs season. Gritton joined Chesterfield for £40,000 a month later. Needless to say his 21 appearances in 2 years didn't make much difference to the clubs fortunes under Richardson. Chesterfield finished 10^th, 6 points off the play offs and Richardson’s contract wasn’t renewed. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

There was a double sending off towards the end of the game as Macc’s Francis Green decided to strangle Spireites Alan Goodall. Macc’s manager Keith Alexander wasn’t best pleased and Green played 6 more games after this misdemeanour before being let go. Imagine how angry he'd have been if they'd have lost. The thing was that Green showed stupidity in the tussle with Goodall and had let down a club that wouldn't have a massive squad therefore Keith possibly saw Green as a liability.

Please don't tell the purists that I write on my programmes.

Saltergate's Kop from the back.

The Main Stand, Saltergate, the green paint was done for the filming of The Damned United.

The Kop, Saltergate.

Cross Street, Saltergate.

Turnstile block behind the Kop.

Saltergate's Main Stand as viewed from the Kop.

Two seasons later, towards the end of the 2010/11 season, it was Chesterfield v Macclesfield again. This time the Spireites triumphed 2-1 after trailing to a Lewis Chalmers penalty on the stroke of half time. Chesterfield were in their first season at their new ground, The B2NET stadium, and challenging for promotion. 

John Sheridan had put together a skilful side as Chesterfield looked to get promotion in the first season in their new ground. Jack Lester was still at the club, having just made his 500th League appearance. Craig Davies, Dean Holden, Danny Whittaker, Drew Talbot, Tommy Lee amongst others were household names for supporters in one of the clubs most memorable seasons.

The B2Net, Chesterfield's new ground

Craig Davies and Danny Whittaker scored the goals to get the points for the Spireites. Danny is a hero at both clubs and spent a considerable part of his career at Macclesfield. It's fitting that he is the re-formed clubs first ever manager. Chesterfield went on to win the Championship at a time when Dave Allen actually liked the club and spent time running it properly. Unfortunately, we’re now in yet another relegation fight but with new owners.

To round up part 2 it's a pre-season clash between clubs either side of the Pennines. Buxton v Macclesfield Town for the Keith Alexander Memorial Cup in 2011/12.

Keith was one of football’s nice guys, he had an extensive playing career with numerous non-league clubs but is best remembered as manager of Lincoln City. Keith was in charge at Macclesfield Town when he tragically died, aged 53, in March 2010 .

Keith played for my local club, Alfreton Town, and left them after 7 games when he joined Stamford who he scored for at Wembley when they won the FA Vase in 1980. Keith broke in to the Football League when he joined Grimsby Town spending most of his league career at Blundell Park, though he also played in the League for Stockport County, Lincoln City and, briefly, Mansfield Town.

 

Keith is one of a handful of black men to manage in the Football League, famously getting Lincoln City to 4 play offs. The Buxton programme for this game names Keith as the first black manager in the League but that was Tony Collins who became Rochdale manager in 1960 and was also the first black manager to guide his side to a major Cup Final when Rochdale lost 4-0 on aggregate to Norwich City in the 1962 League Cup Final.

 

Shaun Brisley scores Macclesfield's first goal at Buxton.

The Silverlands, Buxton

Macc won this game 3-1 but it wasn’t a sign of a decent season ahead. They finished bottom and were relegated out of the Football League. A minnow in the League and one of the bigger fish out of it. Macclesfield are like every other club that fluctuates between divisions and very often it is the calibre of manager that you get that decides where you end up. 

In part 3, we have 4 more games to finish off my Macclesfield connection with more ground photos and action shots.