Silkmen “devastated” by winding-up of Macclesfield Town

Macclesfield Town fans say they are “devastated” after the club was wound up in the High Court over debts totalling more than £500,000.

The 146-year-old National League club was forced into liquidation during a hearing at the Insolvency and Companies Court yesterday.

Following the news, the Silkmen Supporters’ Trust (SST) laid the blame squarely with club owner Amar Alkadhi.

“The SST are devastated by the decision of the court to wind up Macclesfield Town Football Club,” the trust said.

“The responsibility for this lies at the feet of one person – Amar Alkadhi.”

Judge Sebastian Prentis made the winding-up order during a hearing in the Insolvency and Companies Court after being told £190,000 was owed in tax.

In addition, a solicitor for John Askey said the former-Macclesfield Town manager was owed £173,000 and a financial lender was also owed the same sum.

The court was told that Alkadhi had made a late offer to pay an initial £20,000 of the debt owed to HM Revenue & Customs and had made available a screenshot of a bank statement with £1.1m of funds to show that creditors could be paid.

However, Judge Prentis said he would grant a compulsory order having seen no evidence of the club’s ability to pay its debts and said that potential buyers had not provided a business plan for the club should they take over.

“The court ruling is in effect the end of the club in the present format,” SST said. “There is no easy way back from this.”

SST called on Macclesfield Town fans to come together to secure the future of senior football in the town in whatever shape that may take in the coming weeks and months.

“The only way forward now, and it may be a positive, would be to form a new club, just like Bury have done, debt free and without Mr Alkadhi,” they said.

“The SST would like to reassure our fellow fans that whatever happens the SST will not countenance Mr Alkadhi being involved in any shape or form.

“The SST furthermore hope than the fanbase will unify behind whatever club we have in the future.”

The winding-up of Macclesfield Town comes just over a year after Bury were expelled from the professional game – in what was a summer of crisis for many EFL clubs. The COVID-19 pandemic has since exacerbated many of the underlying challenges already facing clubs in the EFL.

FSA chair Malcolm Clarke said: “The fact that another one of our famous football clubs, founded almost 150 years ago, has gone to the wall once again shows that the need for reform is extremely urgent.

“Despite this loss, the future of football in the town may well be supporter-led. We have seen phoenix clubs emerge with success in other parts of the country so we’ll be offering Macclesfield Town fans and the Silkmen Supporters’ Trust whatever help we can.”