SATURDAY 7TH DECEMBER | 3PM
ALTRINCHAM v MACCLESFIELD
ALTRINCHAM FOOTBALL CLUB
The J.Davidson Stadium, Moss Lane Hale, Altrincham WA15 8AP Company Number: 176333
CLUB OWNERSHIP & BOARD
Significant interest (i.e. > 10% shares)
Club Director, Albert Valdes owns 10.19% of the football club
Co-Chairmen
Bill Waterson & Lawrence Looney
Directors
John Coyne, Samantha Mackenzie, Scott Burton, Albert Valdes, Mark Luby, Neil Faulkner
OFFICIALS
First Team Manager
Phil Parkinson
Assistant Manager
Neil Sorvel
Coaching Staff
Ross Speight & Ethan Ross
Sports Therapists
Tommy Uda & Thomas Cadman
Strength & Conditioning
Matthew Fox
Analyst
Mark Bushell
Club Secretary
Mark Lockyear
PROGRAMME TEAM
Photographers
Jonathan Moore, Ben Roberts
Contributors
Phil James, Simon Dow, Erin Carroll, Alex Birch, John Edwards, Brian Flynn
CLUB HONOURS
2x FA Trophy Winners (1978 & 1986)
2x National League/Conference Champions (79/80 & 80/81)
2x NPL Premier Division Champions
An FA Cup record 17 Football League clubs knocked out by a continuous non-league club
BILL WATERSON
A WELCOME FROM OUR CO-CHAIRMAN
We welcome the players, staff,officials,andsupporters of Macclesfield to The J. DavidsonStadiumfortoday’s Isuzu FA Trophy Third Round fixture.
This is the first competitive match between the senior men’s first teams of Altrincham FC and Macclesfield FC, although Macc did claim the bragging rights with a 3-1 win here earlier this year in the Women’sFACup.Onthemen’s side, Alty did win a preseason friendly at Moss Rose last season.
There is of course a strong football rivalry between the two Cheshire towns, with the now defunct Macclesfield Town and Alty being rivals since the dawn of time. And ironically that manifestation of the Silkmen were called simply Macclesfield untilthemid-sixties.
The first game here at Moss Lane was a Manchester League tie between the two sides, with the visitors running out 3-1 winners, and Macc had the nap handforanumberofyears.The rivalry really came to a head with the race for the Cheshire League title in the mid-sixties; with Alty crowned champions in 66 and 67 and Macc in 68. Over 8000 fans flocked to Moss LanefortheEasterMondaytitle deciderin68.
The strength of that old historic rivalry is clearly demonstrated by two incidents from that era .Alty manager Freddie Pye poured a bucket of cold water overBrianFidleretal
celebrating a goal and a few years later in the final of the Northern Premier League Cup at Moss Rose an unexpected Alty triumph saw “one thousand Macclesfield fans invadethepitchandassaultthe referee” to quote from the official correspondence of the time.
However, today is a new start with the phoenix club now occupying a place in the heart of the Macclesfield community –exactlywhereafootballclub
Thisisofcourseastrongfootball rivalrybetweenthetwoCheshire towns, with the now defunct Macclesfield Town and Alty being rivals since the dawn of time.
BILL WATERSON
needs to be and a role that the new Macc are filling with pride. Much is spoken about the place of a football club in the developing the spirit of a town and it is really fantastic to see how “The Two Robs” are mobilising the new club to carry the torch for football in the town.
And the club has undoubtedly made significant progress since their formation – almost nailed on, even before Christmas, for the Northern Premier League title and therefore knocking on the door of the National League North. Life will undoubtedly be harder in the NLN but given the momentum who would bet against Macc next season.
When I was working in Italy, I had a long conversation with a Fiorentina fan about his love for the club. Fiorentina also went out of business, reforming as Florentina although I think they have now readopted the original name. He was very clear on what his club meant for him – Fiorentina were like an old dog that had been with him since childhood, and when the dog passed away, he was heartbroken. Speaking of the new club he said that he saw Florentina was like a new puppy, which he was sure he would love one day but that love would have to grow. “Just don’t pretend” he said to me “that this puppy is the old dog that I loved.” For the fans on the away terrace this afternoon, I hope that this new lively mischievous puppy is as much loved as the older statesman was before its passing.
This is only Macclesfield’s second season in the FA Trophy and last season they marched purposefully to the semi finals of the competition before exiting to the eventual winners Gateshead at the International Athletic Stadium. For a club that had fallen at the first hurdle in the FA Vase only two seasons previously, this is an incredible achievement. This is a tradition for the town as Macclesfield Town were the inaugural winners of the FA Trophy back in 1970.
This fixture has really captured the interest of both towns and is one of four spicy local derbies in this year’s Trophy draw. The team nearest to my house, Slough Town welcome Maidenhead United; those historic rivals of Yeovil and Weymouth face off against each other and Brentwood will welcome their neighbours from down the A19 Southend United. As an illustration, in the inaugural season of the Alliance Premier League, the two largest crowds were for Yeovil v Weymouth and Weymouth v Yeovil.
BILL WATERSON
.Ironically the two sides did meet in that initial season of the National League with Alty visiting Macc for a hastily rearranged Cheshire Senior Cup tie to avoid Jeff Johnson being suspended for the FA Cup 3rd Round replay at Leyton Orient. I can still remember the booing ringing round Moss Rose when the Tannoy announcer through gritted teeth stated, “Altrincham make 11 changes to today’s programme”
Our reserves did enough to triumph after a replay, at a time when few Alty fans even knew we had a reserve side. We only used 15 players that season in winning the APL (and I could name them all even now!). Alty were fined for playing a weakened side, but as former Chairman Noel White said “we won the tie. How can they say we were weakened”. The Cheshire FA had the last laugh, forcing us to cancel a Saturday trip to Maidstone United in order to play Witton Albion in the Semi Finals at Canal Street.
Clearly, I could bang on for hours (and have done many times) about the historic rivalry between Alty and Macclesfield Town. And many of our younger fans must wonder what all the fuss is about. But as I said at the top of this article the football rivalry between the two towns even predates Alty’s presence in the J. Davidson Stadium
And today we start a new chapter with this first competitive senior meeting between Alty and Macclesfield. Will that rivalry grow to match the historic one with Town? Only time will tell, but if I was a betting man (and football regulations forbid me from being so!) I would say this will become a regular feature in the near future. Boxing Day and Easter Monday anyone?
It is really important for football clubs to have healthy rivalries with near neighbours and at the moment we are a bit bereft of them. The days of seven or eight North West based clubs in the National League are long gone, and FC Halifax is a poor substitute for the Vics and Silkmen of yore.
But let’s have a rivalry that celebrates the very best of football at this level. Two clubs who are paragons of their respective communities, both ambitious to climb the pyramid and both with a healthy respect for the other.
Now that’s something we can all get behind.
Enjoy the game,
ASSISTANT MANAGER
NEIL SORVEL
Good afternoon and welcome to this eagerly-anticipated Isuzu FA Trophy Third Round derbywithMacclesfield.
After a disappointing trip to Aldershot Town, we didn't want to go into today's tie on the back of two straight league defeats, so it was particularly pleasing to win and play so well against a York City side who went into the game in top place.
There's no hiding away from the fact that our away form has been letting us down a bit, but we have been pretty decent at home, and full credit to the lads for the way they went 3-0 up by half-time and stood firm so effectively in the second half.
I thought they carried out the
game plan to a tee, particularly in the first half, when a performance full of energy and moments of real quality produced three excellent goals, two of them from Regan Linney and the other a fantastic finish by Matty Kosylo.
York were top of the table at kick-off for a reason. They had been the best and most consistent side in the league up to that point, so to be in a position where the game was virtually won at the halfway stage was something else.
Regan's goals showed what he is about and the problems he
Regan’s goals showed what he is about and the problems he can cause teams coming in from the left, and there’s no doubt we missed him at Aldershot.
can cause teams coming in from the left, and there's no doubt we missed him at Aldershot, because he does that so well.
That's 11 league goals for him so far, and it could so easily have been 12 after he showed great awareness to spot the keeper off his line and even greater technique to hit a first-time shot from near the centre circle that was only just tipped on to the
NEIL SORVEL
.the bar at the last second.
What a goal that would have been, and it said everything about what he brings to the table for us.
Away from the pitch, as well as on it, Regan is really good to work with. He is another who takes information on board and puts it into practice, he puts a shift in for the team and he has that quality that sets him aside from so many others.
There's a bit of X-factor about him, if you like. He's certainly a game changer for us, and he is in a rich vein of form that we all hope will continue for a long time to come. He had to sit out the Aldershot game due to a suspension, and some may wonder if that suggests he needs to rein in that side of his game a bit. I don't think so.
You want that tenacity and determination that he has, they are great assets. He can play on the edge sometimes, and there have been one or two occasions when we have taken him off for his own good, but generally I think he is getting it right about not crossing the line. Certainly, we are more than happy with what he has done since he came here.
Regan was a worthy recipient of the Harvey Nichols man-of-the-match award, but there were other notable individual contributions on what was a great night for all concerned. Joe Nuttall and George Wilson both showed up well and I thought Kossy, not only for his goal but his work off the ball as well, was outstanding.
It was great to see all his industry rewarded with the third goal, and what a finish it was, dinking it over the keeper like that - even better than James Maddison's for Spurs at Manchester City, in my view!
He probably felt a bit of frustration earlier in the season at not getting time in the middle, but he's back now, and it's great to see him being given more minutes and making such good use of them. One of the things we said we had to do better than at Aldershot was defending the box and being more diligent about tracking players, and we did that.
NEIL SORVEL
.It does help, though, when you've got a keeper who can be as well protected as Ethan Ross was against York but can still react with a top save on the odd occasion he is tested. That was the case in the second half, when Ethan got down superbly low to his right to deny them a goal that might have given them a route back into the game.
So, on to this afternoon's tie, and I know all about the rivalry between the two clubs from my time as a player at Macclesfield. We always looked out for Alty on the fixture list and knew it was one we had to win, if we possibly could. Sorry to say it, Alty fans, but, more often than not, we did. It was just one of those things that we generally tended to get the better of Alty in what was always a special atmosphere. While I'm at it, I may as well also admit that, though I was never much of a goalscorer, I did find the back of the net a fair few times against the Robins!
The one time I recall the derby going Alty's way was when we were going for the Conference title in the mid-90s. Things were going well on the field, but the club were in financial difficulty off it and really needed the gate money, even though the pitch wasn't fit to play on. Mike Dean was the referee, prior to his elevation to the Premier League, and we lost 3-2. I don't remember much about the game itself, other than the pitch was full of rivets after a tractor had been used to clear snow off it!
As many of you will probably remember, there was quite a crossover of players from one club to the other, and while it was never on the cards for me while I was at Macc, there was a time when I might have joined Alty later in my career. I had just left Morecambe, after one-and-a-half seasons with them, and I was made aware that Alty and Droylsden were both interested in signing me. It was Danny Adams who told me. I was good mates with Danny, and he said Graham Heathcote wanted to speak to me and was going to phone me.
Droylsden were chasing me as well but had just been relegated to the Conference North, so Alty would have been my preferred choice. I was mid-30s, probably 35, and I wanted to keep playing at the highest level possible. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. For whatever reason, the call didn't come, and I ended up spending a couple of seasons with Droylsden. But that's all in the past. All that matters now is delivering against our derby rivals today, so let's raise the roof and make it an afternoon to remember.
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2024/25 RESULTS
Woking
Sutton United
Maidenhead United
Eastleigh
Forest Green Rovers
Oldham Athletic
Ebbsfleet United
Barnet
Yeovil Town
Boston United
Dagenham & Red Tamworth
Vauxhall Motors
Braintree Town
Blackburn u21s
Solihull Moors
Solihull Moors
Gateshead
Hartlepool United AFC Fylde
Solihull Moors
Southend United
2024/25 FIXTURES
Hartlepool
Solihull
Aldershot Town Barnet
OUR 2024/24 LOYALTY MEMBERS - THANK YOU
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PREMIUM LOYALTY
Si Toft
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PATRON MEMBERS
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THE SILKMEN
2020 (Originally 1874) The Silkmen Robbie Savage Moss Rose 5,500
Macclesfield FC were formed after Macclesfield Town were wound up towards the end of 2020.
The original club were formed in 1874 and enjoyed three title-winning seasons in the National League, two FA Trophy triumphs and promotion to the EFL.
Since reforming in 2020, the Silkmen have risen from the North West Counties League to the Northern Premier League, winning back-to-back league titles in 2022 and 2023, before losing in the NPL play-off final against Marine in May of this year.
A tenacious central midfielder during his playing days in the Premier League & Championship with Crewe Alexandra, Leicester City, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers and Derby County, the 50-year-old was also capped 39 times by Wales during a career that spanned 15 years and over 600 senior games.
Involved with Macclesfield since the club reformed in 2020, Savage took over as Head Coach in the summer and has taken the club to the summit of the Northern Premier League with just under half the 2024/25 season played.
ROBBIE SAVAGE
JOHN ROONEY
GOALKEEPER
EXPERIENCE
A seasoned campaigner in the middle of the park, John Rooney made his senior debut for Macclesfield Town in 2008 after his release by Everton.
The brother of England legend Wayne, John then played in MLS for New York Red Bulls before making over 500 senior appearances for the likes of Chester, Barrow, Stockport County and Oldham Athletic.
He joined the Silkmen last season, scoring almost a goal every other game for the Moss Rose side.
The 26-year-old cut his teeth in the senior game making 40 appearances for Farsley Celtic in the Vanarama National League North during the 2022/23 season.
Last season the stopper made another 40 appearances in the second tier of non-league, splitting his time between Buxton and play-off semi-finalists Chorley.
He then moved to Moss Rose in the summer to join up with Robbie Savage’s Northern Premier League side as number one.
NEXT FOUR
2024/25 REPORT MAX DEARNLEY
Under the guidance of new head coach Robbie Savage the Silkmen hit the front in the Northern Premier League title race early doors and haven’t looked back.
A first league defeat came just over a week ago at Mickleover Sports, reducing our visitors’ lead at the summit to 13 points.
In the Emirates FA Cup, Macclesfield were knocked out by National League Tamworth in Fourth Round Qualifying LAST TIME
Macclesfield 1 Altrincham 2 Wednesday, July 26th, 2023
ALTRINCHAM FC MEN’S FIRST TEAM
LOUIE FALLON
1. ETHAN ROSS 2. LEWIS BANKS
EDDY JONES 4. LEWIS BAINES
5. JAKE COOPER 10. ALEX NEWBY
Ray Sant (Home) Sally Corbett (Home) Phil & Gill James
The Filson Family Rogers McHugh
Alan Ryan Holmes & Watson Alty Ability Officer
Garnett
Spencer Hayes Group
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CARROLL’S CORNER
Article written by Women’s Team Social Media Manager, Erin-Beau Carroll
Altrincham FC Women currently sit at the top of the Cheshire Women’s and Youth League Premier Division on 18 points, four points in front of AFC Crewe. However, over the last week, it was their county cup game against North West Women's regional league division one south side Poulton
Altrincham
Manager | Phil Parkinson
GK Ethan Ross
Lewis Banks
Eddy Jones (c) Lewis Baines
Jake Cooper
Elliot Osborne
Olly Crankshaw
Isaac Marriott
Regan Linney
Alex Newby
Justin Amaluzor
Matty Kosylo
Liam Humbles
James Jones
Lucas Weaver
Owen German
George Wilson
Kahrel Reddin
Max Haygarth
Tom Crawford
Tylor Golden
Joe Nuttall
Joel Bailey
GK Louie Fallon
Remi Thompson
Jake Bickerstaff
GK Harvey Randle
Macclesfield
Manager |Robbie Savage Isuzu
Max Dearnley
Lewis Fensome
Sam Heathcote
Brandon Lee
Laurent Mendy (c)
Tre Pemberton
Alex Curran
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James Edmondson
John Rooney
Match Sponsor
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Freddie Savage
Henry McNulty
Tom Clare
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Danny Elliott
Sean Etaluku
Dontai Gabidon
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Neil Kengni
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